Fugly...

Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk and Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer are separated after their fight following Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night in Anaheim. The Ducks defested the Wings, 2-1, to force Game 7 Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
(JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP)

...that’s what it was after the game last night:

Here’s Wyshynski (most links removed… except for the game recap):

Subtly has never exactly been a virtue for the Anaheim Ducks. It's the only franchise in NHL history to have self-identified as being "Mighty," before dumping the name and the cartoon colors for sinister black uniforms. It's also the only franchise in hockey to employ both a pugilist with a silent-movie villain's facial hair and a 6-foot-6 Viking warlord who occasionally lets his elbows do the talking.

So faced with elimination in Game 6 last night at home against the Detroit Red Wings, the only way the Ducks were going out was fighting: In the figurative sense, as they battled the Wings with renewed fortitude (and absolutely stellar goaltending from Jonas Hiller to extend the series to a Game 7 with a 2-1 win; and in the literal sense, as Game 6 ended with a bizarre collection of players traded blows after the final horn.

And Drew Sharp, from the Detroit Free Press:

They weren’t merely satisfied with a 2-1 win courtesy of rookie goalie Jonas Hiller’s brilliance. They wanted restitution for the Wings hammering away at their skull-and-crossbones reputation. But it was cowardly that they went after Datsyuk and Rafalski, who aren’t recognized as fighters.

I get it. It’s playoff hockey. It’s as much about surviving as winning and how far are you willing to push yourself in order to stay alive. And when you have two teams that truly loathe each other such as these two, there’s going to be some extracurricular mischief.

But this was tacky.

Winning remains the best revenge.

The last line is all too true. But there is a code in hockey. Well, old-time hockey. Here’s the Emotional Me about all this… I hope Helm or someone like him absolutely, positively kicks Niedermeyer’s ass from here to Sunday in the final minutes of Game Seven, win or lose. I’ve read that Darren McCarty has been called up from Grand Rapids, and I think it would be just frickin’ perfect if he did the deed. It needs doin’.