It didn't take Jody Shelley long to notch his first dance of the 2011-2012 campaign, as he dropped the gloves with Jay Rosehill of the Toronto Maple Leafs in his first preseason game. The two had come together earlier in the game without further incident, after Shelley clearly boarded Darryl Boyce, Rosehill rightfully wanted to get nasty. Hard not to be entertained by this one, which lasted a full minute:
Have to give the edge to Rosehill in that one, but it was a damn good fight. With the NHL cracking down on boarding infractions this season, Rosehill may not be the only one doling out the discipline to Shelley. No matter how deep your Flyer bias or thoughts on whether Boyce should have been more ready for the hit along the boards, that was a dirty hit from behind by Shelley. Boyce's nose was said to have been broken on the play, though hopefully it wasn't this bad.
Max Talbot also fought in this one, his first as a Flyer. Phillippe Dupuis put a strong hit on Brayden Schenn, and the veteran Talbot quickly came over to let the Leafs know that won't be tolerated. We'll toss up video of that if it becomes available, although it wasn't so much an encore to the Shelley-Rosehill tilt as it was a display of Talbot knowing his roles on the team, one of which is protecting its stars.
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