freer, you're right in that this altercation has no place in the game. We have different interpretations of the events though.
Here's what appears to happen:
1) Kadri lays a clean hit on Gaudreau
2) Jooris skates up to Kadri to defend his skilled teammate, making eye and verbal contact with Kadri indicating his displeasure. Jooris swings for the back of Kadri's leg with a slash. Kadri gets his arms up ready to tussle.
3) Uninjured, but mad, Gaudreau gets up and approaches Kadri from his blindside and gives a hard slash to Kadri's other ankle, causing him to collapse dramatically.
4) Jooris takes advantage of Kadri's prone position to put him into a headlock while he throws off his gloves to punch Kadri in the back of the head repeatedly.
5) A scrum ensues where Michalek and Marincin try to get in to defend Kadri.
6) Refs restore order by separating the offending players
7) Gaudreau mimes Kadri's defensive technique derisively
Penalties: - Gaudreau (slashing); Jooris (roughing); Kadri (unsportsmanlike conduct)
Here's what I would like to have seen:
1) Kadri lays a clean hit on Gaudreau
2) Uninjured, but mad, Gaudreau gets up and rejoins the play
OR
Kadri is secretly a street fighter, and sensing the impending two-pronged attack, lifts his leg to dodge Gaudreau's stick while socking him in the face with his left fist, and takes Jooris head on with a right jab and left hook combo. Because that'd be the hockey thing to do.
OR
All of that actually happens, but Gaudreau gets the minor for slashing and a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct; Jooris gets the minor for instigator, a major for fighting, and a game misconduct.
46.2 Aggressor ? The aggressor in an altercation shall be the player who continues to throw punches in an attempt to inflict punishment on his opponent who is in a defenseless position or who is an unwilling combatant.
A player must be deemed the aggressor when he has clearly won the fight but he continues throwing and landing punches in a further attempt to inflict punishment and/or injury on his opponent who is no longer in a position to defend himself.
A player who is deemed to be the aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct.
A player who is deemed to be the aggressor of an altercation will have this recorded as an aggressor of an altercation for statistical and suspension purposes.
A player who is deemed to be both the instigator and aggressor of an altercation shall be assessed an instigating minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct (instigator) and a game misconduct penalty (aggressor).
A player shouldn't have to defend a legal hit that does not injure a player, just because it looked and sounded big. Legal hits happen all the time as part of regular game flow. Jooris clearly initiates a fight that doesn't come to full fruition (because Gaudreau already took Kadri down), and continued the one-sided fisticuffs.
