Unexpected Participants Join Battle of Ontario

Sergei Gonchar fights Clarke MacArthur. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand

Unexpected Participants Join Battle of Ontario

Mar 18, 2012 1:24 AM David M Singer

A fight mid-way through the period of a Toronto-Ottawa game is nothing out of the ordinary. The opponents being Clarke MacArthur and Sergei Gonchar is peculiar at best.

MacArthur isn't a fighter, but with his WHL and AHL experience he's accumulated over a dozen fighting majors throughout his career. Gonchar had just one going into last night's game, and it came over 13 years ago.

The fight was quick. MacArthur put Gonchar to the ice before Gonchar could even get going. Gonchar seemed amused with himself in the penalty box and teammate Erik Karlsson gave him a round of applause for his efforts. This is all seen better in the replay (the second clip on the fight details page).

There was a two-fer later on. Luke Schenn took on Nick Foligno and before things settled down Chris Neil gave Carter Ashton a shove. Mikhail Grabovski stepped in and him and Neil threw a couple of punches before landing on the ice. They were quickly broken up. Both players were ejected for fighting after another fight has already started. Grabovski was given an extra game misconduct for not having his sweater tied down.

The Leafs were able to push around the Sens en route to a 3-1 victory. Neither Matt Carkner or Zenon Konopka were in the lineup for the usually tough Senators.

Don Brennan says the lineup strategy backfired:

Suddenly, Daniel Alfredsson was taking needless abuse from Mike Komisarek. Suddenly, guys like Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris were at greater risk of being maimed by goons like Jay Rosehill and Dion Phaneuf. Suddenly, the Leafs were the kings of Scotiabank Place.

Once again, Carkner should have been in the lineup for Matt Gilroy, who has yet to distinguish himself in a Senators jersey. And once again, Konopka should have been playing for Jim O'Brien, who skates and hustles, but really has had no impact on the outcome of games.