"Worth watching" "F*cking hypocrites": NHL fans react as Oilers' Darnell Nurse blows a punch on Conor Garland's face as frustration boils over

The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks rematch on Thursday was tense after Saturday’s controversial ending and McDavid’s subsequent suspension. In the earlier game, Connor McDavid cross-checked Conor Garland in frustration, earning a three-game suspension. The rematch added more drama when Darnell Nurse punched Garland during a second-period scrum.

The altercation began when Garland poked at Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard. Nurse responded by punching Garland, leaving him bloodied. The referees called offsetting penalties: slashing and roughing for Garland, and roughing for Nurse and Perry.

Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks fans have been vocal the both team's games and officiating on X. One fan shared a clip of Garland getting punched in the face by Nurse at another instance in the game, which apparently went unnoticed by the referees.

After sharing the clip on X, a fan wrote:

“Nice punch to Garland’s face. Worth watching on repeat.”

“Lofl... The Coilers are the biggest whiners. Fucking hypocrites,” another fan said.

"So holding is extreme but a punch to the face is all good? And its good because your superstar got mad he was held and got himself suspended? Just weird," one fan said.

Edmonton had four power plays in the game, scoring twice, while the Canucks received no power plays. Here are some more reactions from fans on X:

"Oilers fans get spoiled their entire history and still complain about everything lmao. Oh no the league's golden boy got 3 games which he deserves greatly, cry more," a fan said.

"Maybe Canuck management should put out a whiny and embarrassing statement in support of Garland," another fan said.

"Looks like shoulder to me, he’s just trying to eliminate their best player. Take him out of the play what’s wrong with that? Guess we should get the wanted posters out," one fan said.

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Darnell Nurse and the Oilers secured a dominant win with an early lead

The Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Rogers Place on Thursday. Darnell Nurse received 22:19 minutes of ice time and served two penalty minutes. Zach Hyman scored first at 5:52 of the opening period. Leon Draisaitl made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 14:21. Adam Henrique added a wraparound goal 20 seconds later for 3-0.

Hyman scored again early in the second period after a turnover. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play at 12:02 for a 5-0 lead. Brock Boeser got Vancouver on the board at 12:27, and Filip Hronek made it 5-2 at 15:06. Kasperi Kapanen finished the scoring at 10:21 in the third for a 6-2 final.