Nikolai Kulemin is a good hockey player; a very good hockey player who is developing into a reliable scorer.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs try to figure out which direction they are going and who will still be around when GM Brian Burke finally builds a team worthy of playoff talk, you’d have to think Kulemin’s name is near the top of the list.
But he’s no fighter.
That much was evident Monday night when he got one-punched by Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes.
In fact, based on what the hockey world saw of Kulemin’s pugilistic ability, somebody had better tell him to keep his gloves on…all the time.
In what was yet another painful loss for the Maple Leafs, this time a 6-4 loss to the Hurricanes, Kulemin left the game after being bopped on the nose during a scrum at the end of the first period. Gleason and Kulemin actually had a bit of a shoving match earlier in the period in front of the Carolina net so when they came together at the end of the first, it looked like both were ready to resume their disagreement. What did Kulemin think; that Gleason was only fooling around?
What was strange was Kulemin actually looked like he was up for the scrap. He pushed Gleason and even threw a couple of punches with his gloves on, but Gleason dropped his gloves and ended the bout with one punch. Kulemin was bleeding badly as he left the ice holding a towel to his face and hunched over in pain. In fact, as he got to the gate to leave the ice, he actually crashed into the boards because he wasn’t watching where he was going. Just added to the humiliation.
Kulemin hopefully learned a very tough lesson — when you enter a fight, be ready. In the NHL, especially against a tough guy like Gleason, there’s no turning back. When Kulemin started shoving with Gleason, he should have been ready to, at the very least, defend himself. He was not ready and paid a big price.
Some members of the Leafs were incensed at what they called a cheap shot.
“I was disgusted with that,” Clarke MacArthur said.
MacArthur, who insisted Gleason broke the code, went on to say, “Kulemin has never been a guy to fight. Gleason does that a lot. He knows better than that.”
You have to admire MacArthur for standing up for his teammate even if he is wrong.
Toronto coach Ron Wilson saw things differently.
“It wasn’t a sucker punch or anything,” Wilson said. “Kulemin was throwing punches with his gloves on and Gleason beat him to the punch.”
Funny thing is, the referees saw fit to eject Gleason from the game. Not sure why since Kulemin was a willing participant in the fight — at least at the start of the fight.
It was a bad night all around for many of the Maple Leafs the team relies on most for wins. Dion Phaneuf had a classic open-ice hit early in the contest (shades of a younger Phaneuf playing with the Calgary Flames) and then sent a beautiful stretch pass that resulted in a Tim Brent goal in the third period, but he was awful in his own zone. Guess you gotta take the bad with the good, though I’m certain Toronto’s coaching staff would prefer the captain to be better defensively.
Veteran goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had a bad night and often looked slow getting to his feet after flopping. You have to wonder how much he has left in the tank.
Phil Kessel had three shots on goal, but went long stretches when he wasn’t noticeable in the game.
One Leaf who did have a career night was Brent. He entered the game — the third period of the game, for that matter — with four goals and seven points and by time the contest was over he’d added two goals and one assist. His goals were beauties, too. On the first, he fired a backhand past Cam Ward from a sharp angle and on the second, after taking the sweet pass from Phaneuf, he faked a slap shot freezing Ward and then stepped to the side and fired the puck into the empty net. It was shades of Darryl Sittler in the 1976 Canada Cup.
Next up for the Maple Leafs is the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the best and most explosive teams in the league. Here’s hoping Kulemin is okay and is able to play Tuesday night. A little word of advice if he does: Stick to scoring goals and leave the fighting to others.
