Johansen: Kesler made a 'fool of himself' during Twitter beef

Highlight Nov. 12 in your calendar if you enjoy rivalries in the NHL.

That's when the Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks - and Ryan Johansen and Ryan Kesler - square off for the first time since the two players exchanged jabs on Twitter earlier this summer.

It all began with this tweet from Kesler:

Johansen didn't directly reply to that message, but tweeted this a few hours later:

Johansen was asked about the beef in an interview with The Athletic's Adam Vingan on Monday.

"I don't know what he was doing that day," Johansen said. "Clearly I don't think he was thinking right because he made a little bit of a fool of himself."

The rivalry dates back to the 2017 Western Conference Final, during which Kesler hit Johansen with an elbow in Game 2.

Johansen discussed the play with the media after the game.

"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," he 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."

In their first meeting the next season, the two centers dropped the gloves. Kesler "won" and then proceeded to mock Johansen's turtling on his way to the box.