Halloween is an odd time of the year.  People dress up in all kinds of strange outfits, kids are encouraged to take candy from strangers, and Sidney Crosby gets himself into a fight.  Good for him.

After Crosby was knocked into the boards by Marek Zidlicky, he may have been feeling slightly irked.  Then when the puck came back around and Zidlicky was back up in Sid's grill, Sid decided to give Zidlicky a slash, and got one back for his efforts.  Finally, the tensions came to a head and the two went at it.

Well, more like Crosby went at it.  With helmets shaken off, Crosby started pounding on Zidlicky and pulled his jersey over his head, Kenny Wu style.  The linesmen were very, very quick to get into this melee and split the two up, and each man got 7 minutes - 5 minutes for fighting and 2 minutes for slashing.

And this brings up an issue I've never really thought about.  When someone like Eric Godard or Colton Orr drop the gloves, the linesmen let the two go at it until one either goes down or exhaustion forces them to stop.  However, when Crosby jumped in swinging, the linesmen were in almost immediately.  I honestly haven't gone looking to see if this is common for the 'star players' around the league, or this was an isolated thing, but there was definitely a different reaction here.

Up next for the Pens is the Anaheim Ducks, who had three fights against Phoenix last night.  Two of which came from James Wisniewski, who received an instigator and misconduct for his first fight, and still came back for a second.  In 82 fights last season, the Ducks only had one against the Pens - a win for Paul Bissonnette.

It's been a while since we've seen a Penguins fight, which I suppose may have been needed after the triple feature against Toronto on October 10.  So what has Eric Godard gotten himself...wait, Chris Kunitz?  Really?

Meeting up in the Florida goal, Ballard is all over Kunitz, and even manages to take get his helmet off.  The two exchange a few shoves before the gloves come flying off.  And then they take a nice little tour of the ice.  Okay, not really - but since their equipment was sitting near the goal, it was a little odd to see them skate off to the blue line.

Ballard connects with a jab and grabbing for the jersey, so Kunitz responds by bringing down the hammer to the back.  A bit of struggling, and Kunitz hits a low uppercut to the chin (that may or may not have hit pads) and connects with the back of Ballard's head, taking him down to a knee.  Ballard uses the momentum shift to swing Kunitz of his skates, and proceeds to hit while Kunitz is struggling back to his knees.  The linesmen are a little late getting in at this point, and separate the two.

I'm thinking Kunitz on this one.  He got the better blows in during the fight, and staggered Ballard, but Ballard used the opportunity to swing Kunitz off balance and hit him on the ice - which isn't cool at all.

This is Chris Kunitz's second fight as a Penguin, and his first during the regular season (the other coming in postseason against the Flyers - go figure).  He's not a regular fighter, but he definitely can hold his own when he goes.  You may remember Keith Ballard as the guy Sidney Crosby attacked last season.

Next up is Ottawa, who have had six fights in three games, half of which from Matt Carkner.

When you hear that a Penguins game has had three fights in it, you'd expect the opponent to be the Flyers or the Rangers.  Imagine my surprise when I checked the game against Toronto and spotted three fighting penalties.  Three!  That's one more fight than the Pens had against the Leafs all last season!

It probably would have been a good idea to space these out yesterday, when there was an entire day off, but I was preoccupied, so we're going to put all three of them here.  The first one is before the jump, with the other two following.

Eric Godard vs. Colton Orr

Totally called it.  Godard and Orr fought four times last season, so it's no surprise that the two would get down to it fairly quickly.  Like 2:19 in the first period quickly.

Not one of their better fights, honestly.  Some back and forth punches to the helmets before Orr falls backwards to the ice.  Now the question is did Godard's hit cause Orr's fall, or did Orr simply slip to the ice trying to dodge Godard's hit?  I'm going with the former, giving Godard the win here.  This is the subject of the entry's poll, as I can only post one per entry...and the other two really aren't very debatable.

Continue reading this post »

When the Penguins and the Flyers meet up, it's not a matter of if a fight will break out, it's a matter of when.  It wasn't one of the usual suspects, though...at least not on the Penguins side.  Rather than Eric Godard, it was Craig Adams going at it with Philadelphia's resident goon (or at least one of them) Ian Laperriere.

This one broke just over a minute into the game right out of a faceoff.  Lappy connected several times with Adams' helmet, but Adams came back with a punch that didn't exactly connect, but helped get Lapperriere's helmet off.  That's as far as it got, though, because as Lapperriere shifted his weight, Adams pushed him down to the ice.  Very quick, and not much to look at.

This won't be the last time you see a Penguin fight a Flyer this season, and chances are Lapperriere will be involved again.  Adams isn't known for his fighting (he only had two fights last season, both before he came to the Penguins), but you'll definitely see one of the Penguins pound on a Flyer again.

