Gino Hard just reported that two fights broke out between the Ducks and Canucks tonight after Max Sasson clipped Laurent Brossoit.
The game is still going as I write this, with Anaheim and Vancouver in the third period and 5:27 left on the clock. I won't guess at the score, but the temperature in that building clearly jumped.
Hard's post spells out the sequence in a single line: Sasson clipped the goalie, and two fights followed.
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That's about all the detail we have for now. Whether a penalty was called on the Sasson play, who dropped the gloves or what the league might do about it is not known yet, so none of that belongs in this story.
What we do know is the context around it. The Canucks are 3-12-1 and have lost two straight, with a 1-6-0 mark at home. They've allowed 76 goals in 16 games, and frustration has been building for a while.
Why Vancouver's frustration is showing
A team that is 1-8-1 over its last 10 tends to look for a spark anywhere it can find one. Sometimes that spark is a fight. The Canucks sit at -27 in goal differential, and a long list of lopsided nights leaves little to cheer about.
Sasson is a fair name to find in the middle of this. The 26-year-old center has 4 goals and 10 penalty minutes in 16 games this season. He's also sitting at a -7 rating, and that's the kind of number that makes a player want to change the energy of a game.
For Brossoit, the situation is different. The 33-year-old goalie has played one game for Anaheim this season, and being clipped in his crease is the last thing a backup wants. A goalie getting run draws a response from teammates every time, and the Ducks clearly gave one.
Anaheim comes in at 6-7-1 after beating Ottawa 6-3 on Sunday. The Ducks have been inconsistent on the road and at home, and they've got Edmonton waiting on Thursday.
Vancouver heads to Winnipeg that same day. Any fallout from tonight, whether supplemental discipline or fresh penalty minutes, would matter for both rosters before those games.
Should Max Sasson face a suspension for clipping Laurent Brossoit?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Tyrell Bauer drops the gloves with a Xhekaj tonight
