Caps’ Hathaway ejected for spitting on opponent
WASHINGTON — Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway was ejected from Washington’s 5-2 win on Monday for spitting on a player from the Anaheim Ducks.
Hathaway spit on defenseman Erik Gudbranson during a brawl late in the second period, with referee Peter MacDougall standing a few feet away. Officials reviewed video before confirming the five-minute match penalty that triggers a game misconduct.
“That’s about as low as you dig a pit, really,” Gudbranson said. “It’s a bad thing to do. It’s something you just don’t do in a game, and he did it.”
Here’s a look at the festivities. pic.twitter.com/OLMbYQ5aeG
By the way, here’s the reason for the match penalty for Garnet Hathaway. pic.twitter.com/e3W97zFSKV
Hathaway said he regretted the incident, which could spark further punishment from the NHL in the form of a fine or suspension.
“Unfortunately, spit came out of my mouth after I got sucker punched and it went onto him,” Hathaway said. “It has no place. It was an emotional play by me. You don’t plan any of that stuff in your head, and it was a quick reaction and unfortunately the wrong one for me to a sucker punch.”
Tempers flared in the first 40 minutes between Washington and Anaheim and boiled over with 33.4 seconds remaining in the second period. Capitals forward Brendan Leipsic bulldozed the Ducks’ Derek Grant behind the net, sparking several fights between the teams’ fourth lines.
Almost all 10 skaters on the ice got involved, and Hathaway fought Gudbranson, Grant and Nick Ritchie during the scrum before he was thrown out. Ritchie was also ejected for being the third man into a fight and a total of 50 penalty minutes were doled out.
Ducks defenseman Brendan Guhle had been agitating much of the night, almost dropping the gloves with Tom Wilson and tripping up Leipsic in various incidents. It all paved the way for the brawl.
“It just escalated,” Guhle said. “It for sure was in the works. There were scrums all night. Guys were going after each other. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said he had never experienced one player spitting at another during a game.
“These games can get physical and they can get nasty,” Eakins said. “These guys’ll throw down, drop their gloves, that stuff goes on in the game, but what I saw there I haven’t seen — I think I’ve been in pro hockey 30 years maybe — and I’ve never seen that before. It’s just something you don’t see in the game.”
The fighting and Hathaway spitting overshadowed the NHL-leading Capitals winning their second in a row and picking up at least one point for the 14th time in 15 games. Alex Ovechkin scored his 254th career power-play goal, Richard Panik, Stephenson and Jakub Vrana also scored, Wilson sealed it with an empty netter and Braden Holtby made 32 saves for Washington.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.