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Sports

Fisticuffs Fly in Flames-Red Wings Throwback Donnybrook

The two teams got into a raucous old-time hockey brawl.

Detroit pumped eight pucks into the back of the Calgary Flames' net on Wednesday, and complemented the victory by winning a few good old-fashioned scraps, too.

The Wings were up big with under six minutes to go in the third before all hell gloriously broke loose, as the evening's events kicked off with Detroit's Luke Witkowski beating the pulp out of Calgary's Brett Kulak. That seemed to be the end of the altercation, until Witkowski got into a jawing match between the benches as he was leaving the ice while Matthew Tkachuk egged Witkowski on with a little casual stick work.

The situation went to pure escalation mode from there, with Witkowski returning to the ice from the tunnel and sparking a giant melee which resulted in several one-on-one tilts (the most spirited one between Travis Hamonic and Anthony Mantha), a linesman dry-humping the pair just inside the tunnel as a scrap spilled into the benches, hundreds of wild punches being exchanged between the two clubs, and a hell of a mess for the refs to sort out with over five minutes still remaining in the game.

Discipline-wise, Witkowski will likely face a suspension for returning to the ice after being ejected and igniting the donnybrook. And from an injury standpoint, all reports point to Jaromir Jagr's flowing head of hair being unharmed during the altercation, so everyone can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The Wings won the mean-spirited contest 8-2.