Juraj Slafkovsky drops the gloves in preseason scrap.

Things got ugly on Saturday night between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, which isn't entirely unexpected when these two Canadian rivals go head to head, but I don't think anyone could have honestly predicted just how ugly this game would get.

Things have now escalated to the point where Montreal Canadiens first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky has gotten involved in the rough stuff, with Slafkovsky dropping the gloves with Quebec's own Marshall Rifai who is of course a member of the Maple Leafs.

Both guys appeared to have been damaged up in this contest, with both men heading back to the locker room after their exchange. Rifai appeared to suffer some damage to his eye after a couple of shots to the face from Slafkovsky, while Slafkovsky was favoring his neck as he left the ice. No update has been provided on either player just yet.

Here's a look at the exchange between the two men:

It all started with a knee on knee hit from Maple Leafs rookie Cedric Pare, a knee on knee collision that would knock Canadiens forward Patrik Laine right out of the game.

As you might expect the Canadiens weren't exactly happy about the fact that a guy who has never played a single NHL game in his career took out one of their highest paid forwards on a controversial play, but no one could have predicted what would come next.

When Pare refused to answer the bell after being challenged by Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj, Xhekaj would proceed to deliver a vicious beatdown to Pare in spite of the fact that Pare never showed any signs of being a willing combatant. Xhekaj pummeled the smaller man, clearly incensed by the fact that he had taken out Laine with the knee on knee collision.

Stay tuned for more on what is turning into a wild preseason game.