The Avalanche freely admits its third-period strategy was not about scoring goals, but knocking around a few bodies. The Avs didn't register their first shot on goal in the third period until more than nine minutes had passed. It's not the prettiest part of the game, by any sense of the imagination. And it was frustration, I think, on both sides. It happened to us earlier this year a couple of times.
Nobody's proud of it, it's just part of the game.
We're sorry it happened. So is the NBA, but it suspended and fined six players for their roles in a bench-clearing melee May 14. But fighting is so prevalent in North American hockey that the NHL rule book devotes several pages to defining acceptable and unacceptable tactics. No sneak attacks. No ganging up.