NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Saturday's fight-filled game between the Calgary Flames and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, which included an NHL record for penalty minutes by one team in a period, has resulted in four suspensions and a handful of fines.
NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell Monday suspended Anaheim forward Kevin Sawyer five games, Calgary forward Craig Berube three games and Flames forward Scott Nichol and coach Greg Gilbert two games each.
The Calgary organization also was fined $25,000 while Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenseman Ruslan Salei received $1,000 fines.
"The deterioration of this game in the final minutes is clearly unacceptable and, in particular, coach Gilbert and the Calgary club must be held accountable," Campbell said. "The message should be clear to all teams that this type of conduct will not be tolerated."
The suspensions and fines stem from the final stages of Anaheim's 4-0 win at Calgary as the teams were called for 19 fighting majors in the last 85 seconds.
Berube sparked the series of incidents by running Giguere behind the net with 4:16 to play. Nearly three minutes later, Sawyer charged Flames goalie Mike Vernon, cross-checking him to the head.
That set off a skirmish at 18:35 that resulted in four fighting majors. There were three more fights on the next drop of the puck at 8:36, another two at 18:39 and one each at 18:44 and 19:28.
Referees Greg Kimmerly and Brad Meier handed out eight misconducts, six game misconducts, a gross misconduct and a total of 291 penalty minutes in the third period alone.
Calgary set an NHL record for penalty minutes in a period by one team with 190. Philadelphia held the previous mark with 188 against Los Angeles on March 11, 1979.
Anaheim established team highs for penalty minutes in a period (101) and game (107).
Sawyer received the stiffest penalty for his direct hit to the head of Vernon, which resulted in a match penalty for intent to injure. That comes with an automatic suspension.
Berube was suspended for his actions with nine second left, when he was called for instigating and being the aggressor in a fight.
Sawyer and Berube are no strangers to the penalty box. Sawyer leads the NHL with 142 penalty minutes and Berube is sixth all time with 2,963.
Based on their salaries, Sawyer and Berube will forfeit $10,953 and $6,958, respectively.
Nichol was banned after receiving a gross misconduct at 19:51 for his fight with defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, a playmaker who has just 17 penalty minutes this season. Nichol will forfeit $3,865.
Gilbert was suspended for the lineup he sent out at 18:36. It included defensemen Bob Boughner and Denis Gauthier and center Clarke Wilm, who initiated fights at the drop of the puck.
Giguere picked up a game misconduct at 19:28 and Salei a match fighting penalty at 18:36, resulting in their fines.
