“Clean hit. No need to fight”: NHL fans react to Morgan Rielly dropping gloves with Tage Thompson after hit on Auston Matthews

By Mohit Pandey

Modified Dec 21, 2024 12:55 GMT

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In the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, tensions flared when Morgan Rielly dropped the gloves against Sabres forward Tage Thompson.

It all kicked off in the first period when Thompson delivered a crushing hit that levelled Auston Matthews on the ice. Seeing his captain down, 30-year-old defenseman Morgan Rielly immediately responded by goading Thompson into a fight. The two traded punches before being separated by referees. Both Rielly and Thompson were seperated by refrees after trading several punches with each other.

Here's the clip of the fight that ensued following Thompson's hit:

Fans since have criticized Morgan Rielly's decision to braw with Tage Thompson over the first hit on Auston Mathews. Numerous fans have taken to social media to argue that Thompsons' hit was clean and didn't warrant such reaction.

"You shouldn’t have to fight for a clean hit in a contact sport", a fan said.

"The fact that completely innocuous hit resulted in a fight is beyond me", said another fan.

"Good clean hit. Stupid, over the top response", another fan reacted.

Here some more reactions from X;

"Clean hit. No need to fight", noted a fan.

"Not only was Rielly stupid for fighting a guy over a clean hit, then he gets mauled by Thompson", a user wrote.

"The NHL has become a joke when hits like this warrant fighting", exclaimed another fan.

"Clean hit, silly fight", another stated.

Clean hit. Why is Reilly actin a fool?, a fan questioned,

The game ended with 6-3 in favor of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who registered their third win in a row and currently sit atop the Atlantic Division with a 21-10-2 record.

Slumping Sabres: Buffalo's struggles continue amid the Morgan Rielly controversy

On Friday night, when Sabres took to the ice at KeyBank Center for a faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Many fans Sabres fans hoped that this would finally be the game to break their 11-game losing streak and turn their fortunes around. This positivity was fueled by their strong performance in the previous matchup against the same opponent, where they had initially led 3-1 before eventually falling 5-3 in a dramatic fashion.

However, in a game that would be remembered for the Morgan Rielly-Tage Thompson altercation, many fans were left overlooking the fact that the Sabres have lost their 12th in a row.

The Buffalo Sabres were handed their 12th straight loss this season - Source: Imagn

Buffalo has now matched its second-longest loosing slump, although it's worth noting that this stll isn't their worst drought, which was 0-15-3 strech of 18-matches in 2021.

The Sabres, who boast a 11-18-4 record, won their last match nearly a month ago on November 3 against the San Jose Sharks. Currently, sitting bottom of the Eastern Conference, Buffalo face the Boston Bruins next at TD Garden on Saturday.