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Danny Briere fined $1K for punching Brandon Prust from the Flyers’ bench

Daniel Briere

FILE - This is an Oct. 16, 2008, file photo showing Philadelphia Flyers hockey player Daniel Briere. Briere and his 9-year-old son have escaped serious injury in a collision with a tractor-trailer on a New York interstate. The accident happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, June 17, 2010, on Interstate 81 just north of the New York-Pennsylvania line.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

AP

The Philadelphia Flyers feature an interesting mix of tough guys and talented players, so perhaps it makes sense than undersized forward Danny Briere keeps getting in the biggest trouble so far this season.

Earlier in 2010-11, Briere received a three-game suspension for a cross-check on New York Islanders forward Frans Nielsen. The small scorer received another bit of discipline from the league today, as the NHL handed him a $1,000 fine for his involvement in an odd incident yesterday (according to the Philadelphia Sports Daily).

Despite being on the team’s bench, Briere and Scott Hartnell took swings at New York Rangers forward Brandon Prust after he nailed Kimmo Timonen with a slightly late hit in the waning moments of the Flyers’ 3-2 win on Sunday.

Briere said that he threw punches from the bench because getting on the ice would have resulted in an “I-don’t-know-how-many-games suspension.”

“There was a few guys yelling at him, but what are we gonna do?” Briere said. “We can’t jump on the ice because it’s an I-don’t-know-how-many-games suspension, and there’s not much we can do at that point other than hoping Kimmo would get up and be fine.”

Video evidence appears to show otherwise.

“Certainly he was trying to hit Kimmo as hard as he could, and our guys didn’t like that,” Ville Leino said. “They gave a little bit back, but I think it’s just part of a tough hockey game.”

It’s another example of the fine and suspension oddness of the NHL. Apparently Hartnell got off without any discipline because his punch was less accurate than Briere’s punch (or something). Was the fine appropriate, should he have received a suspension or nothing at all? Let us know in the comments.