Marner shared some fantastic words about Kadri after he was targeted by the Sharks

BarDown Staff

Kadri not sure why Sharks were still bitter about last season's Thornton fight

The San Jose Sharks clearly haven’t let go of an incident that took place the last time they faced the Toronto Maple Leafs.

If you can’t recall, Nazem Kadri dropped the mitts with Joe Thornton on home ice and unlike most we’ve seen, it resulted in the former ripping out a piece of the latter’s beard. Well, San Jose clearly wanted to send a message to the 28-year-old and they didn’t waste any time. Barclay Goodrow received a roughing penalty just eight seconds into the game and was later targeted by both Timo Meier and Melker Karlsson. Toronto ultimately came away with a 5-3 win and Leafs players didn’t feel too worried about their centre getting roughed up a bit, insisting he’s big and strong enough to take care of himself. Mitch Marner summed up everyone’s feelings pretty nicely.

Mitch Marner: "Naz is a bull, man. He's insane. He's a strong dude. I give him a lot of respect. He takes a lot of stuff every, single night ... he's a special player on this team ... he's a warrior."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 16, 2018

That’s some high praise right there! Kasperi Kapanen also touched on it and insisted that kind of stuff only fuels his game.

Kapanen on Sharks targeting Kadri: "I don't know what was going on, to be honest. I mean, Nazy loves that stuff & it got him into the game so I think that's a mistake by them. To go after Naz like that's not going to do anything to him, I think it's the opposite."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 16, 2018

Naz reflected on his tilt with Thornton last season and seemed confused as to why players are still holding a grudge. Especially since Jumbo Joe started it in the first place…

Kapanen on Sharks targeting Kadri: "I don't know what was going on, to be honest. I mean, Nazy loves that stuff & it got him into the game so I think that's a mistake by them. To go after Naz like that's not going to do anything to him, I think it's the opposite."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 16, 2018

Kadri: "It seemed like they were pretty agitated to start so I figured I'd just try and use that to my advantage. I think they may have been a little too worried about the wrong thing out there so we took care of business. Good win for us."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 16, 2018

The Leafs will host the Sharks on November 28 so both sides will have a bit of time to cool off before their next contest. Hopefully no more facial hair will be ripped out that time around!

(H/T Mark Masters)