Zach Metsa looked up at Mathieu Olivier and dropped the gloves anyway Thursday night, as the Buffalo Sabres opened their season in Columbus.
2 Goalies 1 Mic had the measurements at 6-foot-2 for Olivier and 5-foot-9 for Metsa.
Respect. Nobody would have blamed the smaller guy for skating away, and he picked the harder option.
It's the chihuahua barking at the delivery truck. Everybody laughs until they notice he isn't moving off the driveway.
In the clip, a Sabre in white and a Blue Jacket in navy are locked together along the boards, while other pairs tangle around them and an official in No. 60 steps between two more.
The scoreboard had Columbus up 3-2 with 16:02 on the second-period clock.
Was all of it worth it over a dead puck? For Metsa, apparently so.
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According to 2 Goalies 1 Mic, Olivier flipped a dead puck into the empty net during a delayed penalty, and Metsa took exception.
Shooting a puck into the net after play is dead is the kind of thing that gets answered, and it got answered fast.
Buffalo actually held a 9-8 shot edge when the gloves came off.
Both clubs were playing their season openers, with the Blue Jackets getting their first regular-season look since landing Matthew Knies from Toronto.
Knies arrived saying he was "glad it's over" about his time in Toronto, according to Aaron Portzline.
Lindy Ruff's Sabres came in off a 1-2-1 preseason, and two days earlier they put Conor Sheary on waivers.
Buffalo's biggest money sits with Rasmus Dahlin, who carries an $11,000,000 cap hit.
Rick Bowness' group went 3-1-0 in exhibition play and closed with a 4-2 win in Detroit.
The Blue Jackets also pay Adam Fantilli $13,750,000 and Zachary Werenski $9,583,333, so there's a lot more to this lineup than one dead-puck incident.
The Sabres host Chicago on Saturday, while the Blue Jackets stay home for Utah the same night.
These two meet again November 6 in Buffalo. Olivier will have five weeks to decide whether that dead puck was worth the trouble.
Was Zach Metsa right to drop the gloves with a much bigger Mathieu Olivier over a dead puck?
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The Matthew Knies trade reveals how much power Auston Matthews holds in Toronto
