The Lightning's Scott Sabourin and Islanders defenseman Logan Stanley dropped the mitts tonight on Long Island, and it wasn't particularly close.
The clip shows the two squaring up near center ice, right over the Islanders logo, with Sabourin in white locked onto Stanley's sweater.
Gino Hard's all-caps description told you exactly who did most of the work.
It came midway through the second period with Tampa Bay up 3-1.
The Lightning were also outshooting New York 17-7 at the time of the tilt.
Credit the Islanders defenseman for stepping up when his team needed something, even if the result didn't go his way.
It was like volunteering to give the wedding toast and realizing halfway through that the other guy brought better material.
Sabourin and Stanley fight, but only one player comes ready
Stanley came into tonight with 4 assists on a $1,500,000 cap hit.
He's been more than a tough customer so far, with a shorthanded assist already on his ledger.
The Lightning arrived riding a three-game winning streak, with Nikita Kucherov already at 6 points.
Jake Guentzel has 4 points of his own, so Tampa Bay hasn't been lacking for offense.
The Islanders came in at 2-2-0 after a 4-1 win over Chicago on Thursday, a game that ended with its own late scrum.
That was the night Frank Nazar's check on Bo Horvat earned him a hearing with the Department of Player Safety.
Horvat came into tonight with 4 goals, 3 of them on the power play.
For Sabourin, this was the kind of shift that gets replayed in the room for days.
Did it change the momentum? The final scoreboard will have the last word on that one.
Jon Cooper will happily take the energy. Peter DeBoer needed a lot more than one tilt to climb out of a two-goal hole.
Tampa Bay visits the Rangers on Tuesday, while the Islanders host Vancouver the same night.
These teams meet again Jan. 30 in Tampa. Stanley will have plenty of time to think about a rematch.
Did Scott Sabourin win his tilt with Logan Stanley convincingly?
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