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Video: Canucks-Flames game kicks off with line brawl (Update: It got worse)

VanCal

The Vancouver Canucks haven’t been able to score lately and the Flames are one of the worst teams offensively this season. They’re gaining ground on the league lead in major penalties though.

A mere two seconds into the Saturday’s contest, Vancouver and Calgary had already combined for 142 penalty minutes. Calgary’s Kevin Westgarth, Chris Butler, Blair Jones, and Ladislav Smid had all been handed game misconducts. On the Canucks side, Kellan Lain, Dale Weise, and Kevin Bieksa were similarly booted.

Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella was absolutely furious as he yelled at the Calgary Flames bench.

You can view the incident below:

This event was reminiscent of the game-opening line brawl between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers back in March 2012. Tortorella, then the Rangers’ coach, was upset at the line Devils bench boss Peter DeBoer chose to start the contest.

“I guess in John’s world you can come into our building and start your tough guys, but we can’t do the same in here,” DeBoer said in response. “He’s either got short-term memory loss or he’s a hypocrite. So it’s one of the other.”

Update: Tortorella hadn’t calmed down by the first intermission. He was seen pushing people in the hallway by the Flames’ dressing room:

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