Canucks’ Desharnais avenges injury to Boeser with fight vs. Kings’ Jeannot

Vincent Desharnais took care of some unfinished business — just two months late.

On Thursday night, the Vancouver Canucks faced the Los Angeles Kings for the first time since Nov. 7, when Kings forward Tanner Jeannot laid an open-ice head shot on Canucks’ Brock Boeser, which kept the winger out with a concussion for seven games.

At the time, Desharnais alluded to reporters that he had this game marked on the calendar and wanted to enact his own justice for the hit that injured the popular forward.

“The league did what they had to do,” the defenceman told reporters on Nov. 9, just after the NHL handed Jeannot a three-game suspension for the hit. “Next time we play them… Next time we play them.”

True to his word, the first time Desharnais and Jeannot hit the ice, they dropped the gloves. Officials let the tilt play out, with the Canuck eventually downing Jeannot in about 30 seconds.

In addition to avenging the hit on Boeser, Desharnais’ fight was meant to spark the Canucks bench, who were down 1-0 early in the contest. Unfortunately, it seems his teammates didn’t get the memo — the Kings scored two goals in quick succession after the fact to put the home team down 3-0 before the halfway mark of the first.