Comrie vs. Armstrong: Cause and Effect?

While it's usually Eric's territory to post the fisticuffs du jour around these parts, I wanted to post yesterday's bout between Ottawa's Mike Comrie and Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong and discuss just what happened -- and what didn't.

For the latter part of the second period, several Pens players (most notably Jarkko Ruutu, who got penalized for his actions) had been taking runs at the diminutive Comrie (who stands just 5'10"). Also late in the second, Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong plowed into Sens netminder Ray Emery and got whistled for goaltender interference. When the teams came out to start the third, Comrie presumably figured he'd kill two birds with one stone (standing up for himself and for his goalie), and sought out the larger Armstrong (6'2", 195).

As you can see, it wasn't much of a fight (Comrie isn't much of a fighter, dropping the gloves once per year over his career), but the question is, what purpose did the scuffle serve? LCS Hockey argues (among other things) that the move was pure idiocy -- you don't start a fight up a goal in the third, especially if you're Mike Comrie (where was Chris Neil, one wonders). Then again, perhaps Comrie wanted to fire up his team by showing that he had had enough abuse and wasn't going to take any more (though the way he punches will hardly serve as much of a deterrent).

The Sens went on to yak up the lead -- not once, but twice -- and lose the game. I'm reluctant to attribute any part of the loss to Comrie's decision to drop the mittens with Armstrong, but the timing is at the very least curious. Did Mike Comrie inadvertently provide the spark that the Pens needed to ignite their comeback?