Emotions were running a little high near the end of Tampa Bay’s 5-0 drubbing of Buffalo and it resulted in not one, not two, but three line skirmishes. Between the two teams, the score sheet was packed with more than 100 penalty minutes.

The Hockey News

In Thursday night’s contest between the high-powered Tampa Bay Lightning and the lowly Buffalo Sabres, there were three beat downs: one on the scoreboard and two on the ice. The Lightning walked out with 5-0 win over their Atlantic Division opponents, but they didn’t leave the ice without throwing a few fists in the process. The Sabres, who have been on a run of late, and the Lightning mixed it up on three separate occasions, with the two teams combining for 110 penalty minutes. Things weren’t actually getting too crazy, but less than eight minutes into the third period the first brawl started:

The culprit in this one was definitely



Steven Stamkos. After swinging his stick at defenseman



Mike Weber, the two got into a bit of a shoving match that resulted in Tampa’s



Brett Connolly and Buffalo’s



Tyson Strachan dropping the gloves. Little more than a minute later, when moods had maybe just begun to settle, Lightning defenseman



Victor Hedman caught the Sabres’



Zemgus Girgensons with a hit along the boards. With the referee set to give Hedman a penalty for interference, tempers flared once again:

Who knew Girgensons – the league’s leading All-Star vote getter – could also throw a few punches? Not a bad fight from the Latvian center. Less than two and a half minutes later, Buffalo’s



Patrick Kaleta, always the antagonist, sparked another bout, this one with Tampa’s



Brian Boyle:

Resulting from the mix-up, Kaleta, Boyle, Tampa’s Brenden Morrow, and Buffalo’s Cody McCormick were all sent to take an early shower, receiving 10-minute misconducts. You can check out the complete penalty summary below:



If that isn't enough, take a listen to Brian Boyle, who was mic'd up during last night's game: