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On Saturday night, the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs played a very chippy and entertaining preseason contest that featured plenty of hits, four fights, and an exciting finish.
How would they top that on Sunday night? With a 6-on-6 brawl, goalies included, that will likely result in both injuries and suspensions.
In the third period, Corey Tropp and Jamie Devane went at it, and while both guys got some decent shots in, the fight ended with Tropp's helmtet coming off, and his head smacking against the ice as he went down. Early reports indicate that he may have a concussion, and John Scott wasn't too pleased with that outcome. Scott immediately started getting after Phil Kessel, and the Leafs did not take that well.
Scott was immediately jumped by two Leafs players, while Kessel took some baseball swings at Scott with his stick, resulting in a "match penalty", meaning he will be suspended until further notice from the commissioner's office. Meanwhile, all five players on either side chose their partners and went at it, with Brian Flynn bloodying himself taking on Kessel.
Even Toronto's David Clarkson got himself involved in the fracas - the only problem was that he left the bench to do so, and will serve a 10-game suspension for his efforts.
After a good minute of confusion, things settled down a bit until Ryan Miller and Jonathan Bernier decided to go at it. "You back off from that one, what kind of hockey player are you? So I figured I might as well give it a shot." said Miller afterwards.
But the fun didn't end there. Just when you though it was all over, Phil Kessel came over and speared Scott in the ribs with his stick while Scott was tangled up with both David Clarkson and a linesman, which reignited things for a bit until the refs got the situation under control.
The Sabres and Leafs have now had two of the most intense preseason games that division rivals can have, between a 15-round shootout and a 12 man rumble, and they've still got four regular season contests between them, the first of which is on Friday, November 15 in Buffalo. Time to go circle some dates on my calendar..
Just for fun, here's the list of penalties assessed thanks to Sabres.com:
10:01 TOR J. Devane Fighting - 5 min against C. Tropp 10:01 BUF C. Tropp Fighting - 5 min against J. Devane 10:01 TOR A. MacWilliam Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR T. Bozak Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR D. Clarkson Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR J. Bernier Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR T. Brennan Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF B. Flynn Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF M. Zigomanis Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF C. Ruhwedel Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF J. Scott Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF R. Miller Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR D. Clarkson Leaving player's/penalty bench - 10 min 10:01 BUF D. Bagnall Fighting - 5 min 10:01 TOR C. Ashton Fighting - 5 min 10:01 BUF J. Scott served by M. Grigorenko Instigator - 2 min against P. Kessel 10:01 TOR J. Bernier Goalie leave crease - 2 min against R. Miller 10:01 BUF R. Miller Goalie leave crease - 2 min 10:01 BUF J. Scott Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 BUF J. Scott Game misconduct - 10 min against P. Kessel 10:01 TOR C. Ashton Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 TOR T. Bozak Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 TOR T. Brennan Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 TOR A. MacWilliam Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 TOR J. Bernier Game misconduct - 10 min 10:01 TOR D. Clarkson Leaving player's/penalty bench - 10 min 10:01 BUF D. Bagnall Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 BUF M. Zigomanis Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 BUF B. Flynn Misconduct - 10 min 10:01 BUF C. Ruhwedel Misconduct - 10 min