Colorado Avalanche
Kyle Burroughs rag-dolled the much bigger Nick Bjugstad in first NHL game

No, I don’t like staged fighting anymore in the NHL, but I still think fighting has a place in the game of hockey. I’m not going to get into some long debate about it here, because it’s boring and the same points – for and against – have been made a gazillion times before. Kyle Burroughs definitely helped his Avalanche team tonight with his fight of the much bigger Minnesota Wild opponent, Nick Bjugstad.
It was Bjugstad who challenged the smaller Burroughs – playing in his first NHL game – to the fight. No doubt, he now probably wishes he hadn’t.
Burroughs clocked Bjugstad several times in winning the fight decisively. Avalanche teammates were all smiles after Burroughs returned to the bench after serving his five minutes.
Here’s the fight:
One-sided bout: Kyle Burroughs vs. Nick Bjugstad, April 05, 2021 – Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild https://t.co/cUtMN6FWow
— Adrian Dater (@adater) April 6, 2021
Let’s hope Bjugstad is OK.
I thought Burroughs was good tonight for his first NHL game, and yes (despite what the Wild commentators said) Bjugstad did engage in that scrap and probably would have done better if he hadn’t lost his balance right at the start and gone down to a knee. That being said, congrats to Burroughs on his first NHL game and I hope he has many more. Just not sure if they should be with the Avs at this time. The more I think about it, if they can swing that trade for Savard without giving up a king’s ransom then that… Read more »
Let’s have Miller bring Getzlaf along with him, instead of Savard.
I’d much rather prefer Bernier or Reimer to Miller. Getzlaf? A shell of himself. Not that he can’t play and be physical. But at age 35, he’s slowing down, appreciably.
seriously… a “Marcus Foligno hat trick”???????
Sorry bjugstad, but your ass whooping wasn’t good enough to warrant a gordie?!!!?!
If Bjugstad engaged the fight why did Burroughs get him by surprise? Never seen a bigger group of turds cheering over winning a hockey fight.
Burroughs got the first punch in and then followed it up with some super uppercuts. Then, he looked calm and composed in the penalty box with an impish grin. He skated well for his debut with the Avs. Geez, isn’t this about the 100th (it seems) defenseman that the Avs have played this year? Pretty soon, Joe is going to audition “D” men from the stands.
Good thing they’re letting fans in – it increases the pool of prospective D-Men!
Mikko has been pretty testy lately. Of course he’s being hacked, crosschecked and cheap-shotted and nothing gets called – then he gets called for ev-ery-thing!
But it’s almost as if Rant’s feistiness coincides with the arrivals of O’Brien, and now Burroughs. Kind of like they have his back!
I hate to burst our bubble here, but did you notice that Bjugstad did not even have his gloves off for the first few Burroughs punches, and didn’t even have time to get his 2nd glove off for the entire fight? All the while, Burroughs has a good grip with one bare hand and a closed fist with the other?
Nice aggressiveness by the youngster, but he’s going to get his $#%@ if he keeps getting a jump on people like this.
But Bjugstad started the fight. Not Burroughs’ fault he wasn’t prepared
Wrong
I wouldn’t call him a youngster since he’s older than MacKinnon, but did you actually watch the replay? How did Burroughs get a jump when Bjugstad turned sharply to go at him high and started it?
I appriciated the fight as much as the next guy but wasn’t too impressed with Burroughs’ game otherwise. Thought his skating was very slow/bad and he had issues with the pace of the game. I defenitely welcome the toughness, we all know we need more of that, but my guess is we wont see too much of him going forward.
Adrian, did you see the article by Joe Nelson? Wow, what a sore loser. Burroughs did a great job standing up for himself and the Avs team.
I saw the headline. I assumed it was an Onion article at first but I guess not.
You can’t fault Burroughs for fighting in his first game. He’s doing what he thinks he needs to do to get noticed and stay in this league – which in my opinion, he has no business playing in for very long. He was a respectable WHL defenseman, but it seems like skating and puck movement is really not at an elite level . Anywayy…This “fight” is honestly one of the grossest displays I’ve seen in the NHL in a while. It’s not something to be celebrated.