It was no Ali-Frazier, but former teammates Dion Phaneuf and David Clarkson tussled Friday as the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Late in the second period, Phaneuf cross-checked Clarkson and the two locked up. It wasn’t a full-blown scrap, so they were handed off-setting roughing minors instead. Phaneuf also received two minutes for the cross-check.
Clarkson and Phaneuf spent the better part of two seasons as teammates in Toronto before Clarkson was traded to the Blue Jackets last year for the contract of Nathan Horton.
Even though their Friday fracas wasn’t too memorable, it’s not the first time they’ve dropped the gloves with one another. In 2012, when Clarkson was a member of the New Jersey Devils, they fought at the Air Canada Centre when Clarkson came to the defence of then-Devils captain Zach Parise.
