Matthew Tkachuk finds LA King willing to punch him in the face (Video)

Calgary Flames rookie uber-pest Matthew Tkachuk made headlines on Wednesday when he called out Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings for calling him out as a dirty player, which came after Tkachuk was suspended two games for elbowing Drew Doughty in the face on March 19.

“He’s a pretty dirty player, that kid,” Doughty said earlier this month. “To be a rookie and play like that is a little surprising.”

Said Tkachuk before the Flames’ game against the Los Angeles Kings: “I expected more from him, honestly, than to go right to the media and start complaining after a loss.”

(Does it count when a player complains to the media to complain about a player complaining to the media?)

Anyhoo, Tkachuck faced the Kings on Wednesday night, and even warm-ups were a tension convention:

Deryk Engelland earning that money.

Anyhoo, Tkachuck was ready to defuse the whole situation by dropping the gloves with Jake Muzzin. So he dropped the gloves. Muzzin didn’t. And Tkachuk earned a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct:

Ugh, won’t anyone give Matthew Tkachuk is comeuppance?!

Anyhoo, just over three minutes into the game, Brayden McNabb of the Kings obliged:

OK, so he got a few quick punches in while holding Tkachuk’s jersey and then Tkachuk sorta fell down to make it look like McNabb hit him with an uppercut, but hey, The Code or whatever.

But here’s the best part: Engelland then had a fight with Calgary Flames legend Jarome Iginla that might rank among the best of the season:

So what did we learn?

Nothing, really. But that was fun.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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