Sunday afternoon in Minnesota saw two playoff hungry teams battling each other and it was a rough game to say the least, especially early on in the third period.

Minnesota Wild defenceman Matt Dumba laid a MASSIVE hit on Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov was receiving a pass from his teammate in Washington's zone and wasn't aware of Dumba coming at him before the 28-year-old Wild blueliner leveled him.

Here's a few more looks at Matt Dumba's massive hit on Evgeny Kuznetsov#mnwild pic.twitter.com/CKXjTTIuAp— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) March 19, 2023

Kuznetsov's teammate T.J. Oshie came to his defence and dropped the mitts with Dumba in what was a pretty non-eventful fight, with neither player landing any solid punches. While the fight was going on, Kuznetsov laid on the ice in pain and was forced to leave the game.

For the second straight day, the officials decided to call an instigator penalty after a fight, which was heavily discussed at the General Manager meetings in Florida last week.

Oshie was handed a two-minute minor for instigating, five-minutes for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct, while Dumba got five-minutes for fighting.

Do you think Dumba's hit on Kuznetsov was clear or should he have been ejected from the game? Share your thoughts in the poll below!

After laying a HUGE hit on Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Dumba chucks some knucks with T.J. Oshie#mnwild | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/3NUHrjyCgp— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) March 19, 2023