Oilers’ Podkolzin given only fighting major in scrap against Ducks

Remember when you were a kid, and you’d get into a fight with a sibling, but you were the one who got the harsher punishment?

Well, something like that happened in an NHL game.

In the first period of a matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin dropped the gloves with Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson, but only one of them was handed a penalty for fighting. A little before the halfway mark of the frame, Edmonton captain Connor McDavid was driven into the Ducks’ net by Helleson, which drew the ire of the capacity crowd at Rogers Place.

Podkolzin came to the aid of the best player in the world, challenging Helleson to a fight. While Helleson seemed a little hesitant to drop the gloves, Podkolzin didn’t hold his punches, giving it to the 25-year-old blueliner.

However, when the penalties were dolled out, Helleson was only handed a two-minute minor for roughing. Podkolzin was given a two-minute minor for instigating a fight and a five-minute major for fighting…or as referee Cody Beach deemed it, “a one-man fight.”

Podkolzin was also given a game misconduct for his actions.

The 25-year-old Russian isn’t a stranger to fisticuffs. While Thursday night’s scrap was his first of the 2026-27 season, Podkolzin has been involved in 10 regular-season fights in his NHL career, also dropping the mitts late in Game 3 of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, coincidentally against the Ducks, this time against Jeffrey Viel.

For Helleson, it was the first fight of his NHL career, and just the second of his time in pro hockey. Back when he was with Anaheim’s American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, during the 2022-23 season, he exchanged blows with Matthew Stienburg, then with the Colorado Eagles.