Evgenii Dadonov of the Ottawa Senators had a bad moment trying to make a big play. He charged in to land a check on an Edmonton Oiler, missed completely, flipped backward, and nearly slammed into the boards. He managed to avoid the boards but faceplanted instead and knocked out some teeth. His teammate Colin White saw the aftermath and assumed an Oiler had caused the fall. Without hesitation, White went after Jesse Puljujärvi, thinking he was to blame. White threw a punch, and Puljujärvi just grabbed him, confused and caught off guard. He didn’t fight back, looking more surprised than anything.
Puljujärvi didn’t seem to provoke the hit or the fall. White apparently thought timing alone was enough to accuse him. Back on the bench, Dadonov was getting medical attention, minus a few teeth. A quick Google search of Puljujärvi revealed a quote from his agent defending his intelligence, saying people just mistake his big heart for being slow. The video’s narrator didn’t buy it and simply called him a “nice dumb guy.” It all summed up a strange moment on the ice where a mistimed check turned into lost teeth and a totally unnecessary fight.