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Thursday Night Fights: Predators/Sabres

After pasting the Predators 7-2 last night, many on the Buffalo Sabres are calling for a suspension for Predators forward Scott Nichol, who sucker-punched Jaroslev Spacek late in the 3rd period. Basically, Spacek used his stick to drive Nichol into the Sabres' goalpost, and Nichol popped right back up, came at Spacek from behind and punched him right in the jaw, setting off a fracas that resulted in Nichol drawing 2, 5, 10 and a game, and the Sabres finishing the game with a major power play, on which they scored twice.

If anyone can find a video link to post in here, I'd appreciate it (this story at TSN has a highlight clip), because there's one question that nags at me coming out of this incident: Why, after driving Nichol into the goalpost and hearing the play whistled dead, does Spacek just stand there looking down the ice? You'd think he'd keep an eye on Nichol, first to see if he was OK, second to see if he was going to come after him like he did. At the very least he should have expected a standoff and some face-washing from his opponent.

That said, of course Nichol deserves a suspension. He was angry, and let his emotions get the better of him for a couple moments. It happens to a lot of players, and they get a game (or five) suspension as a result. When the word comes down, he should sit down and not fight it.

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