Rookie Jack Johnson fights for respect

With the season winding down, on Saturday there were some hockey fights. In the Blackhawks-Red Wings game there was actually a fight. Patrick Sharp and Andreas Lilja had a spirited bout with Lilja landing two good punches on Sharp. Sharp also looked to land a punch but the decision goes to Lilja. In the Coyotes-Kings game there were three fights and rookie Jack Johnson was in two of them. First Daniel Carcillo and Jack Johnson dropped the gloves and had a spirited bout where both guys threw some nice punches, but the edge went to Carcillo. Jackson though showed up and threw punches back. Watch the YouTube video of this fight below.

Daniel Carcillo vs Jack Johnson

The next fight in the Coyotes-Kings game was between Josh Gratton and Raitis Ivanans. This fight happened because earlier Ivanans hit Keith Ballard into the boards and he fell awkwardly and was hurt. So Gratton and Ivanans dropped the gloves off a faceoff. Both guys exchanged punches but Ivanans used his reach to hold out Gratton and throw punches at him. The decision goes to Ivanans in this fight. Near the end of the game, Shane Doan hit Jamie Heward into the Kings goalie and Jack Johnson went at Doan, Doan immediately dropped his gloves and started throwing punches at Johnson. Heward jumps in and everyone tries to get in there. Even Curtis Joseph came down the ice but no line brawl took place. I agree with the Kings commentator in that what Doan did was cheap. There's no reason to hit a player into the goalie in the final minute of the last game of the season. I had a lot of respect for him but seeing that, I lost some.

In the Lightning-Thrashers game, Nick Tarnasky and Eric Boulton dropped the gloves and fought. I did not see this fight yet so I can't tell you about it. In the Ducks-Blue Jackets game, Ron Hainsey instigated a fight with Rob Niedermayer because Niedermayer boarded Zherdev. Not much of a fight, both guys threw some punches but nothing landed. I give this one a draw.