BUFFALO – No one expected it. After all, Sabres defenseman Zach Metsa doesn’t fight much. As a pro, he said he had only scrapped once before taking on heavyweight Mathieu Olivier in Thursday’s season opener in Columbus.
As a rookie with the Rochester Americans, the 5-foot-9, 201-pound Metsa said he fought a member of the Syracuse Crunch whose name he doesn’t remember.
“I think he was No. 18,” Metsa said said Saturday in KeyBank Center.
In 2023-24, Joe Carroll wore that number for Syracuse. A simple internet search shows on Nov. 4, 2023, Metsa and Carroll briefly dropped the gloves.
Technically, Thursday’s bout with Olivier was Metsa’s first fight.
Instead of five-minute fighting majors, he and Carroll each received a two-minute minor penalty for roughing.
“Quick one,” Metsa said. “It wasn’t the same kind of match-up.”
Metsa, 27, gave up three inches and 31 pounds to Olivier, a winger for the Blue Jackets who also possesses a scoring touch.
Of course, Metsa wasn’t thinking about his opponent’s size advantage. When Olivier slid the puck into the Sabres’ empty net at the end of a delayed penalty, he let one of the NHL’s top tough guys know he did not appreciate it.
So Metsa went after him. About two seconds later, they began fighting.
“He was probably looking for (a fight), just to stir something, test us,” Metsa said. “I just think (an) empty net like that, he put it in on a delayed call, it’s just disrespectful. So I think someone just has to get in his face, maybe not necessarily fight him.
“I think everyone knows who he is. But just send a message that we’re not going to stand for that. We’re a tight group, and it’s just not acceptable.”
That Metsa lost the fight hardly mattered.
“I don’t even know what Olivier was thinking,” coach Lindy Ruff told reporters Thursday’s following the Sabres’ 6-3 loss. “Come on, it’s Metsa. I thought Metsa did a great job protecting himself. I give him a lot of credit for that because Olivier’s a tough customer.”
The strong message Metsa sent on behalf of the Sabres resonated with his teammates.
“He’s got (guts),” said Sabres center Tage Thompson, who used a more colorful term. “… There wasn’t one guy on the bench that wasn’t up on their feet or going to give him knucks or say something to him in the penalty box there. I think to do what he did is extremely courageous.
“Obviously, Olivier’s probably one of the toughest in the league. That’s just about our team. It’s just doing something that you didn’t think the group liked, and he stands up for the group.”
Metsa said the taps he received in the penalty box were “really cool.”
“I think maybe guys didn’t quite expect it from me,” he said. “I guess that message, I think, hit home, and I think (the) guys loved it.”
