Ah, playoff hockey.
If the final few seconds of Saturday's Game 2 were any indication of what's to come, the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks figure to be can't-miss TV for the rest of their Western Conference first-round matchup.
The Blues and Sharks continue with Game 3 Monday night from San Jose with the series tied 1-1. And with the way things ended Saturday, the fisticuffs could begin as early as the opening faceoff.
A physical game turned ugly Saturday as three fights and a large scrum broke out as time expired on the Blues' 3-0 win. The result was 15 penalties, 88 penalty minutes, four ejections and plenty of finger-pointing — all of which came after the game had ended.
"That's playoff hockey," said Blues forward David Backes.
The Blues took issue with a number of Sharks hits earlier in the game, including TJ Galiardi's charging penalty that cracked the helmet of forward Andy McDonald.
The winger, who missed 51 games due to a concussion earlier in the season, accused Galiardi of targeting his head on the hit. He showed his cracked helmet to the media while voicing his displeasure after the game.
"It's a play that we're trying to take out of hockey, an elbow to the head," McDonald said. "If it's a check, it's a check, but if you make contact with the head, which he clearly did, I mean isn't that a head shot?
"I don't know, it's pretty clear on the replay that his elbow comes up and hits me in the face. I'm sitting here with a cracked helmet."
The Blues also weren't pleased with what appeared to be either a punch or elbow from Brent Burns to the head of veteran winger Scott Nichol.
"The one on Nichol is just a punch to the head," McDonald said. "That's really kind of unprovoked. He just turned around and punched Scottie in the head."
The Sharks had plenty to gripe about as well. They weren't pleased with what they felt was a slew-foot by McDonald on Logan Couture and an apparent unprovoked elbow from Alex Steen, which started a fight between him and the Sharks' Dan Boyle.
And that was all before the final hoedown after the buzzer, when Sharks coach Todd McLellan accused the Blues' Vladimir Sobotka of a sucker punch that he said broke the nose of Dominic Moore before the two engaged in one of the three postgame fights.
Asked about the extra-curricular activities following the game, an obviously unhappy McLellan wasted little time going off.
"Well it depends what you're talking about," McLellan said. "If you're talking about the instigator, the sucker punch, the blow to the head, the broken nose, what do you think I thought of it? It's everything we're trying to get rid of.
"The rest of it in the corner, the men that looked at each other and got at it, that's part of playoff hockey. But the sucker punch is unacceptable."
Several Sharks players were seen yelling and gesturing at Sobotka from the bench as the Blues winger skated off the ice following the fight. Whether or not they decide to seek any revenge on him Monday remains one of the intriguing storylines.
Two other fights also broke out following the final buzzer. The Blues' Roman Polak went nuts on Sharks defenseman Justin Braun while Barret Jackman of the Blues battled Andrew Murray of the Sharks.
Jackman appeared to point or wave his finger at Murray as he backpedaled away from the scrum, sending the capacity crowd at Scottrade Center in St. Louis into a frenzy as the Blues celebrated their series-evening win at center ice.
"It's high emotions," Backes said. "They're playing for their lives, we're playing for our lives. It's a physical game. Each team thinks they had a few liberties taken on them and that's how you respond in the game of hockey. It's nothing outside the lines.
"I think there's sensitivity around the league right now about any play that contacts the head and there's a little history between the two teams with contact to the head so I think there's some sensitivity to that but I think we responded well."
Blues forward David Perron missed 97 games because of what he calls a dirty hit from Sharks forward Joe Thornton on Nov. 4, 2010. The hit left Perron with a concussion and put his career in jeopardy for several months.
Not to be omitted from the list of fisticuffs was a battle between rare fighters in the second period when Kris Russell of the Blues and Joe Pavelski of the Sharks dropped the gloves and got the dance started in earnest.
The teams combined for 132 penalty minutes and plenty of bad blood that figures to carry over to Monday night's Game 3. With both teams feeling slighted and on the short end of the cheap shots, the intensity figures to be hot and heavy from the start.
"We're strapped in and I'm sure they are too," said Blues forward T.J. Oshie. "It's going to be a battle to the end."
