The Loop
Drew Doughty checked in with the most NSFW goal celebration of all time against the Calgary Flames
The NHL's most random rivalry was renewed on Tuesday night, when Drew Doughty of the L.A. Kings took the ice to take on Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames. If you don't know the duo's history (I'm guessing only NHL diehards do), Stan Temming of Yahoo Sports Canada breaks it down nicely here. It all began in March of 2017 when Tkachuk, a rookie at the time, gave this vicious elbow to the face of the All-Star defenseman:
Ten days later the duo met again, and by some miracle, Doughty didn't lose his cool after Tkachuk went in for another huge hit at center ice:
Doughty reached his breaking point with Tkachuk last March, almost a full two years after the video above. After Tkachuk went in for a hit on Doughty and missed, Doughty unleashed an epic slash a few years in the making. Doughty wanted to fight, but the refs stepped in:
Ok, so we've established they hate each other. Prior to their matchup Tuesday night, Tkachuk was asked if he "respects" Doughty. Tkachuk wouldn't use the R word in his response:
For those unaware, "Gio" is Mark Giordano, a teammate of Tkachuk's. Doughty's response:
Delicious stuff. In a nice little trick of fate, Doughty wound up scoring the game winner in overtime at the Scotiabank Saddledome, which caused him to unleash what is quite possibly the most NSFW celebration you'll ever witness:
Hope the kids had the earmuffs and the blindfolds on for that one. Thank goodness hockey is a niche sport that the masses don't pay attention to. The last thing anyone needs is a bunch of sanctimonious bluecheckmarkers quote tweeting about how "problematic" Doughty's celebration was. Instead, we can just enjoy this hilariously NSFW celly in peace. Nothing like a real-deal, old-school, hate-filled rivalry like this one between Tkachuk and Doughty. These two meet again three times this season (October 19th, December 7th and February 12th). Mark your calendars.