Fights

The New Jersey Devils hosted a preseason game against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center this week. It was nice to see the Devils take the ice after their disappointing loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs. The team had a lot of new faces - and one missing: John Madden, who left to become a free agent.

I grew a bit rusty during the off-season, so I missed some shots and struggled with timing in the furiously paced game. But I snagged something during this game that has eluded me in my years of shooting ice hockey: Good fight shots! There were five fights during the game, and I scored a shot of a fist to the face. Those are tough to get, because of timing: Often, I've had images a split second too soon or too late, but never at the moment of contact.

During this game, I got a shot in which the Devils' David Clarkson (23) clocked the Islanders' Brendan Witt (32) right in the kisser (three sequential images shown). The second shot is of the Devils' Andrew Peters (25) overpowering the Islanders' Joel Rechlicz (40).

Who says New Yorkers are tougher than Jerseyans?!