After getting fights from Bill Guerin and Sidney Crosby, one might be curious as to just what Eric Godard has been up to lately. The answer came when he went toe to toe with Tampa's David Koci in defense of the Pens' resident superstar, Max Talbot.
After Koci slams Talbot into the boards, the two have something of a confrontation further up the ice (more like Koci was picking on Talbot) and as players and linesmen come in, suddenly Godard's gloves are off and punches are being thrown. Godard gets a few hits in on Koci's head before slipping off his skates, but pops right back up before the two can be seperated and both fight for leverage. Godard whips off Koci's helmet and gives a few heavy shots to the side of Koci's unprotected head. After a bit of jersey pulling, the two start spinning at arm's length from one another, obviously waiting for the linesmen to come in, but that not happening, they trade a few more swings before Godard nods to the linesmen and they send the two off to their respective boxes.
This isn't the first time this season that Godard and Koci have met up (that would be this one) and you may recall that Godard went after Koci for the hit that took out Sergei Gonchar back in September (as shown here). As with the last one, I'm calling this a Godard win and a thumbs up to him for doing his job to protect Talbot.
Check back later for the game's other fight - especially if you enjoy watching Bill Guerin hugging.