Penalties are on the way for the 10 players that were involved in a chaotic brawl that ended up with both goaltenders fighting halfway through the third period of a preseason meeting between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres at Air Canada Centre Sunday Night during Toronto's 5-3 victory.
Following a fight between Sabres winger Corey Tropp and Toronto forward Jamie Devane, 6-foot-8 Buffalo enforcer John Scott attempted to fight the Leafs' Phil Kessel, who scored two goals in the contest and gives up eight inches to the much larger Scott. Kessel wanted no part of the uneven match, and swung his stick at Scott twice, which led to a line brawl on the ice.
"It was pretty stupid, right? He said he was going to jump me," Kessel told NHL.com following the brawl. "What are you going to do? He's a big boy, so if he's coming after me, what are you going to do?"
NHL.com reports that Kessel will have a telephone hearing Tuesday which will determine what his fate will be for his role in the skirmish.
David Clarkson jumped off the bench and into the fracas to help out Kessel, which is an automatic penalty and an automatic suspension. The NHL's first order of business stemming from the brawl was handing Clarkson a 10-game ban without pay, which is standard for leaving the bench during a game and jumping into a fight on the ice.
Under the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement in accordance with Clarkson's annual salary, he will give up $269,230.80 while being suspended.
After the line brawl was finally settled down, Leafs' newly acquired goalie Jonathan Bernier and former Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller squared off in a goalie fight that also became wild and out of control.
"I just asked him if he wanted to go, and obviously I don't think he seemed that he actually wanted to go, but that's the way it goes," Bernier said per NHL.com. "It's a hockey game, but you get hyper in energy and I wanted to defend my teammates."
Following the brawl, the NHL plans to send out some harsh punishments, much like the punishment handed down to Clarkson, and it will be known by Tuesday night whether or not Kessel is suspended.
During the game, officials handed out 211 minutes worth of penalties stemming from the brawl, a list of which can be seen here.
The NHL has yet to rule on any other punishments aside from the one for Clarkson, but according to Inquisitor, more punishments are expected to be handed down from the league as it reviews the events that transpired Sunday night.
The Leafs and Sabres don't mix it up again until Nov. 15 in Buffalo, but it will be interesting to see if any tensions carry over from the exhibition contest that ended with fists flying.
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