The intensity of a playoff hockey game is hard to match. The hits seem harder, the games are always close and players will do anything to help their team win.
The rough stuff between whistles and even after periods adds that much more to the intensity of a game and series, and we saw that firsthand in Game 4 of the first-round AHL series between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Providence Bruins.
After the first period finished, Providence goalie Jordan Binnington attempted to punch a Phantoms player in the head as he was skating off the ice.
Earlier in the first period of the game, a brawl broke out and Binnington challenged the Phantoms goalie to a fight.
The punch at the end of the first may have had something to do with that brawl earlier in the frame, or maybe he was just trying to fire his team up.
Either way, it didn't work as the Bruins lost the game 4-3 in overtime and lost the best-of-five series 3-1.
(H/T: Broad Street Hockey)
