It was a wild Wednesday night at the rink as fans almost witnessed a rare brawl between goalies! Marc-Andre Fleury of the Minnesota Wild challenged Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues. How’s that for a plot twist?

The almost-fight took place during the Blues’ “Wrestling Night” – a perfect theme, right? To complete the mood, WWE superstar Rick Flair was present in the building and part of the pre-game ceremonies. In the Blues’ locker room, Flair playfully asked, “who’s the badass on this team?” after praising the players’ dedication to the sport and announcing the squad’s starting lineup.

Apparently, Binnington took Flair’s comment quite seriously. After allowing a power play goal from Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman in the second period, Binnington swung at the forward, sparking a scrum. That’s when Fleury decided he wanted to see if Binnington had what it takes. The 38-year-old Vezina Trophy winner skated down to the other end of the ice to challenge Binnington, dropping his gloves and removing his helmet.

Unfortunately for fans, the on-ice officials broke up the would-be brawl before it could escalate. However, the Wild’s social media team caught Fleury’s mic’d up encounter with Binnington, sharing it with fans later. “It’ll be fun, no?” Fleury said to an official as he was guided away from Binnington. “Get the crowd going a bit, yeah?”

Even though the fight didn’t actually happen, Fleury explained to reporters after the game that he felt the need to step in to protect his teammate. “I don’t know, I saw him jump in there and punch one of our guys, so I felt that was my guy I had to take care of,” Fleury said.

Talk about team spirit and dedication! It’s not every day you see goalies go toe-to-toe (or should we say glove-to-glove?) on the ice. Although fans missed out on the goalie fight, they did witness an unforgettable display of passion for the sport and loyalty to teammates. Now that’s what we call an exciting game!