Chris Thorburn vs Tanner Glass

Atlanta Thrashers' Chris Thorburn vs Vancouver Canucks' Tanner Glass on December 10, 2009.

The last fights before the break

Well the NHL All-Star break has hit us and we'll have to wait until Friday, January 26th to resume watching the regular season action. Last night though provided us with some action. In the Senators-Bruins game, Christoph Schubert hit Paul Mara head-first into the boards. Mara got up pissed off, dropped his gloves and chased him. When he got a hold of Schubert he pounded his ass to the ice. Schubert got 5, and Mara got 2, 5, 10. Later in the second period of the game, Bruins hard-hitting defenseman Andrew Alberts layed out Senators forward Chris Kelly with a hit into the boards behind the Bruins net. Alberts left his feet and looked to push Kelly's head into the boards. Alberts got 5 and a game misconduct for that hit. But why didn't Schubert get a game misconduct for his cheap hit earlier in the second period?

From BostonHerald.com, here are a few quotes from the Bruins' Paul Mara:

"It was a dirty hit," said Mara. "A player has to do what a player has to do. ... If it happened again, I'd probably do the same thing. If it happened to a teammate I'd jump in for him. That's part of the game."

"Alberts' hit was borderline," said Mara. "I think Schubert's was a lot worse, but that's the way things have been going for us. ... I think if Kelly didn't go down and pretend that he's injured, then I don't think you'd see a five-minute major. It might be two minutes for roughing or something, but other than that, it's a borderline call."

The best game of the night had to be the Calgary Flames vs the Edmonton Oilers, the "Battle of Alberta" continued on. With the Oilers calling up Zack Stortini I thought for sure he and Eric Godard would go at it, but I was wrong as they chatted a few times but nothing happened. Instead Marcus Nilson and Marty Reasoner had a go and so did Robyn Regehr and Jason Smith in an ok battle.

In other games, the Blackhawks Bryan Smolinski and Predators Marek Zidlicky had a short fight. In the Maple Leafs-Penguins game, the Maple Leafs were being blown out so that led to a few fights. There was Bryan McCabe vs Chris Thorburn, Hal Gill vs Chris Thorburn, and Travis Green vs Maxime Talbot.

Three fights, one with a surprise fighter

Yesterday we had three fights, and in one of them you won't believe who dropped the gloves. The first fight was between Philadelphia Flyers' Ben Eager and Pittsburgh Penguins' Chris Thorburn. Eager got an instigator in this fight, and that was his third one this season so he gets the automatic one game suspension. Win goes to Eager as it looked like Thorburn didn't really throw any punches. Ben Eager is now tied with Ian Laperriere and Matthew Barnaby with 11 fighting majors to lead the NHL.

The second fight was between Nashville Predators' Scott Hartnell and Columbus Blue Jackets' Dan Fritsche. After a hit on Hartnell by Fritsche, Hartnell dropped the gloves and they went at it. Hartnell got instigating and a few other penalties because he instigated the fight with a shield on. I would give the edge to Hartnell in this fight as he landed more punches, but Fritsche did get the take down.

The third fight was the surprise fight of the night. San Jose's captain Patrick Marleau got into a fight with Phoenix Coyotes' Keith Ballard. Marleau did quite good for a guy who doesn't drop the gloves that often at all. I give the win to Marleau in their fight.