It was Zdeno Chara’s night. On Feb. 24, 2022, Chara, playing for the New York Islanders, the franchise that drafted him in 1996, made his 1,652nd NHL appearance. By doing so, he broke Chris Chelios’ record for most games played by an NHL defenseman.
On Chara’s record-breaking night, the San Jose Sharks took a 2-1 lead on the Islanders into the second period. By then, Sharks fourth-liner Jeffrey Viel had laid hits on Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelech, Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Chara was ready to do something about it.
After a defensive-zone faceoff, Chara rode Viel into the boards, leaned over him and asked him to fight.
Seconds later, Chara sent a clearing pass up the left-side wall. Viel never turned to watch the puck. He was facing Chara, gloves ready to drop. Viel had accepted.
Viel is 6-foot-1 and 214 pounds. Chara played at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds. Viel had to negate Chara’s size and reach. He didn’t arrive at a solution.
When Viel swung with his right hand, all he hit was air. Chara had locked him out.
“Obviously, I couldn’t reach. He’s too tall,” Viel recalls. “Tried to switch to lefty. Still couldn’t reach.”
Chara, one of the NHL’s most-feared players — one whose restraint was all that prevented him from injuring players in the NHL on a nightly basis — ended the fight with a takedown. As the two got to their skates, he tapped Viel twice on the side of his helmet with his right hand.
“I just tried to do the best I could,” Viel says, smiling. “I thought I did pretty well, considering.”
Viel didn’t have to accept the fight. Players in the NHL regularly turn down such invitations if the situation isn’t favorable. And Viel had plenty of reasons to think it wasn’t. Chara had 20 years, eight inches and 36 pounds on him. The Sharks were winning and didn’t need a momentum shift. When the game paused for the spectacle, they were in the offensive zone on the attack.
But Viel knew that there were also circumstances that demanded he answer the call.
He had flattened four of Chara’s teammates. It was Chara’s record-breaking night. A future Hall of Famer was asking an undrafted journeyman in his 28th career NHL game.
With all this in mind, Viel concluded he had no choice but to say yes to a fight he couldn’t win.
Go or no go?
NHL players make rapid decisions. A defenseman who winds up for a shot changes his target mid-swing if he sees a teammate opening his blade for a deflection. A forward in the bumper on the power play pops out to create shooting lanes and passing seams the instant a defenseman carries the puck down the wall.
Fights involve similar reads and reactions. They aren’t simply emotions boiling over. There’s a strategy to them.
Before entering fisticuffs, a player has to execute multiple on-the-fly calculations: Whether an opponent’s offense elevates to a level that demands a response. The score of the game. How much time is left. If the invited foe is an appropriate match in terms of size, experience and job description. The danger the opponent presents. Whether his team has momentum that he could halt if he gets beaten up.
A fighter cannot afford to process this the wrong way. Nor can he be so obvious with his request that he puts his team on the penalty kill by drawing an “instigator” penalty, which the NHL levies on a player looking to start a fight in addition to the five-minute major for fighting handed to both participants.
“It’s kind of a game-management thing,” the Boston Bruins’ Tanner Jeannot says. “You have a feel for the game when you’re there on the ice. When maybe your team needs it. When it’s not a good time. It’s all about the feel of the game, being in the present moment and knowing when a team needs it.”
Jeannot, who’s previously done gloves-off work for the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings, saw one of his new teammates proceed through this checklist. On Oct. 8, the Bruins and Washington Capitals kicked off 2025-26 at Capital One Arena.
At 7:21 of the second period, Tom Wilson walloped Mason Lohrei. Seventeen seconds later, Wilson blew up Lohrei again.
Mark Kastelic saw his skilled defenseman go down. The score was 0-0. Kastelic thought it was a good time to let Wilson know he didn’t like how he dumped Lohrei. Fighting is part of the fourth-liner’s resume.
“That’s just part of the family here and our team,” Kastelic says. “One of us has to try to stick up for each other. That’s what we do. I think anybody on the team would do the same. It was just my turn. Natural instinct.”
It would have been a fair fight. Kastelic is 6-foot-4 and 234 pounds. Wilson is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. Both know how to handle themselves. Had it been 5-foot-11, 181-pound Anthony Beauvillier putting Lohrei on his back, it would have been out of line for Kastelic to target a smaller combatant.
But Wilson said no. He is one of Washington’s go-to offensive players. That game, he would score the Capitals’ only goal and play 22:15. Kastelic would log 12:08.
Also, despite the ferocity of Wilson’s checks on Lohrei, the right wing delivered them by the letter of the rule. Kastelic and the Bruins knew it. They understood why Wilson kept his gloves on.
“They were clean hits,” Jeannot says. “Big hits, but clean hits. There’s not a responsibility to fight. But I see it both ways. He’s playing hard. Our guy comes in and tries to make him answer. He said no. What do you do? But it sends a message to both teams. Kasty’s sticking up for his team. (Wilson) knows it’s a possibility for that to happen. It shows the other guys that we’re going to answer for our guys getting hit. We’re going to stick up for each other.”
So Kastelic turned away. He had done his job. So had Wilson.
“I like to think I can hold my own against a lot of people in the league,” Kastelic says. “Obviously, there are things that come with it. I don’t think I’m one to enjoy getting punched in the head. But it just comes with the territory.”
In fact, Bruins coach Marco Sturm believed getting steamed twice wasn’t a bad thing for Lohrei to experience. The 24-year-old is a defenseman expected to move the puck. Sturm wants Lohrei to hasten his thinking. The discomfort of getting a No. 43 tattoo on his chest may convince Lohrei to get rid of the puck quicker next time.
“If that’s the way he needs to learn, then he’s got to do it the hard way, and that’s OK,” Sturm says. “I’ve addressed and all of the coaching staff have addressed that we want him to play fast, want him to play simple. If not, he’s going to get hit.”
No, but still a go
In 2017-18, Viel scored 39 goals in the QMJHL. The left wing has been a double-digit goal scorer in each of his five full AHL seasons.
He likes throwing punches just as much as putting pucks in nets.
“I love it. Yeah, I do,” Viel says with a big laugh. “I actually enjoy it a lot. It’s part of the game. I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s not like a chore for me. It’s fun. Just adrenaline.”
The 28-year-old understands that not everyone feels the same way. He also knows that, depending on the situation, an opponent has a right to say no. In that case, Viel has to find a workaround.
“Some guys have been in the league forever,” Viel says. “You have to earn their respect for them to say yes. They won’t just say yes. Sometimes, if they say no, you just have to try to find another way. Sometimes I’ll fight just because I want to bring some energy. If the guy says no, then I might have to find something else. Finish a hit or do something else if that can’t be the case. I won’t force the guy to fight me. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.”
That an ask sometimes produces a no does not mean it was a wasted appeal. In Kastelic’s case, he proved to his employer that he was willing to throw down against an intimidator like Wilson. It made Lohrei feel good that a teammate had his back.
“You’re going to war for each other out there,” Jeannot says. “You’re showing that you’re willing to put your body on the line for the next guy. It definitely sends a message to the rest of the group that they’re going to be willing to do it more for you.”