Phil Kessel Gets Mad, Engages In Some Rough Hugging

Phil Kessel got into a fight? Phil Kessel got into a fight!

The Penguins winger, who hasn’t been in a real fight since the 2013-14 season— against Canucks pest Alexandre Burrows, although that one wasn’t really much of a fight—dropped one glove with Devils forward Brett Seney in Tuesday night’s game. Perhaps it was because Pittsburgh’s near the bottom of the Metropolitan division and was losing to the only team behind them, or maybe Seney did something to really piss off Phil. How do you piss off Phil?!

The two players mostly wrestled but traded some restricted punches as they fell to the ice. On another part of the ice, the Devils thought they had scored a goal. It was rescinded because officials ruled that play had stopped due to the fight.

There was a twist, though: Kessel and Sevey didn’t receive five-minute majors for fighting. Sevey earned two minutes for roughing, and Kessel got a double minor for the same infraction. By the box score, Phil didn’t actually “fight,” and although he had a goal and assist in the Penguins’ 4-2 loss, he didn’t actually achieve a Gordie Howe hat trick. All that energy wasted for nothing. He’ll need at least a year to recharge.