It Starts

The first fights of this year’s playoff season happened last night.

The San Jose–Nashville series erupted with a minute left in last night’s game 2.  The main target was Scott Hartnell, but the main event wound up being Ryane Clowe vs Jordin Tootoo.  It was a bit of a yard sale and there were three separate fights when all was said and done.

While many were expecting a George Parros vs Derek Boogaard matchup – and they almost got it – the unlikely pair of Brent Burns and Chris Kunitz emerged from a scrum and had a good scrap.

Last night’s fights

Ryane Clowe vs Jordin Tootoo Apr 13, 2007
Mike Grier vs Scott Hartnell Apr 13, 2007
Scott Hannan vs Jerred Smithson Apr 13, 2007
Brent Burns vs Chris Kunitz Apr 13, 2007

A few days ago I added the 2005-06 playoff fights.  I started adding 2003-04 playoff fights, and also a couple of more Janssen–Hollweg bouts to follow up their 05-06 playoff fight.

Other fights added

Cam Janssen vs Ryan Hollweg Jan 22, 2006
Cam Janssen vs Ryan Hollweg Oct 2, 2005
Jason Marshall vs Ville Nieminen May 16, 2004
Mike Rathje vs Chris Simon May 13, 2004
Chris Simon vs Andre Roy May 27, 2004
Andrew Ference vs Cory Stillman May 27, 2004

Some reads

Penguins hint at humiliation
Wild need to match the Ducks’ muscle
Playoff beards

Season change

All pages on the site will now default to the 2006-07 playoffs.  You can get to any of the regular season statistics through the league pages (like the NHL, for example).  The AHL will be a little light until the playoffs begin.

Awards

Sunday or Monday I’ll post the award nominees.

Today’s games

New York Rangers vs Atlanta Thrashers 3:00 PM ET
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators 3:00 PM ET
Tampa Bay Lightning vs New Jersey Devils 7:00 PM ET – Watch on Yahoo for free
New York Islanders vs Buffalo Sabres 7:30 PM ET