Last night things got heated between the Florida Panthers and the Buffalo Sabres. In the second period, things broke loose after Panthers forward Nick Cousins was punched in the face by Jordan Greenway. <h2>Panthers Forward Involved In Scrum After Faking An Injury</h2> After being punched in the face by Jordan Greenway Panthers forward Nick Cousins fell to the ice and looked to be seriously injured. This created a brawl between the two teams. Once Cousins saw the fight he popped up like nothing was wrong and joined the fight. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/liam_mchugh/status/1762679620090949782?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1762679620090949782%7Ctwgr%5Ec254bef5f38bacbe77f08f31d0c32bdcbf3e8f55%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houseofhockey.net%2Fnhl-team%2Fflorida-panthers%2Fnhl-most-hated-player-shamelessly-fakes-injury-to-avoid-getting-into-a-fight'> </a></blockquote></div> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/mic_mazz/status/1762655119122874422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1762655119122874422%7Ctwgr%5Ec254bef5f38bacbe77f08f31d0c32bdcbf3e8f55%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houseofhockey.net%2Fnhl-team%2Fflorida-panthers%2Fnhl-most-hated-player-shamelessly-fakes-injury-to-avoid-getting-into-a-fight'> </a></blockquote></div> Since this incident took place many fans and media members have criticized Cousins for his handling of the situation. <h2>Former NHL Defenseman Goes Off On Cousins For Cowardly Actions</h2> During the post-game for Sportsnet's coverage of the game former NHL defenseman Kevin Bieksa spoke about the incident. While talking about the scenario Bieksa went off on Nick Cousins. Bieksa says that Cousins cannot get away with dirty plays and then go into turtle mode to not face retribution. <q>people don't want to watch and see kneeing hitting a guy's head into the boards, ramming a guy from behind, and that is a common theme for a player in this league. I've never done this before but I have to do it because this is a trend with this player and he's done this a numerous amount of times; ramming the guys heading to the boards. You know the the hit earlier in the year on Gudbranson [and this hit] was just last year. There's no place in the game for this and what's the common theme in all these? [Cousins] at the bottom of the pile in a turtle position. Not like Brendan Smith standing up taking your medicine. This has been a common theme for this player and listen I'm told he's a good guy. I'm told he's liked by his teammates and he's actually a pretty good hockey player, but somebody in that organization or somebody that he respects has to sit down and say 'enough of this, this doesn't help the Florida Panthers win, it doesn't make us a better team', or the NHL has to come down and hammer this guy [with a lengthy suspension].</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1743801790498218023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1743801790498218023%7Ctwgr%5E16f2cab2a08735e4c6f56533b52a61e483a7f3d3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houseofhockey.net%2Fnhl-team%2Fflorida-panthers%2Fnhl-most-hated-player-shamelessly-fakes-injury-to-avoid-getting-into-a-fight'> </a></blockquote></div> Comments from a veteran like Bieksa tend to hold more credibility in conversations like this. It will be interesting to see if Cousins hears the backlash from Bieksa and changes his ways going forward. <a href='https://www.houseofhockey.net/nhl-team/florida-panthers/nhl-most-hated-player-shamelessly-fakes-injury-to-avoid-getting-into-a-fight' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>As Read On - House Of Hockey - NHL's Most Hated Player Shamelessly Fakes Injury To Avoid Getting Into A Fight</a>