Fight Fest: Pro Hockey Teams Brawl 3 Times in 4 Seconds

It may have been the longest four seconds to ever start a game. At least it felt like it.

Last night's Dallas Stars-Boston Bruins game began not with one, not with two, but with three fist fights in the first four seconds. Those purists who want to keep fighting in hockey will love this clip. Those who want to take fighting out of the game will use this as evidence. And those boxing and MMA fans who wandered over to this post might become fans of a new sport. Here's the something-for-everyone clip:

ESPN gives the details:

In the first 4 seconds of the game, there were three separate fights.

"I haven't seen it [three fights at the start of the game like that]," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. " It's funny ... two teams that don't see each other very much. It shows you you can't take anything for granted."

Stars agitator Steve Ott bloodied Boston's Gregory Campbell one second after the puck was dropped. That was followed by Boston's Shawn Thornton pounding Stars forward Krys Barch one second later. And then Boston's Adam McQuaid was fighting Dallas' Brian Sutherby 4 seconds in as the crowd roared with approval.

"Usually against Dallas it is interesting in this building," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We got their starting lineups and we knew they wanted to start with a physical edge and we were ready."

In the Stars' previous visit to Boston on Nov. 1, 2008, there were 146 penalty minutes, tonight a mere 91.