Anaheim defenceman Chris Pronger is not being suspended and Ducks' head coach Randy Carlyle is not being fined for Pronger instigating a fight with Los Angeles' Michal Handzus last night as the buzzer sounded at the end of overtime in the Ducks' 4-3 shootout win over the Kings.
NHL rules call for an automatic one-game suspension for the player and a $10,000 fine for the coach when an instigator is assessed with less than five minutes remaining in regulation time.
But the rule also allows for the NHL to "rescind" the penalties if the league doesn't believe the incident was pre-meditated by the player or orchestrated by the coach. The score of the game is often one of the biggest factors and, in this case, overtime had just ended and they were heading to a shootout.
And, in this instance, the league has rescinded the penalties so there will be no suspension to Pronger or fine to Carlyle.
Pronger became incensed when just as the game was ending, Handzus flipped what looked like a harmless wrist shot from the blueline towards Duck goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere, who used his blocker to deflect it to the corner. Pronger went after Handzus, a melee ensued and Pronger dropped the gloves and started pounding on Handzus.