The Oilers got their chance at Ryan Lindgren, and they didn’t waste much time sending a message.
Early in the game against the Seattle Kraken, Edmonton’s Trent Frederic dropped the gloves with Lindgren in a fight that immediately pulled fans back to the hit that knocked Evan Bouchard out of the World Championships. That summer moment had been a sore spot ever since, and with the Oilers finally facing the NHL team Lindgren was on, the reaction came fast.
The incident at the Worlds centered on a high hit that sent Bouchard out of the tournament. It drew plenty of criticism at the time, with many calling it an illegal check to the head. Bouchard’s tournament was over on the spot, and the fallout lingered all offseason until Edmonton had a chance to see Lindgren again.
Heading into this game, there was plenty of chatter about whether Bouchard himself would try to answer. Instead, Frederic took that burden on. The fight came in the first period, and social media quickly connected the dots.
“Never forget what Ryan Lindgren did to Bouchard during the Worlds,” one fan wrote. “He had to answer the bell for it tonight.” Another joked that Frederic was there to “settle the hefty bar tab” Lindgren left behind in the summer.
Not everybody viewed the exchange as a clean one-way payback. Some observers pointed out that Lindgren did what hockey’s unwritten code asks and stood in there instead of backing away.
A Sportsnet panel later broke down the bigger picture, looking at how a hit from a summer international event can spill into an NHL regular-season game and why teammates often step in on behalf of a player like Bouchard. Edmonton wasn’t about to put its elite defenseman in that spot. He has eight points, and the risk of injury would have been too much for the Oilers to accept.
Even so, the fight did not come off as a complete revenge payoff for everyone watching. Frederic had the size edge over Lindgren, and Kevin Bieksa said it should have been a mismatch.
But the result of the scrap may not be the point. What mattered was that Edmonton made sure the hit on Bouchard didn’t just disappear into the offseason.
The fight itself wasn’t a clear win for Frederic. Lindgren held his own, and several observers gave him credit for taking the challenge.
Still, in hockey terms, the message was delivered. A dangerous hit got answered, and Lindgren answered for it. Whether Bouchard feels the matter is settled is another question entirely.
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