Milan Lucic celebrates 1,000th game by kindly accepting Scott Sabourin's fight request
Calgary Flames forward Milan Lucic celebrated his 1,000th career game as only he could, falling just short of a Gordie Howe hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
It was a vintage performance from Lucic, who set up the game's opening goal, finding Juuso Valimaki all alone at the side of the net. Minutes later, Lucic proceeded to get into a fight with Toronto's new enforcer, Scott Sabourin, who was all too happy to facilitate the scrap.
Here's a look at Lucic's scrap with Scott Sabourin 🥊
🎥: @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/fvA2L2gE44— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) April 14, 2021
After the game, both combatants explained how it all went down.
Sabourin on his fight with Lucic and how it started: Well, I congratulated him on his 1000 games and then the next question was, ‘do you want one?’ and he was nice enough to oblige.”
— David Alter (@dalter) April 14, 2021
Milan Lucic on his tilt with Scott Sabourin: "It was kind of funny. When I saw he was in the lineup, I knew there was probably a 100 per cent chance that he was going to ask me to fight. They had just scored and I said yes."
— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) April 14, 2021
Lucic couldn't be happier too, as the Flames secured a 3-2 overtime victory when Johnny Gaudreau undressed former teammate David Rittich for the game-winner. Rittich, incidentally, was making his first start for the Maple Leafs upon being traded by the Flames.
"I just wish I didn’t miss the net on the shift before the fight, otherwise I would have had the Gordie in three shifts," Lucic said via Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "It would have been nice — a cool storyline. It’s a great achievement and it makes it even better when you get a huge win."
Lucic's best days are long behind him, but Tuesday night was another special moment in his decorated career, a game that neither team, for better or worse, will forget shortly.
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