As for this one?  Since neither player really got any kind of an advantage and it ended so quickly, I'm calling it a draw.  Hopefully we'll see something better when the Penguins meet the Maple Leafs tomorrow.  After all, we get to see our old buddy Colton Orr again, and we all know what happens when he's involved.

Thanks to hockeyfights.com for the video!

(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.

There are certain teams that I expect the Pens to end up fighting when met.  The Flyers come to mind right off the bat.  The Rangers are not surprising, nor are the Capitals.  The Islanders?  Not so much.  Especially not two in one game.  Well, that's what I get for assuming - game 2 of the season saw two of the Penguins newest faces end up getting fighting majors.  We'll start with the first.

The fight broke out at 9:32 of the first period.  Michael Rupp started throwing blows against Tim Jackman of the Islanders.  Both threw several right hands, with Jackman knocking off Rupp's helmet before they went into a tender embrace.  Jackman threw a couple more punches before Rupp reached in and pulled off Jackman's helmet.  A couple more blows from either side, and the linesmen finally came in and pulled the two huggers apart.

Based on the early blows, I'd have to give this one to Jackman.  He landed more blows and knocked off Rupp's helmet.  Still no takedown, but based on several comments I got last season, that may not be a bad thing.

I suppose it should be noted that Michael Rupp fought 16 times last season for the Devils.  His first fight of the season was a loss against our very own Eric Godard.  How about that?  Jackman had 19 fights in the NHL, though none of which were against the Penguins.

We'll take a look at Jay McKee's first Penguins fight against Brendan Witt later in the day.  Stay tuned for it.

Welcome to the first edition of Tales of the Tape for the 09-10 season!  For those of you just joining us, Tales of the Tape pops up whenever a Penguin decides to drop the gloves and go at it with an opposing player.  I provide a video of the fight, give some analysis then declare a winner.  After doing so, I put up a poll to see whether the Pensburgh community agrees with me.  This is the third season for it, and Frank and Hooks have yet to kick me out.  So let's get to it!

When Donald Brashear moved into the Atlantic Division, it was pretty much a given that he and Eric Godard would be trading blows.  The two wasted little time, dropping the gloves at 11:55 in the first period.

The fight didn't start well for Godard, as Brashear moved in quickly and connected with some quick shots to the head, then pulled Godard in by the jersey to keep him off balance.  Godard managed to stay on his skates, and after a bit of hugging grappling, Godard finally started connecting with shots of his own.  From that point, it was all Godard.  He knocked Brashear's helmet off and got an uppercut that seemed to graze Brashear's forehead.  After a little more grappling, the two seemed to agree to end hostilities and headed to the box.  Godard got the cheers of the crowd, and Brahsear got to dabble the trickle of blood off his forehead.  Yes, I used both 'dabble' and 'trickle' within two words of each other.

What a fight to start the season off with!  This is an example of two guys paid for their fighting skills, doing what they do best.  Of course, we won't be seeing many fights like this (hugging majors are no laughing matter), so enjoy it while you've got it.  Godard got hit hard at the beginning, but with his shots that took off the helmet and drew blood, this one goes to Godard.  Good start for him.

As we've journeyed through the season with Tales of the Tape, I've heard a lot of feedback on different aspects of fighting.  I've watched and commented on all the fights of this season and I've learned a lot from the Pensburgh community who never seem to be able to keep quiet on anything - which is a good thing.  So when I found out about the proposed rule for giving a misconduct penalty for a 'staged fight', it shouldn't be surprising that I was not amused.

In a nutshell, this rule would make it a 10 minute penalty to fight right out of the faceoff, or have a staged fight, which is I'm assuming to be one where two guys agree beforehand to drop the gloves.  I suppose the unplanned,  unexpected type, as demonstrated by Sidney Crosby, would be cool, but none of the type that most of us who spend waaaaay too much time watching for it see.

I, of course, wasn't amused by this, but as it turns out, neither were the players.  The five player members on the competition committee have been recommended to vote against it - which will not allow the seven of ten votes needed to pass a new rule.  To make their point, a number of goons 'tough guys' were brought in to make the point.  And what goon squad enforcer representation would be complete without former Pen Georges Laraque?

"It would turn into a mockery anyway because I would turn to a guy and say, 'OK, we can't fight right now because of the rule, so we'll do six Mississippis and meet in the corner.' It's true, we would make a mockery out of it," said Laraque.

And therein lies the bigger problem with this rule.  How do you enforce it?  A 10 minute misconduct is a hefty penalty to dish out.  Beyond the faceoff fights, what would count as a 'staged fight'?  Couldn't the players argue that it was spur of the moment, rather than staged?  Would we see a new era of secret nods and hand signals between players to signify the start of a fight?  After the six Mississippis, of course.

I understand that fighting in hockey is a controversial topic, but this isn't going to fix it.  All this will do is put a grace period between faceoffs and fights, and is that really worth the effort or the potential backlash from the group of players you definitely don't want to be meeting in a back alley?