Sunday Night Fights: Playoffs Round 4

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first conference finalist of this beautiful NHL playoff season! Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings for their sweep of the St. Louis Blues this afternoon. First, the Kings took out the Presidents' Trophy recipient and defending Western Conference Champions, the Vancouver Canucks, in 5 games. Now, they have swept the league's best regular season defensive team (165 goals allowed) by outscoring them 15 to 6. With superb goaltending and timely scoring, the Kings are looking like the hottest team in the playoffs right now. What's more impressive is that they're doing all of this as the 8th seed in the West, yet don't let that 8th seed fool you. If it wasn't for losing their final two games, the Kings could have easily been the 3rd seed. Nonetheless, let's give credit where credit is due -- four more wins and the Kings will be the second ever 8th seed team to reach the Stanley cup Finals, with the other being the Edmonton Oilers in 2006 (only to lose in 7 games to the Carolina Hurricanes). But I won't get ahead of myself.

Fighting in the dark is never a good idea.

Rather, I'll get down to real business. I'm not here to give you a recap of the NHL playoffs. I'm here to showcase some wild haymakers and bloody faces! So it's my pleasure to reintroduce James Stewart of the St. Louis Blues. Stewart made his first Sunday Night Fights appearance earlier this playoff season (SNF: Round 2) and didn't want to go home without a bang. Midway through the first period in Game 4 between the LA Kings today, Stewart takes a big hit from Center Jordan Nolan while trying to start an odd-man rush. Well, let's just say Stewart wasn't too happy about it...

Nolan comes out strong firing some great lefts on Stewart. Stewart takes on the task and starts throwing rights at Nolan, who at this point has already lost his helmet. After trading some blows, Stewart manages to drape Nolan's jersey over his head and lets him have it. The officials try and step in (standard safety procedure when a player has his jersey over his head), but Stewart has already done enough damage. Nolan comes out with a shiner under his left eye. Stewart gives a friendly finger to the mouth to quiet the crowd, but the LA Kings and Jordan Nolan got the last laugh. In the end, Nolan scores the first and eventual game-winning goal as the Kings send the Blues packing for summer vacation. So I'll tip my hats to both men for their relentless pursuit of the Lord Stanley's Cup.

Photos and video courtesy of hockeyfights.com, youtube.com, & yahoo.com