Vasily Podkolzin must’ve been watching old fight footage of Dave Semenko, because he channeled the late Oilers bruiser during a fight against the Nashville Predators Thursday night.

With the Oilers up 4-1 on the Preds four minutes into the third period, Podkolzin laid a hit on defenceman Jeremy Lauzon behind the Nashville net. The pair followed the puck, battling for position, as Lauzon asked Podkolzin for the fight.

He was clearly ready to go, firing off a half-dozen right jabs immediately, but Podkolzin stood in strong. So strong, in fact, that it seemed to charge him up, tucking his chin and unloading three right punches, the second of which sent Lauzon backwards onto the ice.

Podkolzin went to the penalty box, Lauzon went down the tunnel for repairs, and the ice crew came out to clean up blood off the ice.

It wasn’t the first time he’s fought before, either. He had two fights while playing in the KHL, one of which there was footage of, as well as an AHL fight against former Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie, and an NHL fight against AJ Greer, which he lost. His tilt with Lauzon, however, will put the rest of the league on notice.

His fight Thursday wasn’t the only one in the game as Oilers defenceman Ty Emberson fought Predators forward Cole Smith in the first period. Emberson had hit Preds forward Zachary L’Hereaux into the boards, and Smith wasn’t a fan, challenging him to a fight. This one was far less decisive as Podkolzin’s, however, as Emberson and Smith struggled to get hold of each other before tumbling to the ice.

The Oilers record improved to 5-5-1 on the season with the 5-1 win over Nashville, and each of those wins have something in common: a fight. Surely it’s just coincidental, but the Oilers haven’t been shy about dropping the mitts so far this season.

With seven scraps on the season, the Oilers are tied for the lead league in that category with the New Jersey Devils, according to Hockey Fights, already over a third of the way to the 20 total fights they had in 2023-24.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.