Brind'Amour bothered by Ovechkin's role in fight with Svechnikov

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour wasn't thrilled with Alexander Ovechkin after his fight with rookie Andrei Svechnikov in Game 3 on Monday night.

The Russian countrymen dropped the gloves in the first period, and the much bigger Ovechkin dropped Svechnikov to the ice with a powerful right hand. Carolina's rookie was helped to the dressing room by trainers and didn't return due to an upper-body injury.

"If you watch the video, he slashes him twice - Ovi, whack, whack - then Svech gets him back," Brind'Amour said, per ESPN's Emily Kaplan. "I don't know if there's words exchanged but, one guy's gloves come off way first. And that's Ovi, not our guy. So it's a little bit frustrating because he got hurt. It's his first fight. He's played 90 games. He's never fought in his life, and I'm pretty sure Ovi knew that. So that stuff bothers me."

The Hurricanes drafted Svechnikov second overall in the 2018 draft, and the skillful winger put up 37 points in 82 games before notching three points in the opening two games of the first-round series.

"Svech means a lot to us," Brind'Amour said. "Young kid. Just turned 19. He has a special bond with our group, with me too. When you see that it makes you sick. I'm still sick to my stomach about it."

After the Hurricanes' 5-0 win, Ovechkin said Svechnikov challenged him to square off, and that he hopes he's OK.

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