Northeast Rivals Battle

Adam McQuaid fights Zenon Konopka with a mixture of fists and hair. AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Northeast Rivals Battle

Feb 1, 2012 3:13 AM David M Singer

The Bruins and Senators and first and second in the Northeast division and entered the night second and third in the NHL in fighting majors. A close and literally hard-fought game was expected, and played.

Shortly after the first goal of the game, scored by Boston, Chris Neil and Shawn Thornton fought for the fourth time (three times in the NHL). Given the games these two teams have played, it's almost surprising they haven't fought more. It was a good fight, Thornton appeared to get the best of the exchange. They had a hell of a battle in 2009 as well.

Minutes later FM leader Zenon Konopka took on Adam McQuaid. It was another good fight and one that tilted in Boston's favor. This was the third time McQuaid has fought Konopka, his most frequent opponent in the NHL so far.

Sharks and Jackets throw down

After almost a week off thanks to the All-Star break, the NHL had almost a full slate of games Tuesday night. There were seven other fights from the night with five coming from the Columbus-San Jose game.

Jared Boll and Jim Vandermeer had a pair of fights. Infrequent fighters Derick Brassard and Dan Boyle went at it, and Derek Dorsett took on Colin White while Fedor Tyutin fought Justin Braun. It was Braun's first NHL fight.

Four out of the five fights happened in the third period with the score being 5-0 or 6-0 in the Sharks favor.