Ex-Canucks goalie Markstrom starts latest NHL goalie fight
Goalie fights were bordering on extinction until this season.
Prior to the 2025-26 campaign, there hadn’t been a single NHL goalie fight since before the pandemic, back in February 2020.
This season, there have been three of them.
The latest goalie fight happened at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, when New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin dropped the gloves with ex-Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom.
Chaos ensued in the final minute of a 4-1 Rangers win over the New Jersey Devils after forward Paul Cotter bumped into Shesterkin. Rangers players went after Cotter, and then Shesterkin got in on the action.
That prompted the 36-year-old Markstrom to skate down the ice and challenge the Rangers’ goaltender, leading to a spirited scrap.
WE GOT ANOTHER GOALIE FIGHT THIS TIME SHESTERKIN VS MARKSTROM š³š„ pic.twitter.com/CqkWXkVPpy
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 1, 2026
“I felt like I just needed to do something,” Markstrom said postgame.
“It’s frustrating letting in four goals, and then you stand back, you wanna hit someone, you wanna get involved. As a goalie, that’s not really my job.”
“Paul [Cotter] bumped into him a little bit, and then I saw [Shesterkin] go after the huddle. We’re down 4-1, I just try to get a spark and do something.”
While both goalies got their shots in, Shesterkin appeared to get the better of Markstrom. The Russian netminder landed more punches and scored the takedown.
After his impressive performance, he was asked by reporters who taught him how to fight.
“I just want to say thanks to my boxing coach,” Shesterkin said with a laugh. “I just had a couple lessons, so nothing crazy.”
The 6-foot-1 goalie also talked about how he felt seeing the 6-foot-6 Markstrom come flying down the ice to challenge him.
“I just thought like, woah, how huge he is,” Shesterkin said. “And I just start [thinking] like, I just don’t want to get knocked out.”
Neither team had witnessed one of their goaltender involved in a scrap this century. Former Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier was the last Rangers netminder to be involved in a scrap back in 1998. Another ex-Canucks goalie, Corey Schwab, last fought for the Devils in 1995.
Canucks goaltenders have been in scraps before, but most of those are altercations between a Vancouver netminder and an opposing team’s skater. Cloutier was involved in an infamous one when he went after former Canucks coach Travis Green back in 2003.
Ryan Miller was nearly involved in a goalie fight back in 2016, when he jumped to Troy Stecher’s defence and took on Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Matt Martin. Leafs goalie Frederik Anderson skated down the ice, but the two goalies never ended up fighting.
Markstrom was actually involved in a fight while he was a Canucks prospect. Back in 2015, while he was with the Utica Comets, Markstrom squared off with Binghamton Senators goalie Peter Mannino.
“It’s adrenaline,” Markstrom said after his Tuesday night fight with Shesterkin. “It’s easy to plan, and then you just go in there and swing for the fences. ”
“He did a good job, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.”