Michael Pezzetta among five players suspended after incidents in last night's game

It was a heated affair between the Toronto Marlies and the Laval Rocket on Friday night, as not only did Laval dominate the Marlies, but there was a lot of frustrations that seemed to boil over.

After Marlies forward and former Canadiens player Michael Pezzetta laid in a questionable hit against Marc Del Gaizo, who immediately went down. Then, Florian Xhekaj decided to scrap with Pezzetta, before things spilled over with the benches clearing.

Rhett Parsons hit Alex Belzile into the Rocket bench and ignited an even bigger fracas, with Xhekaj coming back in to re-join, along with Laurent Dauphin, Joshua Roy, and former Maple Leafs forward Sammy Blais.

Well. the AHL decided to hand down some serious punishment, as they have suspended Pezzetta three games, and also handed three game bans to Belzile, Dauphin, and Roy with Blais getting a one-game ban.

Pezzetta was suspended for his hit on Del Gaizo, and will miss the Marlies next games against Cleveland as well as a home-at-home with Belleville.

All four Laval players will miss Saturday's game vs. the Bridgeport Islanders, meanwhile Belzile, Dauphin, and Roy will miss the Rocket's games against Cleveland in their own home-at-home series.

Pezzetta signed with the Maple Leafs this past offseason after spending four seasons in Montreal; he has yet to play for the Leafs this season and has spent the entire year with the Marlies.

This season, Pezzetta has appeared in 17 games, with three assists, a minus-seven, and 37 PIM.

It goes to show that the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs rivalry stretches just beyond the NHL level, and with players like Pezzetta and Xhekaj representing them, don't expect those fireworks to settle down anytime soon.