"Why didn't he cross check him in the throat then?": NHL fans react as Morgan Rielly receives a snow shower from Andrei Vasilevskiy during warmup

During the pre-game warmup before the Tampa Bay Lightning faced off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy gave Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly an unwanted snow shower.

As Vasilevskiy was skating around during warmups, he approached center ice where Rielly was stretching next to the benches. Vasilevskiy aggressively dug his skate blades into the ice, covering Morgan Rielly in a bit of snow.

Morgan Rielly, clearly displeased with the snow shower, appeared to say something to Vasilevskiy afterward.

The incident was captured during the live pre-game broadcast on Amazon Prime, who acquired rights to air select NHL games this season. Fans watching the pre-game incident took notice and reacted on social media.

One tweeted:

"Why didn't he cross check him in the throat then?"

Another noted:

"You think Tkachuk would sit there and just take that?? It’s another example of the leafs getting walked over. They are Uber talented but they have no fire when it comes to standing up for themselves," on X.

Here are some more fan reactions:

"Prime intro 100x better than sportsnet and all they did was air the in game warmup lmao," one fan wrote on X.

"Now he can leave the game and shower himself in embarrassment after Rielly’s teammates took it to him hard. BYE BYE Vagilevskiy," another fan wrote.

"Better be in his grill all night, run him a few times," a user commented.

"game hasn't even started and tampa has already begun the cheap stuff...we are so back," another user wrote.

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Morgan Rielly and the Leafs beat the Lightning

Maple leafs went on to win 5-2 against the Lightning. Vasilevskiy was pulled from the game after giving up four goals on just 14 shots. Backup Jonas Johansson came in and stopped 14 of 15 shots in relief.

William Nylander (scored twice), Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews and Max Pacioretty scored for the Leafs, while Nicholas Paul and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning. Anothony Stolarz stopped 33 shots for the Leafs.

The Maple Leafs next face the Colombus Blue Jackets on Tuesday at Nationwide Arena, while the Lightning next face the New Jersey Devils on the road.