Minnesota Wild player fined after being caught on microphone admitting he intentionally injured Jets player

The Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets faced off over the weekend in a back-to-back games. The two teams developed a bit of a dislike for each other, which was magnified after an incident on Saturday. After being hit with a reverse check by Kirill Kaprisov, Brendan Dillon responded with a couple very stiff cross-checks.

Dillon wasn't happy after getting popped with a phenomenal reverse hit by Kaprizov https://t.co/mGvtc32MdW pic.twitter.com/L8FtIqkMEW— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 30, 2023

The cross-checks left Kaprisov in a serious amount of pain and out of the Wild lineup. So when two teams meet up again on Sunday there was serious bad blood. During Sunday's game Ryan Hartman eventually caught Cole Perfetti in the face with a high stick off a faceoff that very much looked intentional.

Cole Perfetti back on the ice for the Jets after taking a high stick to the face by Ryan Hartman off the faceoff during his first shift. pic.twitter.com/LgD6wmMtwo— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) December 31, 2023

Today Hartman was fined for his high stick by the league and when asked about it Perfetti confirmed that he was told by Hartman that the play was intentional. According to Perfetti, Hartman told him that "it had to happen."

Here is Jets forward Cole Perfetti responding to @mikemcintyrewpg asking if Ryan Hartman admitted the high-stick was retribution for what happened to Kirill Kaprizov the day before.

Full media: https://t.co/0RBV4mZ4gN pic.twitter.com/FwFtgBGE05— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) January 2, 2024

The Jets and Wild play again on February 20th and it is very likely that Hartman will receive a receipt of his own that night.