10-7 Maple Leafs – Red Wings game upstages 2022 Stadium Series

At the 2022 Stadium Series, the Predators hosted the Lightning with country music stars, jerseys that looked better on TV, a surprising helping of hatred, and some good action. There was even some unintentional comedy. Yet the hockey world had little choice but to shift its attention to an absolutely wild game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs.

Let’s take a look at both spectacles, which overlapped at times on Saturday.

One of the most memorable moments of the 2022 Stadium Series happened before the Red Wings and Predators got going.

Not long after the Predators retired his number 35, Pekka Rinne joined some Titans players (including … a punter?) to get the action going. At one point, Rinne threw a catfish, and hilarity ensued.

This is the greatest thing we've ever seen pic.twitter.com/JQxdwtDVXy

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) February 27, 2022

Why it’s always important to have multiple camera angles:

Heads up! pic.twitter.com/UrXZGJgmYL

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) February 27, 2022

Perhaps sensing Corey Perry‘s presence in a Predators-related outdoor game, the 2022 Stadium Series began with a controversial hit. Ryan Johansen saw a major turn into a minor penalty for an iffy hit on Erik Cernak:

Johansen hits Cernak high. Initially, it's called as a major but after review, it's reduced to a minor. pic.twitter.com/QAOIoX5PE7

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 27, 2022

If this was a typical game, would Ryan Johansen have received a major or minor penalty? Cernak returned to the contest, but eventually left during the second period, and did not return.

For a portion of that game, bitter feelings carried over. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare dropped the gloves with Johansen following that hit on Cernak:

Through the