The Los Angeles Kings received unfortunate news when veteran forward Corey Perry, signed to a one-year contract after spending the past season and a half with the Edmonton Oilers, was injured during a training session.
He has since undergone surgery and is expected to miss several weeks. Even at 40, Perry has proven he can still contribute, scoring 19 goals and 11 assists in 81 regular-season games for the Oilers, then adding 10 more goals in the postseason before Edmonton once again fell to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
It’s a cruel twist of irony for Perry, who has now been on the losing side in the Stanley Cup Final in five of the last six seasons with four different teams (Dallas in 2020, Montreal in 2021, Tampa Bay in 2022, and Edmonton in 2024 and 2025).
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Detroit Red Wings fans are all too familiar with Perry from his many years with the Anaheim Ducks. He and the Ducks faced Detroit three times in the postseason (2007, 2009, 2013), with the Red Wings winning each of the last two series in seven games.
While Perry has never backed down from dropping the gloves, he likely never would have imagined himself getting handled in a bout against Pavel Datsyuk, a multi-year winner of the Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player.
The Red Wings hosted Perry and the Ducks in their 2010–11 season opener at Joe Louis Arena, a 4–0 Detroit victory. With the game already well in hand in the third period, Perry’s frustration boiled over as he confronted Pavel Datsyuk along the half-wall.
After landing a few punches, Perry found himself on the receiving end, as Datsyuk fired back and eventually wrestled him to the ice as the sellout crowd roared in approval.
“I’m not a very big guy to talk about what happened,” Datsyuk explained years later. “What happened, happened. It’s part of hockey, part of the show.
“When you watch a fight from the side, you see how people grab each other and try to protect themselves. So, I was trying to defend myself.”
Datsyuk, who had already scored a goal with adding an assist, picked up his first and only Gordie Howe Hat Trick of his NHL career with the fight.
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