In back-to-back nights, Minnesota sports fans watched as one of their players quite literally had someone go for their throat during a game. On Sunday it was Naz Reid taking a dirty elbow to the throat from Victory Wembanyama and a day later Michael McCarron took the butt of a stick to his throat courtesy of Josh Manson.
Only one of those guys was ejected and it wasn't Manson. While Wembenyama was ejected for his cheap shot, Manson was only given a double minor and allowed to stay in the game. Official spent quite a bit of time reviewing the play, but came away unconvinced that Manson's stick made malicious contact with McCarron's throat.
You be the judge of that:
The Wild made the most of it, though. A few minutes into the penalty play, Brock Faber ripped a shot that deflected off Danila Yurov's stick and into the back of the net. While Manson probably should have been sent off, at the very least Minnesota got something out of it.
McCarron got the final word in during the intermission. While being interviewed by PK Subban on ESPN, the Wild big man made sure to let America know how he really feels about Manson.
"I mean you played against Josh, he's a dirty player," McCarron said to Subban. "He's always been. Suprised he only got away with a four minute, but I'm happy he's still in the game."
Those are quite literally fighting words by McCarron. Saying he's happy Manson is still in the game really only suggests one thing: that he's going to be looking to repay the cheap shot later by dropping the gloves.
Fighting in the playoffs is always a big risk as it invites a four-on-four opportunity, but the Wild have thrived lately in special teams situations. Their power play unit has scored in each game this series, and they even have a shorthanded goal that Marcu Folingo scored in Game 1.
Maybe McCarron will just deliever some big hits to Manson throughout the rest of this series. That stick to the throat was potentially some fuel in the tank of McCarron who has helped give the Wild some edge they've needed this time of year.
Trading for the big man was meant to be a move that added that grit to the heaviest line John Hynes can throw on the ice, and tempting him with any extra motivation to get physical -- especially froma group of Temu Tough Guys -- seems foolish by Colorado.
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