(Image Source: Washington Times)
 

BY AUSTIN FAX

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
 

You're watching multi-source sports analysis from Newsy.
 

There were two big hits in Thursday’s hockey game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals-- Arron Asham hit Jay Beagle... and Jay Beagle hit the floor.

Fights happen nearly every game - but what Asham did next has analysts talking. SportsCenter has the footage.


 

“That would lead to a brawl between Beagle and Arron Asham. Look out below right there! Beagle knocked out cold. He needed help skating off the ice.”  
 

So did Asham go too far with his “lights out” mockery? ESPN’s Barry Melrose doesn’t think so. He says It’s all just part of the game.
 

“It was a message sender. Their was a reason that fight happened. It wasn’t just violence. It wasn’t just two guys putting on a show. Asher was sending a message to the Washington Capitals, Beagle was sending a message from Washington to Pittsburgh. Right there you can see the value of a fight in a game.”

CSN’s Tim Panaccio says boys will be boys, but Asham’s actions were disrespectful and have no place in hockey.
 

“Arron Asham was a good guy for the Flyers. Always held himself accountable, showed class.  But what Asham, one of the Penguins enforcers, did to Washington’s Jay Beagle was by his own admission, “classless.” That’s breaking the code among fighters. You just don’t do that.”

The NHL’s Head Disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan has not suspended Asham, though many anticipate a suspension could come later in the week. The Globe and Mail’s David Shoalts thinks Shanahan needs to send a message-- now.


“If Shanahan, the NHL’s new lord of discipline, is going to drag the players to a better standard of ‘behaviour, he needs to clamp down on people like Asham when they need a little class stamped on them.”

Enough about Asham-- a blogger from NBC Washington is talking about what Beagle did after the fight.


“There was a lot of blood. There was ill-advised taunting. And then Beagle pulled out his own tooth. [He] pulled out his own tooth. His own. Tooth. He may have lost the fight, but his act of self-dentistry earns him today’s tough guy award.”

Asham has since apologized for his actions. The two teams meet again on the ice December 1st in Washington.