Flyers - Pen-goons Brawl Fallout.

On Monday, it was just unjust punishment in the case of the Flyers - Pen-goons brawl.  After calling the Pen-goons decision to send out the 4th line with a minute to go in the game, Peter Laviolette, the Flyers coach was fined $10,000.  He called it a "gutless move" and brought up the fact that the Pen-goons 4th line had played less then 12 minutes during the game.  The Pen-goons coach was not fined but an assistant coach was, Tony Granato, fined $2,500.  Rather unbelievable given, and I will stand by my position, that the Pen-goons started this brawl.

The Pen-goon's coach Dan Bylsma said that the hit on Briere was a clean hit.  Briere since the hit has been diagnosed with a upper back contusion.  Let's stop playing politics for a second, Mr. Bylsma, clean hits do not injure people indefinitely.  Let's talk about the hit and how close to the head it was.  Is anyone on the Pen-goons going to take responsibility for the fact that the hit injured Briere? No.  That has been made perfectly clear.

The Pen-goons and their coach would rather deflect all responsibility for the hit on Briere to Schenn's hit on Crosby.  The said crosscheck as they are calling it, happened after a goal when the players were skating to the bench.  Crosby was pushed a little bit, and did his classic flop to the ground to gather more attention to what happened.  Was Crosby injured? No. Is he going to miss any games? No.  I really do not see a problem with it.  The Pen-goons have decided that since Schenn's hit Crosby, that it's ok, to send out the 4th line in a meaningless point of the game and what happens, happens.

A look at Schenn's hit on Crosby:

Another baffling point in this entire story has been the biased coverage by the media.  Yahoo Sports ran a story after the game, "Flyers bully their way to a victory."  The game was 6-3 before the brawl happened, the game was over, the Flyers were the better team that day.  There was no bullying to victory.  The Flyers crushed the Pen-goons, in Pittsburgh.  Its rather sickening to read this kind of journalism that takes one brawl out of context and demerits how the rest of the game was played.

Also, if the Pen-goons are so worried about Crosby getting cross-checked maybe he should stop skating around the ice slashing everyone.  Crosby, with the NHL's graces, is allowed to skate around the ice and get away with penalties that most other players cannot get away with.  They let him skate around the ice like a saint, but we all know that there is blood on his hands.  I really wish someone would just give him a good, clean hit, and let him be out indefinitely just like Briere.

This is just another installment of punishment not being consistent in the NHL.  There is no way that Dan Bylsma should have not been fined.  It was his decision to send Vitale and the 4th line out there in a game that was already decided, bares some amount of responsibility for the brawl.  I am not, in any way, saying that the Flyers do not or should not been fined, because they are just as guilty.  Both teams were out of line and both should have been punished in a similar fashion.  That was not the case here, and it continues to be very frustrating that the NHL will not fairly execute punishment.