Matt Dumba got a kick out of the whole thing. The Red Wings did not.
The Minnesota Wild defenseman was booed whenever he touched the puck and turned down two invitations to fight in the third period of the Wild's 6-5 shootout win over the Red Wings Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena after taking several shots at the head of Lucas Raymond, whose head was already spilling blood onto the ice, during a fracas at the end of the second.
"Nothing I couldn't handle," Dumba told reporters afterward. "The boos were kinda funny, though. I wasn't expecting that."
He probably should have been. And he probably should have expected the Wings to come after him as they did. Michael Rasmussen and Filip Hronek both tried to square off with Dumba to make him answer for his actions, but Dumba wouldn't answer the bell.
Asked about Dumba's refusal to fight, which felt like a violation of The Code (for better or worse), Dylan Larkin said, "I just think it's different if someone does that to (Kiril) Kaprizov, you know? I don't really know what the right comment is there. I don't have anything good to say."
Larkin's right. If anyone on the Wings had pounded the reigning Rookie of the Year and Minnesota's best player the way Dumba pounded the Rookie of the Year candidate for Detroit, who was pinned on his back, there would have been hell to pay. But Dumba got off easy, and said afterward Raymond was the initiator.
"He was on my back and choking me, and I slipped out of it and (was) kinda just seeing red at a point. I was just swinging, swinging back. I think everyone was throwing shots, so just part of it," he said.
Raymond was fortunately fine. He got a couple stitches in between periods and was back out there for the third.
"It could've been worse," said Larkin. "We got really lucky about that."
Meanwhile, the Wings gave the Wild all they could handle in a much-needed show of spunk after Tuesday's embarrassing loss to the Coyotes.
"Competitiveness was better," said Larkin. "We won battles, we stuck in there, we stuck together. I really liked that. (Jeff Blashill) challenged us yesterday, we had a hard practice, and the compete level was much better."
The Wings will need to bring that fire with them on a four-game West Coast swing that begins Saturday in Calgary. As for any retribution against Dumba and the Wild, that will have to wait until next season.
