Tales of the Tape: New York Islanders 10/3/09, Jay McKee vs. Brendan Witt

(EDIT: I really feel like a jerk for not having mentioned this a long time ago, but all the videos posted for Tales of the Tape come from HockeyFights.com.  It's a fantastic site for all the hockey fighting clips and stats that you could possibly want.  It's been a huge help for me, so give it a look!)

It would seem as if the Penguins are trying to show each reason to get into a hockey fight.  We had the two heavyweights go in game one, and now we have the 'stick up for your player' fight.  Take a look.

Brendan Witt nailed Ruslan Fedotenko pretty hard, causing Evgeni Malkin to come at him with a shoulder and Pascal Dupuis to start a bit of a tussle.  Finally, Jay McKee pulled him back and locked up.  Unfortunately, McKee didn't do much from that point, tussling a bit before getting some shots back from Witt who stood up for himself quite well.  Witt got his arm free and landed some blows, keeping McKee's arms unable to swing well.  McKee pulled off Witt's helmet at the end, but by that point, the linesmen came in to split the group up.

While Witt did not get penalized further than five minutes for fighting (and he shouldn't have - it was a clean hit on Fedotenko), the Pens certainly did.  Malkin got two minutes for interference on his hit to Witt, and McKee received five for fighting, ten for misconduct and two for instigating.  So the debate of course becomes was it worth attacking Witt for the hit on Fedotenko?  I'd say yes and no.  I am a proponent of sticking up for guys that take heavy hits (not that Fedotenko can't stick up for himself), but McKee went about it very badly.  Dupuis was already dealing with Witt when McKee pulled him in.  Bad move, and it got him 12 extra penalty minutes.

As for the winner of the fight?  Neither got a clear advantage, so I'm going with a draw.