It was a pretty good bet that if Jeffrey Viel got into a Bruins preseason game, he’d eventually spend five minutes in the penalty box for fighting.
Viel has 139 career penalty minutes in 49 career NHL games all with the San Jose Sharks before this season. Many of those moments in the box followed fights. He even fought Zdeno Chara, who was seven inches taller and almost 50-pounds heavier, during the brief crossover of their careers.
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So it wasn’t surprising when Viel squared off with Andre Lee, late in the first period in Boston’s preseason game against the Kings in Quebec City on Thursday.
After Viel delivered an open-ice hit on Alex Turcotte, he and Lee had a mini tussle that was smothered quickly as both men went to the penalty box, Viel for elbowing and Lee for roughing.
Unfulfilled, when they came out of the penalty box, they squared off for proper scrap. Lee’s early roundhouse dislodged Viel’s helmet. The Bruins forward came back swinging, landing a right to Lee’s jaw.
With each man grabbing each other’s sweater, they exchanged glancing blows. In sidestepping a big twisting punch from Viel, Lee lost his balance and the officials jumped in.
