DiPietro/Johnson to be fined, but more?

Rick DiPietro and Brent Johnson will both be fined for their fight last night.
Both were assessed "leaving the crease" peanlties, which carry with it an
automatic $200 fine. Additionally, per rule 27.6, "this incident shall be
reported to the Commissioner for such further disciplinary action as may be
required."

The NHL generally looks unkindly towards incidents in the last five minutes of a
decided game. However, neither goalie, or anyone else on the ice, was assessed
an instigator penalty, which would have subjected them (and their coach) to Rule
46.22::

<<46.22 Fines and Suspensions – Instigator in Final Five Minutes of Regulation
Time (or Anytime in Overtime) - A player who is deemed to be the instigator of
an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at anytime in
overtime (see 46.12), shall be suspended for one game, pending a review of the
incident.

When the one-game suspension is imposed, the Coach shall be fined $10,000 – a
fine that will double for each subsequent incident.

The suspension shall be served unless, upon review of the incident, the Director
of Hockey Operations, at his discretion, deems the incident is not related to
the score, previous incidents in the game or prior games, retaliatory in nature,
"message sending", etc. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent
offense. This suspension shall be served in addition to any other automatic
suspensions a player may incur for an accumulation of three or more instigator
penalties.

No team appeals will be permitted either verbally or in writing regarding the
assessment of this automatic suspension as all incidents are reviewed by the
Director of Hockey Operations as outlined above.>>

Versus, which televised the game, led its NHL Overtime program with the brawl.
NHL on the Fly chose to lead with a more newsworthy event-- Johan Franzen
becoming the first player since 2007 (Marian Gaborik) to score five goals in a
game. Franzen is the first player to score five goals on the road since Alexei
Zhamnov had 5 for Winnipeg in a 7-7 tie with Los Angeles on April 1, 1995.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home
telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on
Twitter @ehornick