Steven Stamkos Finally Breaks His Silence And Explains Why He Fought Auston Matthews

"We saw Brayden Point go head-first into the board. He was moaning and screaming, it seemed like a dangerous hit. A response was necessary. Kuch (Nikita Kucherov) and I got in there. At that point, I considered it a dirty play. I hadn't had a chance to watch the replay and understand that it was just a tough-luck situation."

"It looked like he was probably done. Then, a little skirmish broke out, and I thought 'enough of this, I'm just going to grab Matthews and see what happens.' I mean, he's their best player, and one of our top players had just been slammed into the boards. Let's just start throwing rabbit punches and see what happens.

It wasn't anything personal against Auston Matthews, other than that he was right there and he's their top player. It just sort of happened," he added.