Flames Defenseman Crushes Sharks Forward With Big Open Ice Hit

In the first period of the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks game at SAP Center, Flames defenseman Brayden Pachal laid a crushing hit on Sharks forward Carl Grundstrom.

Immediately following the hit, the Sharks came to the aid of their fallen teammate, who left the bench with a cut on his cheek. Nico Sturm sent the Flames to the power play with a cross-checking penalty before dropping the gloves with Pachal.

As they wrestled along the boards, there was no clear-cut winner of the tilt because no one could land any punches.

Meanwhile, Calgary didn’t score on their powerplay opportunity of the night. Still, they maintain a 1-0 lead after Jonathan Huberdeau opened the scoring at 4:40 with assists from MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri.