It's not a lot of fun when the Penguins take a loss.  Maybe I can help cheer you up with my friends Deryk Engelland and Colton Orr.

Colton Orr vs Deryk Engelland Oct 13, 2010 (via hockeyfightsdotcom)

A smack against the boards led to Engelland and Orr dropping the gloves for a tussle.  This started out looking like a disappointing experience for the Penguins-affiliated fight watcher, but then it happened.  Engelland had a number of shots connected unto his head, and even had his helmet knocked off.  But he was merely charging up his attack.  After all, Guile needed two seconds before unleashing the Sonic Boom.  So too did Engelland, who connected a fist to Orr's face that sent him down to the ice.  And with that, the Penguins get their first fight win of the season.  Well done!

And to make things better, the video provided gives a slow motion shot of the KO blow.  Someone needs to make me an animated GIF of that, stat!

Here we are - another season, more fights to be waged, more Tales of the Tape!  The first game of the season waged no fights, despite being against the dreaded Flyers, but our Pens did not disappoint in the second!  Dropping the gloves were Mike Comrie for the Penguins and Maxim Lapierre of the Canadiens.  Welcome to the Pens, Comrie!

(Video courtesy of Hockeyfights.com)

Well, okay, maybe the Penguins did disappoint.

Lapierre smacked Kris Letang hard against the boards, and Comrie was ready and willing to drop the gloves to stick up for him.  Unfortunately, that's about as far as it got, as both men simply spun around a bit tossing shots that either didn't connect hard or didn't connect at all.  After a questionable camera switch to Mike Rupp (which made me assume the game was being aired on NBC), Comrie apparently got bored of the non-fight and fell to the ice, pulling Lapierre down with him.  This one would be a draw.

For those of you not familiar with this Pensburgh feature, after providing video of the fight and giving my opinion on it, I offer a poll to you, the eager community to weigh in and prove me wrong.  So, people...who won the fight?

Hey, remember how awesome that fight with Bill Guerin was?  This is nothing like that.

 

Mike Rupp took a hit from Trevor Gilliesand decided that them's fightin' actions, but unfortunately, didn't really decide to do much actual fighting.  A few misses were thrown by Rupp before he was taken down with a solid shot.  Loss.

Not the kind of fight you really want to see from your team, so I'll try to help remove some of the pain by offering a distraction to stare at:

You're welcome.

Next up are the Thrashers, but don't expect to see fighting.  Atlanta only has 38 fights this season (last season they had 53).  In comparison, the Penguins are at 44, which is 5 more than they had last season (without Eric Godard for a sizable chunk, too).

Oh, what would you like today, fellow Penguins fans?  A fight in which Bill Guerin gets a solid win?  I think I can help with that.

It looked like Jim Slater pushed Alexei Ponikarovsky a bit, but Guerin seemed to be itchin' for a tussle, so the two began struggling, gloves and sticks flying as they went.  Guerin's second shot knocked Slater's helmet off, then a couple jabs from Slater took off Guerin's.  Guerin got Slater down and started hitting his back, causing Slater to take something of a desperation swing to get him back into the match.  Unfortunately (for him), Guerin kept a hold of his jersey, bringing it up over his head (D2 style).  Guerin composed himself, pulled back for the big swing, and levelled Slater with it.  If that's not a win, I don't know what is.

What, don't believe me?  Here:

(Thanks to Empty Netters).

Is there really any setup necessary here?

As soon as Matt Cooke hit the ice (to a chorus of boos), Shawn Thornton skated up to him and it was ready to go.  Whatever your thoughts on Cooke's hit to Marc Savard, you have to give it to him - he didn't avoid the situation.  He immediately dropped the gloves and accepted the fight.  Cooke got a brief offensive in, but quickly lost it (as well as his helmet) to Thornton's rights.  Cooke went down, the linesmen jumped in, and that was that. 

Well, except that Thornton kept punching and the two had to be pulled apart.  Now, defending your fallen player from a hit like Cooke's is one thing, but Thornton had Cooke cleanly beaten.  Honor guarded and fight won.  Cooke was down and out.  There was no reason to keep going once the linesmen were in, and it won Thornton a 10 minute misconduct penalty.  Now how did he manage to come out of that with Cooke looking like less of a jerk?  That's talent.

The other fight came in the 2nd period with Boston down 1-0 in an attempt to get some momentum going for the Bruins.  Captain Zdeno Charadropped the gloves with Mike Rupp.

This was not a good fight for Rupp.  Starting off unbalanced on his skates, Rupp tried to match swings with Chara, but couldn't get any of his shots to connect.  Chara mixed some solid shots to the helmet (brutal on the hand) with some Jody Shelley-style jersey jabs which clearly shook Rupp up.  A couple shots later, Rupp was face down on the ice, and the linesmen broke the thing up.

The momentum boost didn't work, though.  Despite losing the fight, Rupp answered back with a goal in the third period.  So who's really the winner here?

With these two pretty obvious losses, I'm going to do something different in the poll.  Rather than asking who won the fight, I want your opinion on the effectiveness of Thornton's 'revenge' fight against Cooke.  Fans were yelling for some retribution - I even saw several calls to injure Sidney Crosby which totally makes complete sense.  Cooke hit the ice, dropped the gloves, and that's that.  Right?  Did Thornton go about it right?  Is this thing really over?

Next up is the Hurricanes, who only have 29 fights for the season (24th in the league).  Their only fight this season against the Penguins involved Tim Gleason fighting Bill Guerin.  Not expecting anything from them this time around.

It's not much of a surprise to see Matt Cooke's name in the fighting column after the reaction to his non-suspension last week.  Chances were pretty good that someone was going to be ready to drop gloves with him.  But Rob Niedermayer?  Don't worry - this won't take long.

Tensions were raised when Niedermayer ole'd a potential hit from Cooke, leading him straight into the boards.  Cooke didn't seem to appreciate his face full of glass and got right into Niedermayer's face with the ref trying to keep the two apart.  Fast forward to the face-off, and Cooke and Niedermayer dropped the gloves, discarded the helmets, and went at it.

Or at least Cooke did.  Niedermayer used his arm to get a bit of distance in, but Cooke quickly closed the gap.  Once the punches began. Niedermayer dropped and that was that.  I'm sure at least one person will inexplicably vote Niedermayer the winner of the fight, but this was Cooke, hands down.  I said down! 

Tampa Bay is up next.  With 59 fights (20 more than the Pens), they're fourth in the NHL.  24 of those have come from Zenon Konopka, though he has yet to fight a Penguin this season.  In fact, no fights have occurred thus far between the Lightning and the Penguins.  Personally, I am always willing to see Steve Downie get his face punched, so here's hoping.

A very happy birthday to my dear brother and MHH founder Joe Dunman!  Sure, he may not be around as much as he used to, being busy with "law school" and all (he's really joined a brothel), but even lazy hockey writers should be able to feel special one day a year.

Here's hoping that sometime this year, he can finally finish the Top 19 Avs of All Time list.  Wait, what?  He finished it?  Really?

Everyone please take a moment to give him well wishes on his extra special day and remind him that 31 is getting close to 40.

Two weeks without fights.  Going through withdrawal at all?  I understand that many people prefer the 'integrity' of the fightless atmosphere the Winter Olympics brought and all, and I'm sure there are people on both sides that could go on and on about it, but that's not what we're here for.  We're here to see Mike Rupp beat someone down faster than you can say "Let's have a spirited, yet well-informed debate over whether the NHL should ban fighting to attempt to make it more like the Olympics."

When Johnson comes down on the puck, Paul Gaustad moves towards the crease and gets between Rupp and Jordan Leopold, which apparently doesn't sit well with Rupp.  Shoving ensues and words are exchanged before Rupp and Gaustad shed the gloves, rudely interrupting a commercial break.  Rupp's first shot takes off Gaustad's helmet, and then the flurry begins.  Gaustad gets two weak shots in, apparently hurting his wrist with one of them.  Unwilling to worsen his hand, Gaustad decides it's better to let his head take the damage, not blocking Rupp's next five blows before going down.  Clearly a win for Rupp.

Now the question here is should a guy like Rupp continued to pummel on Gaustad when he clearly wasn't defending himself?  The answer to that is sketchy - I have no idea what Rupp saw or thought in the heat of the moment.  He had no idea that Gaustad hurt his arm.  I've seen guys take several shots then come right back into the fight - Eric Godard has done that many times.  Perhaps Gaustad should have dropped more quickly to get the linesmen in.

Next up will be the Rangers.  There's no more Donald Brashear to be fought, but there is Aaron Voros who has 11 fights for the year (EDIT: DigitalGypsy66 pointed out that Aaron Voros was waived by the Rangers), and Brandon Prust who came in from Calgary at the beginning of the month.  He has 22 fights thus far this season, which is 2nd in the NHL (behind Tampa's awesomely named Zenon Konopka).  That's more than the Predators, Capitals, Red Wings or Sabres have had all season as a team.  In comparison, Mike Rupp leads the Penguins with 8.

The Islanders variety of New York team is not the one I assume I'll see fighting when playing the Pens.  Rangers?  Sure.  But the Islanders?  They hadn't had a fight since December.  Ah, leave it to Tyler Kennedy.

A collision with Matt Martin led to the gloves flying, but that's almost all the offense Kennedy got in this exchange.  As Martin got shots in, Kennedy appeared to get his arm stuck in his sleeve (how often does that happen?).  Kennedy got his arm out of his jersey only to be put into a headlock, which removed his helmet.  Martin began hesitating, holding off Kennedy's potential offense until taking a shot which seemed to brush Kennedy's face.  It actually looked more like a miss, but Kennedy became noticeably staggered at this point, allowing Martin to take a power swing and follow the momentum down to the ice.  As Kennedy went down, he got one last shot in.  You have to give him that - he's a scrapper. 

 Unfortunately, it's a loss for Mr. Kennedy, but he did skate to the box with a smirk on his face and devoid of his jersey.  Down, ladies.

Next up are the Rangers, and who doesn't want to see Sean Avery gets his face pounded into the ice?

This one was quick and NBC's bang-up camera work made it even quicker.  After Darroll Powe got a heavy hit on Alex Goligoski then another smack on Bill Guerin, Kris Letang had standsed all that he could stands and couldn't stands no more.

Now the first thing you might notice is that when the whistle blows and the commentators mention that a fight is going, the camera zooms in on the last player to touch the puck.  By the time they get around to the fight, it is a Letang slam away from ending.  The replay, showing the Goligoski hit, is shown from a far angle, zooming in to the fight itself at around the exact same point.  WTF, NBC? 

From what I could see, Powe got some shots in before Letang answered back, then slammed him to the ice and continued hitting (uncool).  Over time, I've lessened my scoring emphasis on the take-down, so I'm calling this one a draw.  I could definitely see it going to Letang, though.

Tonight the Pens take on the Rangers, home of professional goon Donald Brashear.  You might recall that both the Rangers and the Penguinskicked off their fighting seasons with a brawl between Brashear and Eric Godard.  You know, back when Godard actually fought.

What?  A fight?  Really?  Let's see if I remember how to put one of these together - it's intro, video, summary, poll.  You can do this, Dunman.  You can do this.

It's been exactly three weeks since the last time any Penguin spent five minutes in the box for fighting, and almost a complete month since said Penguin was Eric Godard.  After a few words with his old sparring partner Brian McGrattan (this is their sixth fight since 2004), the two dropped the gloves and got to it.

Good brawl, but Godard seemed to be a bit rusty.  McGrattan started off with the now-frequent jabbing from the held jersey hand, while swinging with his right hand.  Godard bided his time by blocking McGrattan's shots with his face while he looked for an opening.  After throwing it his right, Godard seemed to be a little shaky, but it didn't affect his swings as the two traded blows back and forth.  The two seemed to slow down waiting to be broken up, but when no one came, they started at it again.  Godard took some more shots to the head while looking for his opening, including one that looked to connect good and got the Calgary fans cheering.  Finally, the two seemed to run out of gas and after a particularly exhausted-looking swing from McGrattan, the linesmen finally broke the two up.

I'm calling it a loss for Godard here.  While he did bloody McGrattan's nose (which was called his "right nose" if you listen), Godard took more shots than he gave out, and McGrattan definitely got the better shots in to his face.  Godard still put on a pretty good show, and it was good to see him back at it.  Imagine had Craig Adams been in this situation.

With their three weeks of fightlessness (catch that one, spell check), the Penguins are no longer near the top of the fightingest teams in the NHL.  Godard only has six for the season, far short of Tampa's awesomely named Zenon Konopka, who has 18 (but none with a Penguin).  Next up is Edmonton who is seventh in the league with 38 fights this season.  Zack Storini leads them will 11 fights and former Pen Ryan Stone has 4.

In a game that ends up with an 8-2 score, one might assume that fighting would not really be on the Penguins' mind against the Senators.  One would be wrong.  Both occurring within a minute of one another in the 3rd period (with the Penguins up 6-2), two fights broke out - the first between noted glove dropper Mike Rupp and Chris Neil, and the other between Craig Adams and Matt Carkner.

First - Rupp v Neil.

When hearing the banging sound during the fight, I at first thought that Rupp had finally managed to create sonic booms with his fists (a la Street Fighter's Guile), but such was not the case.  As the two locked up, Rupp connected with several shots while Neil mostly missed, until the spinning slipped up Rupp and sent him to the ice.  The linesmen broke the two up just as Neil got going.  It's a win for Rupp in the fight, but Neil succeeded, as the commentators point out, in giving goalie Brian Elliot a chance to warm up.  So good for him.

And then there was Adams v Carkner.

Continue reading this post »

It was so much fun last time, let's do it again!

 
With the score tied at 1, noted Flyer-fighter Mike Rupp and Arron Asham dropped the gloves seemingly to get some momentum going for their teams.  This fight wasn't overly exciting, as there was no helmet scrambling or face grabbing.  The two traded some shots before Rupp went for the rare body blow to no real effect.  The two paused for a moment and apparently Rupp decided it was time to end it, going for a headlock.  After a couple tries, he pulled Asham's helmet off and forced him down to the ice.  No advantage here and not much of a takedown, so this one gets called a draw.

With this fight, Rupp has passed Eric Godard for the most fights on the Penguins with 6.  Next up are the Sabres, who have a little over half (14) the fights that the Penguins have (27).  Don't look for much here, as they only had one fight against the Penguins last season when Andrew Peters took on Godard.  Peters is now with New Jersey.

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.

Continue reading this post »

 Yeah, it sucks to lose a game, and it sucks worse when the one fight isn't a shining victory to help ease the pain a bit.  But this one is fast and furious, so hopefully it will be somewhat entertaining.

(kudos to hockeyfights.com)

What is there really to say on this one?  Bill Guerin drops his gloves as soon as the puck is dropped and goes after Tim Gleason.  After a shove, Gleason answers him and starts pounding away on Guerin's helmet.  Guerin gets a bit of leverage and lifts Gleason up, pounding away when he hits the ice.  Though the takedown was pretty, I have to give Gleason the win here for the onslaught of hits.  It's a hollow victory though, as his hand simply cannot be feeling good after hitting helmet so many times.  Ouch - just check out his knuckles when the camera zooms in.

I've heard a bit of whisperings that Guerin should have gotten an instigator call for this.  What do you think?

Up next will be the Habs, and old Penguins goon Big Georges Laraque is back from his suspension that kept him out last game.  Will we have a repeat of the craptastic 'fight' he and Eric Godard had last season?

Before I get started on this fight, let me take just one small moment to send a message to my dear brother Joe over at Mile High Hockey.

"Eat it, bro."

Alright, then.  Onto the the fight.

 
(Props to GhostWalker40 for the video.)

This one broke out between Craig Adams and Matt Hendrickspretty early in the second period straight out of a face off.  This is what one would call a 'slugfest' as the two traded blows back and forth with neither getting the edge on the other.  The end came when a blow from Adams caused Hendricks to slip a bit, allowing him to catch Adams' arm and after a missed blow, takes Adams to the ice.  I wouldn't really score that as a take down, as Hendricks really lucked into the position (by getting cracked) and thus I am calling this one a draw.  A pretty good draw, but a draw nonetheless.

I was hoping for another round between Eric Godard and David Koci(they fought twice last season), but Koci was a healthy scratch for the Avs.  Godard actually only has four fights this season, tying him with noted goal scorer Mike Rupp.  For a team that has 22 fights this season, that's a surprisingly low number.  This time last season, Godard had 8.

Next up is Chicago, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a fight to break out there.  The last time a Blackhawk fought a Penguin was on January 13, 2006 when Lyle Odelein dropped the gloves with Matt Barnaby.  For those of you who care, that was Odelein's last NHL fight.

You may call me lazy, but Hooks did a good job with the setup for this fight, so I'm just going to quote him.

Geno was unceremoniously dumped to the ice after the whistle by Bryan Allen.  You can't have that, good to see Rupp standing up for a star and fighting Allen.

So with that, (Noted Goal Scorer) Michael Rupp and Bryan Allen.

I could describe this fight blow for blow, but really, all you need to know is that after some exchanged shots, Allen tried to skate away and Rupp took the opportunity to punch him in the back of the head.  The shot sent Allen's head into the glass, knocking his helmet off.  Go ahead and watch it again.  You know you want to.

The board shot gives the win to Rupp.  How about that?

Next up is Montreal, where our old friend Big Georges Laraque skates.  If he does end up fighting with a Penguin, I hope it doesn't turn into the crapfest we got last season against Eric Godard.  I'm still bitter about that one.

There's not much good to say about the Pen's game last night, but I'll do my best to try to raise the sagging spirits of the Pensburgh crowd.  Would watching Eric Godard pound on Chris Neil make you feel better?  Dry those eyes and take a look.

The fight started with Neil doing the increasingly popular move of grabbing the jersey and jabbing with the same hand, but Godard quickly got Neil's hand away from his face and came out swinging.  Neil was switching hands, swinging with whatever he could get free, but Godard stayed dedicated to his right hand, and his right hand stayed dedicated to Neil's face.  After blows back and forth with both players stopped and looked as if they were going to await the linesmen.  Then Neil took the opportunity to take a cheap swing, and Godard answered with a direct shot to the face (or right in the button, if you're listening to the clip).  At this point, Neil's face started bleeding, but he kept at it.  The energy was sapped, though, and shortly the linesmen broke the two up.

What a bout from Godard.  Neil came out with some quick jabs, but Godard just pounded his face over and over again.  This is a solid win for Godard - just look at the blows he connected!  By the end of the bout, Neil's left cheek was swollen and bloody, but that can be expected when one gets repeatedly punched in the face.  Definitely a good fight - I just wish it had come in a better game.

Next up is Atlanta, who thus far have 9 fights this season (coincidentally, the same number Chris Neil has) - five of which coming from Eric Boulton.  You may recall a memorable bout last season in which Ruslan Fedotenko broke his hand on Colby Armstrong's face.  Let's hope any fights that we may see have similar results without the unfortunate effects.

(Thanks to GhostWalker40 for the video!)

Barely into the 3rd period, Bill Guerin got smacked from behind by Ryan Getzlaf, then again as he got back to the skates. Guerin and Getzlaf stayed near each other, and then the gloves came flying.

Getzlaf got some weak head shots in before Guerin caught him in a headlock, which pulled off his helmet. Getzlaf went for a shot that was blocked by Guerin, and then the two went down to the ice. I'm not quite sure if Getzlaf pulled Guerin or vice-versa, but it doesn't really matter. This one's a draw.

This is both Guerin and Getzlaf's first fight this season. Next up is Ottawa, who is tied for 4th in the NHL for fights, with 16. The Penguins are just behind them with 14, tied for 7th.

I'm a little behind, so we're going to hit this one fairly quickly. In the nail biter of Pittsburgh's game against the Bruins, it would be quite understandable to have forgotten that a fight broke out in the 1st period between Deryk Engelland and Byron Bitz - so let's look back.

This wasn't much to write home about, really. The two got a nice hold of each other's arms, with Engelland keeping Bitz from getting either arm up to swing. Engelland took a couple awkward shots at Bitz's back, then got a hold of Bitz's side and delivered some head shots while Bitz slid down to the ice. There's no way I could count this for Bitz, so Engelland gets the win.

As always, thanks to hockeyfights.com.

Halloween is an odd time of the year.  People dress up in all kinds of strange outfits, kids are encouraged to take candy from strangers, and Sidney Crosby gets himself into a fight.  Good for him.

After Crosby was knocked into the boards by Marek Zidlicky, he may have been feeling slightly irked.  Then when the puck came back around and Zidlicky was back up in Sid's grill, Sid decided to give Zidlicky a slash, and got one back for his efforts.  Finally, the tensions came to a head and the two went at it.

Well, more like Crosby went at it.  With helmets shaken off, Crosby started pounding on Zidlicky and pulled his jersey over his head, Kenny Wu style.  The linesmen were very, very quick to get into this melee and split the two up, and each man got 7 minutes - 5 minutes for fighting and 2 minutes for slashing.

And this brings up an issue I've never really thought about.  When someone like Eric Godard or Colton Orr drop the gloves, the linesmen let the two go at it until one either goes down or exhaustion forces them to stop.  However, when Crosby jumped in swinging, the linesmen were in almost immediately.  I honestly haven't gone looking to see if this is common for the 'star players' around the league, or this was an isolated thing, but there was definitely a different reaction here.

Up next for the Pens is the Anaheim Ducks, who had three fights against Phoenix last night.  Two of which came from James Wisniewski, who received an instigator and misconduct for his first fight, and still came back for a second.  In 82 fights last season, the Ducks only had one against the Pens - a win for Paul Bissonnette.

It's been a while since we've seen a Penguins fight, which I suppose may have been needed after the triple feature against Toronto on October 10.  So what has Eric Godard gotten himself...wait, Chris Kunitz?  Really?

Meeting up in the Florida goal, Ballard is all over Kunitz, and even manages to take get his helmet off.  The two exchange a few shoves before the gloves come flying off.  And then they take a nice little tour of the ice.  Okay, not really - but since their equipment was sitting near the goal, it was a little odd to see them skate off to the blue line.

Ballard connects with a jab and grabbing for the jersey, so Kunitz responds by bringing down the hammer to the back.  A bit of struggling, and Kunitz hits a low uppercut to the chin (that may or may not have hit pads) and connects with the back of Ballard's head, taking him down to a knee.  Ballard uses the momentum shift to swing Kunitz of his skates, and proceeds to hit while Kunitz is struggling back to his knees.  The linesmen are a little late getting in at this point, and separate the two.

I'm thinking Kunitz on this one.  He got the better blows in during the fight, and staggered Ballard, but Ballard used the opportunity to swing Kunitz off balance and hit him on the ice - which isn't cool at all.

This is Chris Kunitz's second fight as a Penguin, and his first during the regular season (the other coming in postseason against the Flyers - go figure).  He's not a regular fighter, but he definitely can hold his own when he goes.  You may remember Keith Ballard as the guy Sidney Crosby attacked last season.

Next up is Ottawa, who have had six fights in three games, half of which from Matt Carkner.

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.

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When the Penguins and the Flyers meet up, it's not a matter of if a fight will break out, it's a matter of when.  It wasn't one of the usual suspects, though...at least not on the Penguins side.  Rather than Eric Godard, it was Craig Adams going at it with Philadelphia's resident goon (or at least one of them) Ian Laperriere.

This one broke just over a minute into the game right out of a faceoff.  Lappy connected several times with Adams' helmet, but Adams came back with a punch that didn't exactly connect, but helped get Lapperriere's helmet off.  That's as far as it got, though, because as Lapperriere shifted his weight, Adams pushed him down to the ice.  Very quick, and not much to look at.

This won't be the last time you see a Penguin fight a Flyer this season, and chances are Lapperriere will be involved again.  Adams isn't known for his fighting (he only had two fights last season, both before he came to the Penguins), but you'll definitely see one of the Penguins pound on a Flyer again.

As for this one?  Since neither player really got any kind of an advantage and it ended so quickly, I'm calling it a draw.  Hopefully we'll see something better when the Penguins meet the Maple Leafs tomorrow.  After all, we get to see our old buddy Colton Orr again, and we all know what happens when he's involved.

Thanks to hockeyfights.com for the video!

(EDIT: I really feel like a jerk for not having mentioned this a long time ago, but all the videos posted for Tales of the Tape come from HockeyFights.com.  It's a fantastic site for all the hockey fighting clips and stats that you could possibly want.  It's been a huge help for me, so give it a look!)

It would seem as if the Penguins are trying to show each reason to get into a hockey fight.  We had the two heavyweights go in game one, and now we have the 'stick up for your player' fight.  Take a look.

Brendan Witt nailed Ruslan Fedotenko pretty hard, causing Evgeni Malkin to come at him with a shoulder and Pascal Dupuis to start a bit of a tussle.  Finally, Jay McKee pulled him back and locked up.  Unfortunately, McKee didn't do much from that point, tussling a bit before getting some shots back from Witt who stood up for himself quite well.  Witt got his arm free and landed some blows, keeping McKee's arms unable to swing well.  McKee pulled off Witt's helmet at the end, but by that point, the linesmen came in to split the group up.

While Witt did not get penalized further than five minutes for fighting (and he shouldn't have - it was a clean hit on Fedotenko), the Pens certainly did.  Malkin got two minutes for interference on his hit to Witt, and McKee received five for fighting, ten for misconduct and two for instigating.  So the debate of course becomes was it worth attacking Witt for the hit on Fedotenko?  I'd say yes and no.  I am a proponent of sticking up for guys that take heavy hits (not that Fedotenko can't stick up for himself), but McKee went about it very badly.  Dupuis was already dealing with Witt when McKee pulled him in.  Bad move, and it got him 12 extra penalty minutes.

As for the winner of the fight?  Neither got a clear advantage, so I'm going with a draw.

There are certain teams that I expect the Pens to end up fighting when met.  The Flyers come to mind right off the bat.  The Rangers are not surprising, nor are the Capitals.  The Islanders?  Not so much.  Especially not two in one game.  Well, that's what I get for assuming - game 2 of the season saw two of the Penguins newest faces end up getting fighting majors.  We'll start with the first.

The fight broke out at 9:32 of the first period.  Michael Rupp started throwing blows against Tim Jackman of the Islanders.  Both threw several right hands, with Jackman knocking off Rupp's helmet before they went into a tender embrace.  Jackman threw a couple more punches before Rupp reached in and pulled off Jackman's helmet.  A couple more blows from either side, and the linesmen finally came in and pulled the two huggers apart.

Based on the early blows, I'd have to give this one to Jackman.  He landed more blows and knocked off Rupp's helmet.  Still no takedown, but based on several comments I got last season, that may not be a bad thing.

I suppose it should be noted that Michael Rupp fought 16 times last season for the Devils.  His first fight of the season was a loss against our very own Eric Godard.  How about that?  Jackman had 19 fights in the NHL, though none of which were against the Penguins.

We'll take a look at Jay McKee's first Penguins fight against Brendan Witt later in the day.  Stay tuned for it.

Welcome to the first edition of Tales of the Tape for the 09-10 season!  For those of you just joining us, Tales of the Tape pops up whenever a Penguin decides to drop the gloves and go at it with an opposing player.  I provide a video of the fight, give some analysis then declare a winner.  After doing so, I put up a poll to see whether the Pensburgh community agrees with me.  This is the third season for it, and Frank and Hooks have yet to kick me out.  So let's get to it!

When Donald Brashear moved into the Atlantic Division, it was pretty much a given that he and Eric Godard would be trading blows.  The two wasted little time, dropping the gloves at 11:55 in the first period.

The fight didn't start well for Godard, as Brashear moved in quickly and connected with some quick shots to the head, then pulled Godard in by the jersey to keep him off balance.  Godard managed to stay on his skates, and after a bit of hugging grappling, Godard finally started connecting with shots of his own.  From that point, it was all Godard.  He knocked Brashear's helmet off and got an uppercut that seemed to graze Brashear's forehead.  After a little more grappling, the two seemed to agree to end hostilities and headed to the box.  Godard got the cheers of the crowd, and Brahsear got to dabble the trickle of blood off his forehead.  Yes, I used both 'dabble' and 'trickle' within two words of each other.

What a fight to start the season off with!  This is an example of two guys paid for their fighting skills, doing what they do best.  Of course, we won't be seeing many fights like this (hugging majors are no laughing matter), so enjoy it while you've got it.  Godard got hit hard at the beginning, but with his shots that took off the helmet and drew blood, this one goes to Godard.  Good start for him.

Last season, my brother and I signed up for NHL.com's GameCenter LIVE.  We had used it the season before and enjoyed the service.  Last season, however, I found myself repeatedly frustrated with it as Penguins games were often blacked out for no reason (that I could find), and unlike the season before, I could not watch any of the Penguins' post season games.  Other post season games came in fine - but no Pens.  Needless to say, I was not amused.

Long story short, the season ended and I relaxed with the thought that I would not be dropping any more money on a headache for this season.  Imagine my surprise when I found they had billed me the full amount for this season's services.  Turns out, they have an automated annual renewal service inacted without any kind of notice to the person paying.  It really is my own fault - I should have spotted it earlier.  So now I'm dealing with having to canel the service to get my $160 back, as well as having to call a phone number to cancel the resubscription 'service'.

Moral of the story?  Make sure something's really gone before you toss it from your thoughts.

See you when the gloves drop.