You know how you sometimes look at the calendar and it’s already April? Well, that’s a thing in my world, and the Bruins are sitting at 43-26, grinding toward the playoffs, with the boys dropping the mitts like it’s 2011 all over again.
I haven’t written a post in a minute. Life gets in the way. Kids, work, the general exhaustion of being a New England sports fan right now. And Jackie Gleason wouldn’t be proud. But looking at the fight card since January 1st got me fired up. Our beloved Boston Bruins have answered the bell 13 times in 11 games since the ball dropped.
And they aren’t just hugging it out. They are throwing absolute chin-biscuits. Let’s discuss.
The Crown Jewel of the Shitty Deal
Mark Kastelic is a menace.
When the Bruins made that trade, I was skeptical. Most of us were. But Kastelic has turned into an absolute beauty on the ice, shining amid the Bruins’ struggles. He leads the team with four scraps since January.
His tilt with Mathieu Olivier on March 29th was heavyweight material. Olivier is a confident killer, maybe the current champ of the league. Kastelic didn’t care. They went toe-to-toe in Columbus. Kastelic threw a massive right hook. Olivier answered. It was old time hockey at its finest.
Kastelic also handled Michael McCarron the night before. Back-to-back nights dropping the gloves. McCarron is a big boy, but Kastelic dodged an uppercut and landed a short left jab that threw McCarron off balance. That is the kind of energy this team needs heading into the postseason.
He also fought Brendan Dillon and Johnathan Kovacevic in the same game against New Jersey on March 16. Two fights in one night. Absolute animal. Kastelic laid a big hit on Paul Cotter, and Kovacevic stepped up to answer for it (bad call, Jon). Then later in the game, Mark and Brendan went at it after a scrum.
And let’s not forget the January 10th scrap against the Rangers. Kastelic squared up with Sam Carrick right on the center ice dot, giving fans flashbacks to the 2025 pre-season tilts against New York. It got nasty. Carrick landed early, but Kastelic rallied, and the TD Garden crowd went nuts.
“We were just trying to get some energy going,” Kastelic said after the game. It worked. The Bruins won 10-2.
In that same contest, Sean Kuraly dropped the gloves with Will Cuylle. It wasn’t as flashy as the Kastelic fight, but it kept the blood pumping.
Jeannot Is Earning His Keep
Tanner Jeannot is another guy pulling his weight in the snot-box-bashing department.
He fought Erik Gudbranson on March 29th in the same game Kastelic fought Olivier. Two nasty fights to spark a comeback. Jeannot grappled with Gudbranson, a massive human being, and held his own.
He also dropped Nicolas Deslauriers on February 28th. Deslauriers is a scary dude, easily one of the top 5 NHL enforcers right now. But Jeannot handled his business in Philly. And he took on A.J. Greer down in Florida. Jeannot dropped the gloves with the former Bruin and was the clear winner of the scrap.
The Stadium Series Shocker
I didn’t expect to see a goalie fight this year. I really didn’t.
But February 1st at Raymond James Stadium. 65,000 people watching. The Bruins and the Lightning. Brandon Hagel started poking around Jeremy Swayman’s crease. Swayman wasn’t having it. He went after Hagel. And then Andrei Vasilevskiy skated down the ice.
A goalie fight in an outdoor game. It almost made me forget about the beatdown the Blackhawks took at the 2025 Winter Classic. It was something else entirely.
It was the first goalie fight in NHL outdoor game history. Swayman and Vasilevskiy threw down, grabbed each other, and then gave each other a friendly pat on the back when it was over. It was the first Bruins goalie fight since Tim Thomas fought Carey Price in 2011, and brought back memories of Shawn Thornton drawing first blood at Fenway Park. I nearly spilled my beer watching it from the stands.
“For the first half of the game, they were all over us,” Vasilevskiy told NHL.com. The Lightning came back from a 4-goal deficit to win. “Obviously, that’s what 20 of us do for each other,” Hagel added about Vasilevskiy rushing to his defense. “I got a glove to the head. Obviously, (Vasilevskiy) didn’t like that… So that was the turning point of the game.”
The Young Guys And The Big Guys
Nikita Zadorov is massive. He fought Dakota Joshua on March 24th and Samuel Helenius on March 10th.
When Zadorov drops the gloves, it’s like watching a bear attack a camper. Joshua stepped up to fight Zadorov after a big hit on John Tavares. Zadorov threw multiple punches and landed the takedown, which you can see here. Against the Kings, Zadorov went after Helenius after Helenius drilled Charlie McAvoy in the corner.
Jonathan Aspirot, the kid from Montreal, got his first NHL fight on January 20th against Nathan Bastian. You can watch Aspirot and Bastian go at it here. Then he fought Kirby Dach a few days later. Dach actually suffered an apparent hand injury during the scrap. Good on the kid for showing up. Watch the Dach fight here.
Jeremy Lauzon also mixed it up with Kastelic on January 22nd. Kastelic laid a huge hit on Shea Theodore, and Lauzon came in to answer for it.
And Alexander Steeves fought Ryan Winterton in a tight game against Seattle in January. Watch the Steeves and Winterton scrap here.
Here is the full rundown of the 2026 Bruins fight card so far:
• March 29 at Columbus: T. Jeannot vs. E. Gudbranson ; M. Kastelic vs. M. Olivier
• March 28 vs. Minnesota: M. Kastelic vs. M. McCarron
• March 24 vs. Toronto: N. Zadorov vs. D. Joshua
• March 16 at New Jersey: M. Kastelic vs. B. Dillon ; M. Kastelic vs. J. Kovacevic
• March 10 vs. LA Kings: N. Zadorov vs. S. Helenius
• Feb 28 at Philadelphia: T. Jeannot vs. N. Deslauriers
• Feb 4 at Florida: T. Jeannot vs. A. Greer
• Feb 1 vs. Tampa Bay: J. Swayman vs. A. Vasilevskiy (Stadium Series)
• Jan 24 vs. Montreal: J. Aspirot vs. K. Dach
• Jan 22 vs. Vegas: M. Kastelic vs. J. Lauzon
• Jan 20 at Dallas: J. Aspirot vs. N. Bastian
• Jan 15 vs. Seattle: A. Steeves vs. R. Winterton
• Jan 10 vs. NY Rangers: M. Kastelic vs. S. Carrick ; S. Kuraly vs. W. Cuylle
The playoffs are a different animal. You can’t just skill your way to a Cup. You need guys willing to eat punches and throw them back when the game gets ugly, and right now Kastelic and Jeannot are setting that tone.
Thirteen fights in eleven games isn’t an accident. It’s a statement. This team is starting to look a lot like the 2011 squad that bullied its way to a parade. If they keep dropping the mitts like this, the rest of the Eastern Conference is going to have a long, miserable spring.
I just hope Swayman leaves his blocker on for the post-season. I’ll try to write again before someone loses teeth in round one. As opposed to a year in-between posts. No promises.