Even though the Sharks and Penguins only play each other twice a season, things tend to get a bit chippy when they meet up on the ice. The bad blood no doubt stems from when these teams faced off in the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. And boy, did the fists fly in the third period of Thursday's game in Pittsburgh.
Fans watching at home almost missed the line brawl that took place in front of Pittsburgh's bench during a TV timeout in the last four-plus minutes of regulation. Evander Kane, Brenden Dillon, and newly-reacquired forward Micheal Haley began pushing and shoving with members of the Penguins, and things quickly escalated. The ordeal ended with Haley coming to Dillon's defense and shoving Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby down onto the ice.
Haley -- known for his physicality and holding opposing players accountable for their actions -- chuckled about the scuffle afterward.
"It seems to happen whenever I'm on the ice, which is a good thing I guess," he told the press after the game. "I have no idea actually how (it started). I saw Kane over there with one of their guys and came over, and it doesn't take long for things to ignite. And then you're in the box."
Haley may not have known how the debacle he was part of got started, but Kane admitted in his postgame interview that he might have gotten the scuffle going when he went by Pittsburgh's bench.
"I was just checking out the play they were running because I could see the board pretty clearly," he answered honestly. "I guess they didn't like that very much and wanted to take exception -- and I was happy to oblige."
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Whatever the reason was for the escalated incident, Sharks' head coach Peter DeBoer admitted afterward that he could understand where the Penguins were coming from.
"We've been on the other end of those," DeBoer said. "You're down three-or-four-nothing and there's frustration. Those things happen."
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The fisticuffs ended with four skaters leaving the ice with game misconduct penalties and Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan getting tossed for inflammatory language. Seconds after the next faceoff, the Sharks drew a penalty and Brent Burns scored the nail-in-the-coffin power-play goal that put the finishing touches on San Jose's 4-0 victory. While the Sharks likely don't want to be getting in full-on line brawls every evening, at least things went in their favor in the end.
