Penguins rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany experienced a first on Tuesday when he recorded his first career fighting major during a 5-3 home loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The infraction occurred at 10:39 of the second period when St. Ivany tussled with Wild defenseman Brock Faber after Faber harassed Penguins forward Sidney Crosby.
St. Ivany, who also received a roughing minor during the sequence, had a simple motivation for going after Faber.
Crosby.
“As I was getting on (the ice), I just kind of noticed there was a little bit of a scrum,” said St. Ivany, who has a slight abrasion on his left cheek as a result of the confrontation. “I didn’t really know what started it or anything. But I just saw one of their guys shoving Sid. He’s our best player. He shouldn’t have to deal with anything like that. I just figured I’d step in and it ended up being a fight.”
According to Hockey Fights, St. Ivany’s only other fight at the professional level happened in April as a member of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Suffice it to say, it’s not necessarily a common part of his game. But he sees it as a necessity if the occasion arises.
“It’s definitely not something that I’m looking to do going into any game or anything like that,” St. Ivany said. “But there’s certain situations where you need to step up, and I just felt like at that moment somebody was giving it to him. It’s a no-brainer to step in.”
Primarily deployed on the third defensive pairing with Ryan Graves, the right-handed St. Ivany (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) is one of the team’s more physical entities beyond fighting. In nine games this season, he has 23 hits, second-most on the squad.
“I feel like there’s more to that side of the game that I can continue to work on,” St. Ivany. “I feel like hitting, it’s part of the game. You’re not trying to hurt guys or do anything like that. It’s just a defensive technique to keep guys away from your own net and to try to get them off the puck. If there’s any opportunities to finish guys, it’s a good chance to keep them on the outside and keep yourself between them and the net.”