Two out of three over a long weekend isn't too shabby when you consider the fact that if you could maintain that kind of pace all season you'd end up with 108 points, which might be enough to take the Conference. But I want to waste your time discussing two incidents involving Mike Richards from this weekend that seem related but the only correlation between them is that they happened at about the same place on the ice.

Saturday's hit on David Booth

Get one of your friends (and if you don't have a friend try craigslist) and have him stand directly in front of you so that you're face to face. And then ask him to turn 90 degrees either way. If you take a step forward, no matter what height he is relative to you (unless you follow in the footsteps of Michael Jackson) your chin will be touching some part of his body. If he's taller than you your face will be buried in his shoulder. If he's shorter than you your chin might bounce off the top of his head.

Did NHL players not have shoulders and heads before the Lindros brothers entered the league? When big, strong guys are flying around crashing into each other people are going to get hurt. If you're discussing targeting people's heads like Corey Perry did last season than that's why there is an elbowing penalty already set up in the ol' Rule Book.

If you didn't hear Florida's announcers during the entire episode than you missed two idiots call Richards cheap and say the hit was unnecessary. Because you should let up in games that you have a two or three goal lead in. Yep Florida announcers, we tested those waters last Spring. Doesn't work out too well.

Just think of how ridiculous of a 5 minute major it was. Interference? Are you kidding? Finish your checks boys, but only if they're ready for you. A player has until the recipient of their pass receives the puck to get hit. I stopped this exactly the moment that Stephen Weiss touches the puck. Contact was already initiated and these guys were going 20 mph at least before this frame. Give me a break.

Flyers fans learned the hard way the perils of skating with your head down. David Booth just learned a lesson about admiring your pass in the most dangerous portion of the ice while not skating directly north-south. It's hockey.

Sunday's Laperriere-Shelley fight

Flyers detractors will be quick to say "Oh Richards can dish it out but he can't take it." Which is one of the sayings that has miraculously survived the past 50 years since it was in Grease or On the Waterfront or something. The two incidents have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but you should have heard (and maybe you did) the San Jose announcers lauding Jody Shelly's effort.

They jumped on the "fight after a clean hit" bandwagon that has become so popular over the past two years. But they were wrong. I also happen to think it's ridiculous to fight someone after a clean hit. Except in the following case:

• The clean hit was on a player that recently returned from injury
• The clean hit was on a rookie
• The clean hit was on a bonifide superstar
• The clean hit was on a skilled player by a player that has none
• The clean hit is part of a series of hits on a single player who is being targeted
• And maybe most of all, the clean hit was on your captain

These, and possibly a few others, are occasions that as a team, whether you went fishing or not, you must take a stand. This is the reason fighting is in the game. Not the planned bouts right off the face off to try and gain some momentum. Those are the B side, a simple battle tactic. Fighting is allowed in hockey for those moments that make your blood boil and cause you to let slip an "oh you mother fucker" in a room with your future in-laws.

Jody Shelley violated three of those rules. He's a goon. He had targeted Richards twice just in that shift. And Richards happens to be wearing a C on his chest. Fuck with the bull and your going to have to wrestle Ian Laperriere to the ice, as the saying goes.

In this clip you'll hear the San Jose announcers laude Shelley for a great shift. If the tables were turned and Riley Cote was stalking Dan Boyle around the ice they'd be applauding the efforts of whatever Shark put a stop to it.

That's the lesson for today. Class dismissed.