out of the woods • jack hughes

010

THE FIGHT
Quinn's Point of View
📍New York City, New York
🕰️ 4/24/23

Game 3.

The Rangers have a 2-1 series lead. I know last game I was all emotional and cute, but times have changed. This is a fucking playoff series, not some pee-wee bullshit.

"We are going to out there, and even up this fucking series!" Cheers pierce through the room like knives. "Devils on three!"

"One, two, three, Devils!" Claps and more cheers fill up the room. We all skate on the ice having one singular goal in mind: win this fucking game.

I face Patrick Kane in the first puck drop. Let's fucking do this. The puck drops and I win the face off for my team.

I know we are going to get an early goal here, quiet down the Garden and give ourselves the momentum we need to win this game.

Siegs passes the puck to Jack, and he shoots it toward the net. 1-0, Devils take the lead early. "Keep your foot on the gas!" I say to the bench once the shift ends.

We've gotten some more scoring chances in the first, but the score remained 1-0 through the rest of the first and second for that matter. Hits have been going around, and the refs have definitely missed some calls, but I don't need the refs to win the game for us like some other teams I know.

Cough, the Kansas City Chiefs, cough.

I have the puck behind the next, a little bit towards the right of it, actually. I get hit hard. It doesn't hurt too bad, and it was a clean it.

The issue with it was, I know that but was malicious as hell, it only could've came from Braden fucking Schneider.

I still make my way off the ice while the game continues. "Are you okay?" McLeod asks me once I get back to the bench.

"Yeah, I'm good." I say. That's not a front either, I am fine. But Schneider better watching his fucking six because he's going to pay for that hit.

The Rangers score at the beginning of the third, making it an even 1-1. I'm itching for a goal, and I know I'm going to get in any minute now.

"You're on, Brooks." Here's my chance. I always make the most of my chances when I'm on the ice. This time is no exception.

Jack passes me the puck, Trouba comes for me and I pass it to McLeod. He passes it back to me and I shoot it in the net. Goal.

Schneider, who should've been blocking me on this shift, hits his stick off of the the side of the rink skating back to the benches.

He should've been blocking me, but just wasn't doing a good enough job at it. He even fell a few times, and I had to refrain from laughing at his dumb ass.

My eyes find his and I can tell he's pissed. I give him a fake pout and shrug my shoulders. He clenches his jaw and looks away.

I'm off the ice for a couple of shifts before I'm on the ice again. "Take that you bitch." Schneider steals the puck away from me while sending me into the boards. Are we 12? That fucking bitch.

But hey, we are the one with the lead right now. Only six minutes left, all we have to do is drain the clock out.

Schneider only focuses on me and sends me into the boards before I can even get the puck. He does this over and over again. Eventually, I get fed up with his bullshit. "Back the fuck up, Schneider."

"What? You can't handle real hit? Stop being a fucking pussy, Brooks." He says.

"Step the fuck back, Schneider." McLeod gets in between us, the whistle blows.

"Are you the slut's boyfriend, too?" He says. Mikey throws a punch. The refs aren't going to break this one up too fast.

Miles gets into a brawl of his own with Kreider, Nico gets into a brawl with Trouba. Captain vs. captain. Jesper and Trocheck get into a brawl on the other side of the goal area. Fox and Dawson are going at it now, too.

Everyone on the ice is in a brawl right now, because if they weren't, they left. Schmido is standing out of the goalie area now, he's on the blue line.

Shesterkin has moved away from the brawls and toward the benches. I'm just standing there in the middle of it all. Thankfully Jack is on the bench right now.

"Come on." Schmido comes and grabs me, he pulls me away from the fights. The refs start to break the fights up.

"What the hell happened?" Jack asks. I sit down next to him on the bench, Severson is on my right.

"Schneider said some fucked up things to me, Mikey... you know, was Mikey." I say.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Schneider yells at me from across the ice. The referee signals that he's being ejected from the game.

You wanna know what's a bitch? Karma. This is what happens when you don't keep your side of the street clean. And oh my god does this feel good when all I think about is karma.

"He's a fucking lunatic." Jack says. I purposely set my stick over his lap so he doesn't get up and do something he shouldn't.

"Tell me about it." Severson leans forward to say that to Jack.

The clock runs out, and we have officially tied the series at 2. Watching the Rangers fans leave the arena before the game ended was pretty funny, they really thought the Rangers could sweep? Try the fuck again.

"Schneider is suspended for the next game." Nico informs me. I didn't think he would suspended, so this is news to my ears.

If you can count on karma for one thing, you can count on it to always track you down. Step by step from town to town.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

KARMA IS MY BF