With Jesse Boulerice and Zack Stortini in the press box for the Edmonton Oilers last night, the forecast for fisticuffs in their game against the Detroit Red Wings was cloudy at best. That was until Sheldon Souray and Andreas Lilja became tied up in front of the Wings' crease, and this short but eventful fight occurred:

The Oilers' two goals in the third period -- including one by Souray -- were the game's second-best rally, behind the one Lilja put on in this brawl. He overcame a stumble early in the fight and ended up winning the thing with that big blow at the end. Great crowd reaction, too; the kind of "ohhhhh" usually reserved for watching a great goal on the Jumbotron replay.

Meanwhile, Souray may want to learn the subtle nuances of the tie-down. Nothing derails a quality scrap faster than when one of the fighters suddenly looks like a kid wearing his father's shirt. "Riomouse911" of HockeyFights.com, which scored the brawl for Lilja, had this rather candid assessment of Sourary's performance:

First off, nice tie down Sheldon, when it comes up that easy it was never tied down. Second, you swung for the fences and missed on every one. Third, despite having a "real fighter" in Lilja for an opponent, you let a big right hand thrown from somewhere near Halifax bounce off your forehead to knock you down. C'mon, you're better than that!

Indeed. Another decent rally last night came from Erik Reitz of the Minnesota Wild, who absorbed some bombs from Shane O'Brien before saving face at the end (video).

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