When the Penguins meet the Flyers, be it in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, the chances of a fight breaking out are quite higher than most other games. Toss in the level of frustration that Philadelphia has to be feeling, and that high chance becomes an inevitability. So, with little surprise, the game featured three fights, all within the first six minutes of the game. We'll be taking a moment and checking out all three.
First up - the Noted One Mike Rupp taking on Arron Asham.
The two meet up and exchange pleasantries (and jabs) before Rupp begins going for Asham's helmet. Asham responds by grabbing for Rupp's jersey, but instead gets a handful of face. Rupp answers back with a nice shot, and gets the helmet off, with Asham slipping to the ice. Asham regains his footing and shifts Rupp off his balance, ending the fight. I could see this one being called a draw, but with the shot leading to the helmet removal, I'm thinking it's a win from Rupp. And I'm writing this, so that's how it will be.
Quickly after the first fight comes another (with another annoying 'Well, well, well' call from the announcer) which is not at all surprising once we learn that it's Eric Godard and Riley Cote (round 5).
Spinning and punching. That's what these two are good at, and that's what these two do. Godard gets Cote's helmet off and gets some shots in to the head. Also with these shots came Cote's helmet, which got stuck on Godard's arm and was also swinging towards Cote's head. As the two near the boards, it looks like they await the linesmens' intervention, but when the officials make no moves, they decide to swing a few more times at each other. A few more fist/helmet shots from Godard and the officials finally get in and break the two up. I'm calling this one for Godard - he got the better offense in, and hit the man with his own helmet.
So with Rupp and Godard both getting decent showings, when a fight breaks out between Craig Adams and Dan Carcillo, we're expecting good things, right?
Oh no. Well, Adams did manage to get Carcillo's helmet off...but he also managed to get punched. In the head. A lot. The less said here, the better. That's a loss for Adams...but 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
These matchups have something in common with each other. All three pairings have fought each other before. Godard and Cote is certainly nothing new - we saw it three times last season and the two even have an AHL bout against one another. Mike Rupp had a noted fight against Asham last season while he was playing for the Devils. Neat little tidbit about that one - Rupp also fought Riley Cote in that game. In fact, when Rupp was fighting Asham, Cote was fighting another Devil right next to him. Certainly nothing special about that - it's just kind of neat. As for Adams and Carcillo - they also fought last season, and Adams actually took a worse beating then.
With these three fights, the Pens are tied for 5th in fighting majors with the Sharks, only below the Flames, Lightning, Flyers and Maple Leafs. Next up will be the Flyers again, and do I really need to write a preview for that one? Of course someone's going to fight.