Am I the only one who laughed hysterically while watching the above incident on television las night? Not to say that I found the attempts of the Carolina Hurricanes players to prove themselves completely and utterly classless to the most extreme degree by Ryan Bayda slamming Kris Letang into the boards with less than two minutes left in a game that had long since been decided in the Penguins favour and then cross-checking him in the neck after the whistle, because I don’t. What I found hilarious was the fact that Letang, baby defenseman extraordinaire, tossed off half his gear on the way to scoring a take-down on Tim Gleason (I know he has fought before, but he’s only done it once or twice, I think) and Miroslav Satan, of all people, got into a fight as well and not only held his own, but actually seemed to be enjoying it. What the hell?! The playoffs are seriously bizarre.

And in my opinion, Bayda should be suspended for his extracarricular stickwork on Letang, which was not only a blow to the head/neck area, but could also fall into the realm of late-game ‘message sending,’ which the league frowned upon before it forgot it actually had a rule book in the second round. Bayda recieved a match penalty for his actions and in the playoffs that means he is automatically suspended for one game, though whether or not Bayda will recieve the Scott Walker treatment and have his automatic sentence rescinded by the league remains to be seen. It shouldn’t be, however. There is a grey area that exists when determining if there was a malicious intent-to-injure when it comes to knee-on-knee hits, but the same can’t be said about a cross-check to the neck of another player. Between a scale of one to ten in viciousness, that falls somewhere near Chris Pronger.

I voted Letang draw, Satan win. But it really doesn’t matter who wins the fights. It’s game over, a 3-goal deficit and a little over a minute to play. The ‘Canes’ frustration was on their sleeves and it was not lost on the Penguins or their fans. That the two Pens involved are not known as “fighters” sweetens it up a little bit. It goes to show that in spite of being relatively new pieces on a team on which they know they are going to be outshined by Crosby and/or Malkin on pretty much a nightly basis, these guys are still in it for the defense of their mates. It was the exact opposite sentiment of the Carcillo/Talbot fight in Game 6 of round one. Second period with a 3 goal lead at home is not the time to start a fight or be baited into one. But in the final minutes of the third with a commanding lead like 7-4,, about to be up 2-0 in the series, I see no reason not to give your home crowd something to stomp their feet and bang the glass about, especially under these particular circumstances. Letang had every right to be jacked up after Bayda’s antics and he took the fight to him. Most of the people in those stands will be in front of a TV for games 3 and 4, but their most recent memory will be watching the transgressions of a fired up home team protecting their igloo and their mates against the duly frustrated away team who needs confidence, luck and perhaps a few miracles to get back into the series.