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Nick Cousins and Jakob Chychrun over Instagram logo
NHL players need to keep their head on a swivel to avoid falling victim to the kind of check that has the potential to send them to the locker room. Senators forward Nick Cousins failed to do that in the closing minutes of a game against the Capitals on Tuesday, and he didn’t waste any time heading to Instagram to unfollow the man responsible for one of the most brutally clean hits you’ll ever see.
Hockey is an incredibly physical sport where players routinely have to deal with some rough collisions, and there aren’t many non-scoring plays that have the potential to get a crowd fired up like a player delivering a textbook check that sends the person on the receiving end down onto the ice.
Experienced NHL players tend to be hyperaware of their surroundings in order to avoid being plastered when tracking down the puck or handling a pass, as it’s very easy to be blindsided by an opposing player if you’re not careful.
The kind of hits that make you involuntarily gasp after seeing them tend to be fairly few and far between, as they’re frequently accompanied by a penalty call or overshadowed by a fight that breaks out in the many situations where the player who issues one is forced to answer the call even if it was within the rules.
Jakob Chychrun avoided both of those fates after targeting Nick Cousins during Tuesday night’s game between the Senators and Capitals, but he did end up losing at least one Instagram follower as a result.
Nick Cousins unfollowed Jakob Chychrun on Instagram in the middle of the night after falling victim to a brutal check
Washington and Ottawa were tied at two goals apiece with around three minutes left in the third period of their showdown at the Canadian Tire Centre when Senators forward Nick Cousins skated to retrieve a puck near the boards in his team’s defensive zone.
His approach turned out to be a bit too casual, as he apparently failed to notice Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun bearing down on him before he delivered a check that sent Cousins flying into the air and crashing into the boards before slamming down onto the ice, where he appeared to be momentarily unconscious.
Jakob Chychrun absolutely BLOWS UP Nick Cousins and Cousins was out cold 🤕 https://t.co/USPvQn9LfJ
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 11, 2026
Play was immediately halted as trainers came out to attend to Cousins, and referees intervened to diffuse a potential altercation after Drake Batherson tracked down Chychrun.
It looked like a clean hit at first glance, and the officials handed out a five-minute major that allowed them to review the play before taking it off the board after confirming there was no contact to the head.
Cousins headed to the locker room and did not return to the game (he thankfully avoided a trip to the hospital and has a positive prognosis), and the Capitals added insult to injury by earning a 3-2 win in overtime.
Chychrun avoided any repercussions on the ice, but he did take a hit of his own on Instagram, as an account devoted to tracking the activity of NHL players revealed Cousins decided to unfollow him in the middle of the night.
🚨 Nick Cousins unfollowed 1 account on Instagram:
❌ jakobchychrun — Jakob Chychrun
🔗 https://t.co/omyJtFDnKq#GoSensGo #NHL https://t.co/aVW7kxLTQY
— NHL Follow Tracker (@NHLFollowTrack) November 11, 2026
The two teams will meet again on January 2nd, and it seems safe to assume Chychrun will have a target on his back.