All hell breaks loose between Lightning and Sabres.

The Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning wasted no time getting acquainted with one another on Sunday night, with things turning ugly less than 5 minutes into the game's very first period.

Roughly 4 and a half minutes had expired on the game clock when Lightning forwards Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel both finished a hit on Sabres forward Tage Thompson just after the whistle had been blown. Thompson was sandwiched between the two players and it was no surprise to see the Sabres take exception, but what did come as a surprise is just how heated things would get.

Tempers immediately flared with players on both sides of the ice jumping into the pile and throwing shots at one another. Eventually Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin would emerge from the pile only to immediately eat a stiff shot to the face courtes of Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh. Dhalin and Raddysh would drop the gloves immediately after, further adding to the chaos that was already unfolding on the ice.

This bad blood is far from over as later in the period we would see Sam Carrick and Scott Sabourin drop the gloves as well, and we still have plenty of hockey left to be played in this one.