Canucks Filip Hronek and Conor Garland's fiery practice confrontation

Teams are fighting hard for a spot in the playoffs in both the Eastern and Western Conferences. The Vancouver Canucks are feeling the heat after a disappointing loss to the Colorado Avalanche. During practice the following day, an incident took place that proved frustration is present within the dressing room.

In the middle of a small area game at the end of a long and tiring practice, teammates Filip Hronek and Conor Garland briefly came to blows and had to be separated by veteran blue liner Ian Cole. While the fight did not last long and the gloves never came off, it was clear that both players were heated during the exchange. Garland was also tangled up with defenseman Nikita Zadorov and took a high stick to the face during a rush drill earlier in practice.





Garland and Hronek did not meet with the media following practice, but fans hope that the passion will still be high when the Canucks take on the Washington Capitals in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Drill lineup during tense practice session

Mikheyev-Miller-Boeser
Suter-EP40-Höglander
Podkolzin-Lindholm-Garland
PDG-Blueger-Lafferty
Aman

Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Cole-Zadorov
Friedman-Juulsen


Before practice even started, the players and coaches assembled for a post-trade deadline team photo. This is the second time this week teammates have come to blows. On Wednesday, Detroit Red Wings' Ben Chiarot and Lucas Raymond got into a fight during a drill and had to be broken up.