The holidays came early for hockey fans yesterday as a plethora of heavyweight bouts took place around the NHL with nearly every team in action before the Christmas break. Zenon Konopka registered two fighting majors against the New Jersey Devils last night while Kyle Brodziak and Ryan Wilson went at it on the West coast in Colorado. But one the biggest highlights from last night’s card came from the Boston Bruins game against the Atlanta Thrashers where a line brawl ensued after Freddy Meyer absolutely leveled Bruins forward Milan Lucic as he tried to enter the offensive zone. Both teams immediately came together and began squaring off with under five minutes to play in the game. Check out Lucic drop Meyer with one punch as the two have words during the scrum.
One of the better bouts appeared to be Nathan Horton vs Evander Kane – two gifted players who also won’t shy away from a good scrap. At one point Kane goes down to the ice and Horton picks him back up so the two can keep throwing punches. Bryan Little also squared off with Boston center Marc Savard, which came as a surprise with Savard’s recent history with concussions. Check out the entire sequence below:
Another big bout came last night in Dallas during a 3-2 shootout victory for the visiting Calgary Flames. With over 50 NHL fights under his belt, Flames captain Jarome Iginla has never been a player to shy away from a good scrap, but Iginla may have bitten off more than he can chew when he and Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn tangled during last night’s contest. Almost halfway through the first period Benn and Iginla dropped the gloves at center ice. Benn attacked early and got in some good punches but Iginla seemed to have more of a handle on Benn and got some good throws in himself as the fight progressed. It was Iginla, however, who walked away from the fight with blood dripping down his face. This was Benn’s fourth fighting major of the season. Check out the video below:
