Late in the third period of a game that his team was losing badly, David Pastrnak figured he’d had enough.

The Florida Panthers were pouring it on, having just scored their sixth goal of the night. They were going to win Game 2 and even the series. They were letting the Boston Bruins know about it too, with Matthew Tkachuk choosing the moment to show off his formidable trash-talking skills.

At some point, Pastrnak decided he’d handle it according to whatever version of hockey’s fabled Code was in effect in the moment. And that meant hand-to-hand combat.

PASTRNAK AND TKACHUK DROP THE GLOVES! 🥊 pic.twitter.com/RQqDxyOO2F

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 9, 2024

It was only the second time Pastrnak has ever had a fight in the NHL, according to HockeyFights. Tkachuk has far more experience in that area, with multiple fights in each of the past seven seasons. His brother Brady fights even more. His dad Keith did, too. It’s what the Tkachuk boys do: They score, they tell you about it, and occasionally they drop the gloves and trade punches with anyone who has a problem with it.

Pastrnak was well out of his element. But he apparently decided that somebody needed to shut Tkachuk up, or at least try. And as the Bruins’ star and highest-paid player, just days removed from scoring the Game 7 overtime winner that put Boston in this series in the first place, Pastrnak chose not to let anyone else handle business. He and Tkachuk discussed it during a break in play, a challenge was issued and accepted, and an agreement was reached. The next time the two stars stepped on the ice, they ignored the puck and headed directly for each other.

All things considered, Pastrnak did OK. He didn’t win the fight — even the most diehard Bruins fan couldn’t claim that — but The Code says he didn’t have to. He showed up. And he seemed to escape unscathed, skating away from that scrap looking no worse for wear. He almost didn’t, with Tkachuk throwing some haymakers that just missed. If one of those lands, there’s no way of knowing what kind of damage it does. It’s not inconceivable that Pastrnak could be out for a game, or the series, or the playoffs, or more.

So what was it? An example of a superstar showing the kind of leadership that unites a team behind him? Or a stupid, reckless risk that could have ended in disaster?

Both. It was very obviously both.

Look, if Pastrnak gets hurt, the stories write themselves. A team’s best player getting hurt in a fight that absolutely didn’t have to happen? Why, because he was mad that the other team wouldn’t stop scoring? With a game already determined, and absolutely nothing left to gain on that night? Against a guy he knew would probably pummel him? It would be a ridiculous exercise in frustration, a selfish act, and almost certainly the end of the Bruins’ quest for the Cup.

He didn’t get hurt, at least as far as we know. He seemed fine in the room after the game, according to The Athletic’s Bruins reporter Fluto Shinzawa. But he easily could have. Do you ever want to see your superstar take that kind of risk?

Well … yeah, you kind of do. You kind of love it.

Look, I get that it might not make much sense to fans of other sports. It doesn’t make sense to plenty of hockey fans either. And it sure won’t make sense to plenty of media and commentators and talking heads, many of whom will shake their heads and tut-tut about how silly the whole Code thing can be. And they won’t be wrong.

But also … hell yeah, David Pastrnak, and I right?

I’m sorry if that’s the caveman side of me coming out. I grew up with a different era of hockey, and to this day I wrestle with how I cheered it on. I know that the right answer here is the same one I’d tell me kids: There’s a better way to settle this stuff, so grow some thicker skin and don’t be a dummy. That’s how I’d want them to handle it on the playground.

But this wasn’t the playground. It was an NHL playoff game, and the rules are different, including the unspoken ones. There isn’t anywhere near as much fighting in the NHL as there once was, and it’s way less than the fans of other sports seem to think. But there’s still some. On Wednesday night, we saw one.

And I’ll be honest. When it was over and Pastrnak was skating off the ice, my first thought wasn’t about how irresponsible he’d been, or what he’d risked, or how silly the whole spectacle was.

It was more along the lines of: Damn, I wish that guy was on my team.

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone. I’m absolutely sure that Bruins fans loved every second of it. I’d be willing to bet that even as the punches were still flying, there were group chats across the league lighting up. And I doubt too many of them were tut-tutting anyone.

That’s the paradox in all this, at least for some of us. This stuff is the best, right up until we see the worst, which can happen any time. You never know. David Pastrnak is an adult, and he can decide if he wants to take that risk, because the NHL is the only major sports league that gives players that choice. Lots of people think it shouldn’t be that way. But it is, at least for now, so we get Pastrnak and Tkachuk.

Maybe when it happened, you quickly shut off your TV. Maybe it doesn’t matter if you did or not. Or maybe we just saw a legend made, a Lecavalier versus Iginla for a new generation. Maybe if the Bruins win the series or even the Stanley Cup, this will be the moment everyone points to.

Eh. Strike that last “maybe.” We know that one’s true.

And maybe tomorrow we find out Pastrnak isn’t at practice, that despite seeming fine, he’s day-to-day. That’s it’s an upper body injury from one of those haymakers, or a blown-out knee from the fall, or something else. Do we all change our opinions then? Most of us probably do. That’s hockey too.

But until then, Pastrnak made his choice, and he did what he felt he had to do. You don’t have to like it, and you don’t have to ignore what could happen the next time somebody else makes that choice. But that may not matter in a Bruins dressing room where I’m guessing every one of his teammates would run through a wall for their guy right now.

It’s playoff hockey. Not everyone gets it. Not everyone should. But Game 3 can’t get here fast enough.

(Photo: Steve Babineau / Getty Images)