Former Canadien Chris Nilan loved Josh Anderson's bench fight
Chris Nilan was in the stands at the Bell Centre for the Canadiens' 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series Friday night.
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Not surprisingly, the Canadiens' all-time leader in penalty minutes with 2,248 loved it when Josh Anderson and the Capitals' Tom Wilson got into a fight at the end of the second period and ended up in the Washington bench.
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'Oh yeah, that looked fun,' Nilan said with a chuckle Sunday while getting ready to attend Game 4 Sunday night at the Bell Centre. (6:30 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). 'The door opened and they ended up on the bench. That never would have happened if that wasn't the case. The whole Capitals team has to leave the bench and go on the ice to get to their dressing room … so what do you expect the Canadiens players to do? Go to their room? So there's going to be a confrontation.
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'I was in the stands and I could not sit down,' Nilan added. 'I was on edge, I was up and down with the fans. People were hugging me … it was incredible. It was the most electric, passionate atmosphere I've ever been in at a sporting event. It really was. It was unbelievable. People have waited so long for these kids to come around and they finally have. Hopefully they keep it going.'
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Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported that the NHL told management of the Canadiens and Capitals to be more careful during warm-ups, TV timeouts and at the end of periods in Game 4 because the league didn't like what happened in Game 3.
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The fight between Anderson and Miller brought back memories of the 'Brawl in the Hall' Nilan was involved in at Boston Garden on Nov. 20, 1986. Nilan received a fighting major and a game misconduct at 15:09 of the second period of a game the Canadiens would end up winning 3-1.
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Nilan was being escorted off the ice by a linesman and had to go through a door beside the Bruins bench to get to the Canadiens' locker room. Ken Linseman stood up on the Bruins bench and was staring at Nilan.
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Montreal Gazette
07-08-2025
- Montreal Gazette
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Vancouver Sun
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- Vancouver Sun
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Vancouver Sun
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- Vancouver Sun
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