The Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina posted an article explaining how NHL players tend to reach out to each other after hits and scraps, including one Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph, who had a dust-up with Dylan Larkin (resulting in Larkin being suspended) this year:
On the ice, the game moves fast, and when Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph and Detroit’s Dylan Larkin pursued a loose puck near the side boards earlier this season, Joseph didn’t expect what happened next.
As the puck skipped past Larkin’s stick, the Red Wings captain turned toward the boards to collect it. Coming with speed from a different angle, Joseph was caught in a tough spot and ended up hitting Larkin into the boards head-first.
Larkin, who spent eight weeks in a surgical collar last April after being cross-checked by Dallas’ Jamie Benn, jumped to his skates and sucker-punched Joseph in the face, knocking him to the ice.
A few days later, cooler heads prevailed. Joseph saw on social media that Larkin was visiting a specialist for his neck. He didn’t know about Larkin’s injury history, and after replaying the hit over and over on video and in his mind, Joseph reached out to apologize.
“I thought my hit wasn’t great, but at the same time, it was really hard for me to stop,” Joseph said. “… Someone told me … about some of the bad injuries that he had last year. … And knowing that I was the guy after his first game coming back doing this back to him — even if, with a sucker punch, his reaction was probably not the way to do it after — but obviously I just wanted to know that he was all right with the hit.”
Continued; here’s the scrap:
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin did not appreciate this hit by Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph and let him know immediately. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/iu8KlirWOy
— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 15, 2021
