Capitals' Duhaime fights Hurricanes' Chatfield in response to McMichael takedown

It didn't take long for Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield to answer the bell for his takedown of Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael.

Early in the first period of Thursday's game, Capitals forward Brandon Duhaime grabbed Chatfield as a dance partner and the two traded blows in a spirited tilt.

It was a fight eight days in the making.

When the two teams met on April 2, Chatfield and McMichael squared off and the fight ended when Chatfield grabbed hold of McMichael's jersey from the front and back to slam the helmet-less Capital to the ice.

McMichael was not injured, but Chatfield's takedown of the Capitals forward drew criticism from many around the league.

However, Chatfield received no supplemental discipline for the play and had his head coach come to his defence.

“The media’s the one that (made drama out of) it, and they’re morons, typically,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters on Monday. “If you’re going to say what happened at the end was anything more than what I’ve seen a thousand times before, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Go look at the game exactly before. The Boston-Detroit game. Two really good heavyweights going at it and watch how that fight ends. It’s a takedown, I’m sorry. Quit making something out of what isn’t, because that’s not a fair characterization of our player and that’s what bothers me on the whole thing. Do your homework."

Washington clearly felt differently than Brind’Amour and decided Chatfield had to pay for his crime on Thursday.

The divisional rivals have both already punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Carolina locked into a Round 1 matchup with the New Jersey Devils.

But if both teams were to advance out of the first round, the bad blood between the two would get to be rekindled in Round 2.