Tanner Glass is the Hugh Jackman of the NHL, in that he has two very distinct sides. He's a real softie, pretty much incapable of turning down a charity opportunity (such as when he raised nearly $10,000 playing Scrabble with some loser blogger for the Canucks For Kids Fund), but he's also a noted pugilist, more than willing to bash a face in, should the opportunity arise.
Lucky for him, it often does in the NHL, such as in this major league tilt with Buffalo Sabres' forward Cody McCormick from the Sabres 6-5 overtime win versus the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night.
Those are some serious haymakers. Glass takes one right on the jaw, too. Doesn't even flinch. They should call him Tanner Adamantium.
To the naked eye, this might look like a slight victory for McCormick, who lands some heavy blows. But speaking of eyes, McCormick didn't exactly walk away from this one unscathed. Check out the damage:
Yeah. He didn't look like that when the fight started.
Of course, judging from the moment when Glass, wincing in the box, asks the timekeeper for ice, he didn't exactly escape without his lumps either. Here's hoping he didn't wreck up that right mitt too badly, though. Scrabbling is as much about soft hands as it is about sharp minds — those tiles are tiny.
It's worth noting Glass initiates this fight, and I'm gonna guess that he wasn't just trying to give his team a spark — the Jets were leading 4-3 at that point.
This was personal. That fight was the final third of the very first Gordie Howe hat trick of Glass's career.
He's been after it for awhile. Prior to Tuesday night, Glass had registered a goal and an assist in the same game twice in his career, both with the Vancouver Canucks, but each time (in Ottawa and in Colorado), the assist came with under five minutes remaining in a blowout. With the score so lopsided, he's been unable to find a willing dance partner to complete the trick, and with only five minutes remaining, he couldn't risk taking an instigator penalty and the suspension that comes with it.
This time, however, McCormick obliged him, and Glass repaid the favour by busting his eye wide open. This is why hockey rules.