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.
Craig Adams vs. Jamal Mayers
Remember last time when I said Craig Adams wasn't a usual suspect for fighting? Looks like someone took offense, because here he is again, this time dropping his gloves against Jamal Mayers. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite so well this time around.
Quick blows started this one off with Mayers seeming to get a shot or two more to connect with Adams' head. After a bit of struggling with the grip, Mayers goes for the hiptoss takedown, but Adams blocks. Not such a good idea, as Mayers responds by punching Adams in the face and knocks him down in the other direction. We've all learned an important lesson here. Sometimes it's better just to get tossed around. Loss for Adams.
Michael Rupp vs. Jay Rosehill
Perhaps looking to avenge his face-punched teammate, Michael Rupp took on Jay Rosehill in the second period.
Rupp started off strong with a couple of good blows, but as the two got their holds on, Rosehill utilized the sneaky trick of jabbing with the fist holding the jersey. Rupp tried to get back into it, but took another jab before trading some pretty heavy swings (and misses) back and forth. Quite likely dizzy from all the spinning, Rupp let Rosehill get in a little too closely and took some shots that knocked off his helmet and dropped him to the ice. Loss for Rosehill.
Of course, if you don't agree with my calls on these two fights, feel free to yell at me in the comments.
So with a win and two losses, it wasn't the best showing for the Pens. Ottawa has only thee fights thus far this season (compared to the Pens' 7), with two of them coming from Matt Carkner. Spending last season in the AHL, he had one fight against the Baby Pens, going up against Aaron Boogaard.