Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
This is all the more idiotic when factoring in that Scott will get nothing beyond time served. 5 mins for fighting, a 10 min misconduct, and an additional + 2 for instigating. Two impact players will miss significant, meaningful game-time for responding to verbal and physical threats from a roster-member whose ONLY purpose is to promote physical and psychological intimidation.
Buffalo should be laughing all the way to the bank with this result, and it only serves to emphasise how lopsided and backwards the NHL is with regards to the place and purpose of violence in sports.
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How is this lopsided or backwards? There is fighting in hockey, Kessel obviously instigated, Scott responded and Kessel didn't like the response.
The Leafs come off looking disgusting in this:
Kessel instigates with a goon
Kessel slashes Scott twice
Two Leafs jump Scott
Clarkson leaves bench to engage Scott
Bernier engages Miller (for what reason, exactly?)
Multiple members of the Leafs bench taunts Scott as he's being restrained.
Kessel jabs Scott and goes in for the last word
Lopsided and backwards? Please. The Leafs are the offenders here. Scott is a goon, and his place in the game is questionable, but he's not some unstoppable monster that could have killed Kessel. What Kessel did was pathetic, and the response of his team was equally pathetic. Kessel has at least 20 pounds on Flynn, and nobody had a problem with the fleecing Kessel gave him.
I'm not justifying the start of the brawl, nor the Buffalo Sabres role in it, but anyone who paints Buffalo in any light comparable to that of Toronto has blinders on. Multiple Leafs performed much worse offences than anything Scott did, but he simply gets crapped on because he's a goon. If Myers dropped the gloves in the same way, I guarantee the reaction to this is completely different.