After a fight-filled game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night, the NHL has started sorting out punishments.
Lighting forward Brandon Hagel has been fined $5,000 by the league, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for serving as the aggressor in an altercation with Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin.
The incident occurred at 3:30 of the second period and Hagel was assessed a pair of minor penalties for roughing.
Sunday night's antics began even earlier in the game, however, starting when Hagel and Anthony Cirelli crushed Tage Thompson into the boards, finishing their hit after the whistle was blown, less than five minutes into the game. From there, a full-line brawl broke out.
Thompson remained on the ground, trying to get up and land some punches, while the rest of the teams piled on.
Bolts defenceman Darren Raddysh and Sabres captain Dahlin broke away from the crowd to dish some high-impact punches of their own.
The altercation ended in a two-man advantage for the Sabres as Raddysh was given a five-minute penalty for his fight and another two-minute minor charge for slashing Alex Tuch that was served by Conor Geekie. Hagel was assessed a two-minute penalty for boarding Thompson. Dahlin was also given five minutes for fighting Raddysh.
Moments later, with just over 11 minutes left in the period, Sam Carrick and Scott Sabourin dropped their gloves for another fight.
Halfway through the first period, Hagel tallied his second altercation, this time with Peyton Krebs. While those two dealt punches, the rest of the ice got involved in another brawl. Bowen Byram and Charle-Edouard D'Astous also got into it. The show ended with six penalties being handed out.
Over the first 20 minutes of play, 70 minutes of penalties were given out.
The teams combined for 100 penalty minutes in a game that included five fights and a post-game scrum. They’ll meet one more time in the regular season, on April 6 in Buffalo.
Tampa and Buffalo also combined for 15 goals and 27 total penalties. The NHL has not seen a game reach both totals since the Philadelphia Flyers faced the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 21, 1994, according to OptaStats.
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