Growing up in Alaska, Justin Johnson could probably see Ontario-born giant John Scott from his house.
Playing in just his second ever NHL game, the six-foot, 200-pound Johnson wasted no time picking a fight with the biggest kid in the schoolyard. Just 2:22 into the first period of a meaningless contest between the long-eliminated New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres, Johnson engaged Scott, who stands six-foot-eight and weighs 255 pounds after a cleanse.
In a classic David-versus-Goliath moment, the 32-year-old rookie withstood a few blows before unleashing a couple of nasty lefts that dropped the big man on his keister. The voters at hockeyfights.com awarded a 98% decision in Johnson’s favour, the other two percent presumably composed of Sabres alumni and people who have difficulty answering multiple choice.
Tallying up the futility of Scott and the Sabres this season, Buffalo finished with 1.83 goals per game in 2013-14, the NHL’s most anemic offence since the 1935-36 Canadiens. In 56 games played, Scott had a career-high 125 penalty minutes (five fights) and a grand total of one goal scored.
Johnson, on the other hand, is undefeated.