Stamkos explains his decision to attack Auston Matthews in Game 3

In case you missed it, Auston Matthews received a five-minute major after being attacked by an angry Steven Stamkos during Game 3 last night in Tampa — the first fight of Matthews' NHL career. After what would've just been a call against Nikita Kucherov for fighting Morgan Rielly, an altercation in response to Brayden Point going headfirst into the boards following a hit from Rielly, Stamkos grabbed Matthews as he was cleaning up sticks and just started swinging, while Matthews began to defend himself.

Post-game comments saw Sheldon Keefe calling out Stamkos' actions against Matthews as a way to manipulate the officials. Stamkos has since responded with his side of the story.




Stamkos makes a decent point about how he'd expect a similar response from the Leafs if the roles had been reversed and the likes of Matthews or Mitch Marner went headfirst into the boards instead. However, if you watch the entire sequence below, you'll see just how long it took for Stamkos to go after Matthews following what happened with Point and the incoming penalty against Kucherov.


I think the fight was unwarranted. Matthews wasn't even part of anything going on, and Stamkos could've easily sent a message by doing something other than starting an unnecessary fight with a guy who clearly wasn't engaging in the tension.