It’s been a long wait, but goalie fights are officially back in the NHL spotlight - and they’ve returned with a vengeance. After years without a single netminder scrap, fans have been treated to not one, but two goalie bouts in the span of just 13 days. And if you’ve been around this league long enough, you know these moments don’t just light up the highlight reels - they ignite the entire arena.
The first dust-up came late last month when San Jose Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic - formerly of the Detroit Red Wings - dropped the gloves with Florida Panthers veteran Sergei Bobrovsky. That alone was enough to get fans buzzing. But then, just under two weeks later, history was made.
In a scene straight out of a hockey fan’s fever dream, Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman squared off during the NHL’s Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. That’s right - the league’s first-ever outdoor goalie fight.
Under the open sky, with tens of thousands of fans in the stands and millions more watching at home, two of the game’s top goaltenders went toe-to-toe. It was raw, emotional, and pure hockey theater.
Before these recent clashes, the last goalie to throw down was Cam Talbot - now with the Detroit Red Wings - back in February 2020. That fight came during one of the most heated rivalries in hockey: the Battle of Alberta.
Talbot, then with the Calgary Flames, squared off against Edmonton Oilers netminder Mike Smith on a Saturday night showcase during Hockey Night in Canada. It was a moment made for the spotlight - and Talbot knew it.
“I wish I’d thought about it a little more,” Talbot said this week, reflecting on the scrap. “Seeing him standing at center ice is not the best guy you’d want to go up against; he’s a big man, and it didn’t go very well for me, but it was fun.”
Talbot may not have gotten the better of that exchange, but he doesn’t regret a thing. Growing up idolizing Patrick Roy - the king of the crease clash - Talbot had always dreamed of being part of one of those legendary goalie fights. And on that night, he got his shot.
“I’d always wanted to have a goalie fight, and there was nothing better than at center ice during Hockey Night in Canada,” he said, grinning.
Talbot, like many in the game, knows that goalie fights are rare - and becoming even rarer as the NHL evolves. But when the moment’s right, when the emotions boil over and the crowd is roaring, there’s still something special about two masked warriors meeting at center ice.
“It’s fun to see that emotion, the spark that it gives the guys,” Talbot said. “Obviously, Bob (Bobrovsky) saw something that maybe he was frustrated with, or he just didn’t like the way that Ned came out of his net, but I love that out of them.”
“I think goalies have tried since then, and the refs have gotten in the way and not let it happen,” he added. “But it’s fun to see them let it go on.”
For Red Wings fans, goalie fights aren’t just a novelty - they’re part of the franchise’s DNA. Back in the late '90s, during Detroit’s back-to-back Stanley Cup runs, the crease was a battleground. Mike Vernon and Patrick Roy famously went at it during the height of the Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry, and just over a year later, Chris Osgood followed suit, squaring off against Roy himself.
Those moments didn’t just define games - they defined eras. And for Talbot, who grew up watching those battles, they left a lasting impression.
“Patrick was my favorite goalie growing up, so those series stick out in my mind,” he said. “That was my childhood - to stay up late and watch those ones.
I always thought those were the best series, the best fights, and obviously, the rivalry was second to none. That’s part of the reason why I always wanted to do one - just to say that I did it.”
Talbot isn’t out here encouraging goalies to drop the gloves just for show. But if the moment calls for it? He’s all in.
“Under the right circumstances, I wouldn’t say to go do it for no reason,” he said. “But if you have an opportunity, go for it.
I think the game is changing a little bit and getting away from that, but every time it happens, people seem to go nuts for it. It’s a good show for the fans, and I think the goalies enjoy it too.”
And judging by the crowd reactions - and the viral clips lighting up social media - he’s absolutely right. Goalie fights might not happen often, but when they do, they remind us why we fell in love with this game in the first place.
It’s passion. It’s pride.
It’s hockey at its most primal.