WATCH: Senators’ Tkachuk, Hurricanes’ Staal fight off opening faceoff of 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs

Talk about an explosive start to the postseason.

When the puck dropped for Game 1 between the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes, the first game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal decided to drop the gloves and fight, with much appreciation from the home crowd in Raleigh.

The two were seen jawing prior to the opening face-off, with Tkachuk, starting on the left wing, creeping into the center-ice circle to let Staal, a center, know that it’s time to square off. The dust-up wasn’t long, as Tkachuk threw a few rights before the two hit the ice. However, the message was sent that the Senators, the team that clinched the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, aren’t going to be intimidated by the team that finished with the best record in the conference.

It was the fifth-fastest fight to start a game in NHL postseason history.

This isn’t the first time Tkachuk has been in a fight in the opening seconds of the game. Last February, Tkachuk and his older brother Matthew, along with J.T. Miller, partook in a trio of fights in the first nine seconds of a game against Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. In that instance, Matthew was the one to fight first, having fisticuffs with Brandon Hagel, while Brady fought Sam Bennett on the ensuing face-off.

It was the 43rd fight of Tkachuk’s NHL career, and first in the playoffs. He had three fights during the 2025-26 regular season, after having six in the 2024-25 campaign. It was only the ninth time that Staal had ever dropped the mitts in his veteran career. He fought Minnesota Wild forward Tyler Pitlick back in November, his first fight since the 2016-17 season.

While there was still a lot of hockey to be played in this series, if the first three seconds of Game 1 have anything to show, we are in for an explosive series.