Sports

Blue Jackets player fights twice after big hit

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He added two more on Friday afternoon while answering for an injury-causing hit during the second period of a 5-2 win against the Calgary Flames.

Olivier drove Flames defenseman Joel Hanley into the boards, leaving him lying on the ice. Hanley’s teammate, Martin Pospisil, challenged Olivier, who had the upper hand until Calgary’s Brayden Paschal grabbed Olivier and allowed Pospisil to get in a couple punches. Olivier shoved Paschal and then challenged the Flames bench.

He got two minutes for boarding and five for fighting while Pospisil got five minutes and Paschal got two minutes for roughing.

Hanley got up, went to the dressing room and was able to return for the third period. But Olivier had to answer again for the hit before then.

He and the Flames’ Ryan Lomberg fought with 22 seconds left in the second period. Olivier won that fight, too, knocking off the helmet of Lomberg, who got in a good punch but absorbed many more to the head and body.

‘The game just kind of developed that way,’ Olivier said after the game, according to the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network. ‘I threw a hit that I didn’t think was that bad at the time. Looked at it. Kind of questionable, so it kind of just derived from there. You’ve got to be ready to answer the bell when that happens.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY