Johansen rips Kesler: 'I don't know how you can cheer for a guy like that'
Ryan Kesler and Ryan Johansen don't exactly run each other's fan clubs.
The two battled throughout Game 2 on Sunday night, a 5-3 Ducks win, and after a few slashes and an elbow from the Anaheim monster pest, Johansen went off on Kesler postgame.
"He just blows my mind. I don't know what's going through his head out there. His family and friends watching him play, I don't know how you can cheer for a guy like that," the Nashville Predators forward said, according to 102.5 The Game. "It just doesn't make sense how he plays the game. I'm just trying to go out there and play hockey and it sucks when you have to pull a stick out of your groin every shift."
Johansen also had to deal with an elbow to the face:
#NHLDucks' Ryan Kesler delivers a vicious elbow to the head of Ryan Johansen. These two have been going at it all game. #Preds #NSHvsANA pic.twitter.com/65ZaGk7STM
— Grady Sas (@GradySas) May 15, 2017
Kesler said he understood why Johansen might not be a fan of the way he plays.
"He's a skilled player and I play the game hard," Kesler told Sportsnet's Christine Simpson postgame. "Obviously he doesn't like that."
With the series now squared at one game apiece, Johansen will have to deal with Kesler's pesky play for at least three more games.