After this fight, you’d swear Brad Richardson’s role as an NHL player was an enforcer, not a solid bottom-six centerman.
It started rather simply.
Off the face-off, centers Travis Zajac and Brad Richardson opted to have a dance late in the second period of a mid-January game in the desert. Zajac got the best of Richardson early on and it looked like this one would get wrapped up pretty soon except for one thing.
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Brad Richardson was not finished.
Richardson stood in that fight until Zajac thought he had him beat, then let Zajac have it. He beat Zajac briskly about the head and shoulders more than a dozen hits in what many would call a late-round rout.
By the end of the matchup, Zajac was trying to fall on the ice just so it could be over and it took two linesmen to get Richardson to let up.
When you look back at some of the things we learned about the Arizona Coyotes last season, you could answer that we learned that the youth is promising, the goaltending is shaky on a good day, and that Brad Richardson can throw em’ from downtown.
Next: Anthony Duclair vs. Buffalo's Bogosian