It wasn't necessarily fight night in Belmont Park at the UBS Arena, but two unlikely combatants went toe to toe, dropping the gloves in a spirited tilt, which they may have been planning for a number of weeks after an incident occurred the last time the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders faced off against each other.
Everyone knows that the game of hockey is fast and physical and can occasionally get out of hand. Whether you believe fighting belongs in the game feels rather irrelevant at this point because, in 2024, this is how differences are sorted out and another way teams can provide payback when they aren't able to do it on the scoresheet.