It wasn’t surprising that the Sharks' New Year's Eve meeting with the Calgary Flames turned chippy toward the end. The hosts had scored eight goals, and given that it was a battle for first place in the Pacific Division, emotions were particularly fragile.
But anger really boiled over on Team Teal’s bench in the final minute when one of their players ended up on the wrong side of a late hit.
With time winding down and the Flames about to skate away with an 8-5 win at the Saddledome, Calgary center Sam Bennett went out of his way to lay a high hit on San Jose defenseman Radim Simek, who had just passed the puck to a teammate.