Watch: Morgan Rielly drops gloves in retaliation to Tage Thompson's hit on Auston Matthews

By ARJUN B

Modified Dec 21, 2024 02:53 GMT

Follow Us

Share

0 Discuss

During Friday night's game between Morgan Rielly's Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres. Tensions flared after Sabres forward Tage Thompson had delivered a hard check to Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews at center ice.

Maple Leafs defenseman Rielly took exception to the hit on his teammate and immediately confronted Thompson, dropping his gloves and initiating a fight.

Watch the video here:

The two exchanged several punches before Rielly fell to the ice and had to be separated by referees. As Rielly skated to the penalty box, Matthews could be seen tapping his teammate for standing up for him.

The fight occurred in the first period with the Leafs leading 2-0. Both Morgan Rielly and Thompson were assessed fighting majors, while Rielly received an additional minor for roughing.

---

Fans react to Morgan Rielly fight with Tage Thompson after hit on Auston Matthews

Hockey fans are divided over Morgan Rielly's decision to drop the gloves with Tage Thompson after Auston Matthews had taken a hit. While some praised Rielly for standing up for his teammate, others questioned the necessity of the scrap.

One fan tweeted:

"This has to stop. Clean hit. I'm sure big Baby ...i mean Papi can take it. Don't see what good it did, as Rielly got handled easily."

Another wrote:

"And people be shitting on Rielly daily on Leafs twitter saying move on. This guy cares," on X.

Here are some more fan reactions:

"He took exception by eating some punches and getting tossed to the ground. That will show him," one fan wrote.

"Morgan Reilly can’t play defence and obviously can’t fight either. Leafs will never win anything with Reilly playing top D minutes. He is absolutely garbage defensively…," another fan wrote.

"Matthews showing yet again that he's a coward. Skates away, allowing a smaller teammate fight for him. Revolting," a user commented.

"Why is always that 34 plays like such a wuss for his size that he can NEVER stand up like a man and his team always has to have the balls he doesn’t have. He’s like no other elite player that way…," another user wrote.

The Leafs lead 5-2 against the Sabres at the end of the second period.

JJ Peterka and Mattias Samuelsson scored for the Sabres, while Max Domi, Bobby McMann, Nicholas Robertson, Auston Matthews and Max Pacioretty netted for the Leafs.