Kane defends pummelling Kolesar: When you f--k around, you find out

Evander Kane had a simple explanation for why he went after Keegan Kolesar during the Edmonton Oilers' 5-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series Saturday night.

Kane went on the defensive when a reporter mentioned the rarity of body shots in hockey fights like the ones he hit his counterpart with in the second period.

"You also don't see a lot of guys getting jumped from behind and headlocked," the Edmonton winger said postgame. "When you want to fuck around, sometimes you've got to find out, so that's what happened."

The hostilities began when Brett Howden and Brett Kulak squared off, but they continued elsewhere. Kolesar peeled Kane off a scrum with two hands from behind, and Kane later punched Kolesar repeatedly while the Vegas player was lying on the ice.

The officials handed Kane a 10-minute misconduct along with a pair of roughing minors for the incident. It was the first of two misconducts for Kane in the game. Kolesar got a roughing minor of his own but nothing further. When the dust settled, the officiating crew assessed 30 minutes in total penalties over the melee.

Golden Knights winger Mark Stone wasn't happy with how the officials handled the situation.

"It's frustrating, right? The ref's standing right there," Stone said. "We've only got four guys on the ice (and the Oilers had) five ... You never want to see a teammate getting suckered down like that, especially one who's stuck up for his teammates all year.

"I would've liked to have seen the refs maybe do a little bit better of a job to help out Keegan."

Game 3 is scheduled for Monday night in Edmonton.