Montreal Canadiens top prospect accused of dirty move after Gordie Howe hat trick
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Gleb Pugachyov scored, set up a goal and won a fight for Chaika in an 8-1 MHL win, and the Canadiens prospect's fight has fans split online.
Gleb Pugachyov gave Montreal Canadiens fans the kind of night they had been waiting on.
In an 8-1 win for Chaika Nizhny Novgorod over Molot Perm in Russia's MHL, the 2026 first-round pick scored, added an assist and won a fight, completing a Gordie Howe hat trick.
His goal made it 5-0 on a redirect of a Roman Maximov pass, and it stretched his point streak to five games.
A fight that split the Habs crowd
The brawl spread fastest online. Not everyone cheered.
Another fan argued Pugachyov should have backed off once his opponent went down and called it a bad look.
Both reactions are opinions, and the full footage deserves a patient look before anyone treats either one as settled.
What is confirmed is that Pugachyov won the fight, and that physical play is central to why Montreal picked him.
Before the draft, the club asked whether he would fight Tom Wilson, and he told an interviewer he would.
This game gave that talk a visible follow-up.
What it does for a slow start
The season began badly. A concussion cost him games early, and he sat at four points through 10 games as of Nov. 8.
He now has three goals and five assists in 12 MHL games, a pace close to the 24 points in 33 games he posted last season.
MHL numbers only say so much, since he is facing junior-aged opponents.
The bigger test is earning minutes in the KHL, where he has appeared just twice for Torpedo.
A fight and a hot streak will not settle his development, but they give Montreal a far better storyline than the one from the opening weeks.
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