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The Code was engaged 9 minutes 23 seconds into the proceedings Tuesday night.

Wade Belak, whose presence in the lineup was no coincidence, despite Toronto Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice's protests that the game result mattered more, jumped onto the ice right after New Jersey Devils forward Cam Janssen come out. Belak yelled, "Hey, Janssen," to get his attention and then dropped his gloves.

Janssen knew the drill and turned to face Belak. He was about to pay the price for knocking Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle out of the lineup on March 2. Janssen's late, blindside hit left Kaberle with a concussion and the Leafs without their best defenceman at least until Friday, when he is expected to return to action.

The 19,518 fans at the Air Canada Centre rose as one to revel in the show. This was the moment the mouth breathers were waiting for. It was redneck heaven, as good as macaroni and cheese and a cold Lakeport with the rasslers on the tube. It's a wonder even the sushi eaters in the platinum seats did not break into a chant of "Git 'er done." But they did manage a rousing "Belak, Belak."

Then again, those of us decrying the need for such premeditated silliness appear to be in the minority. "It was an unbelievable fight," said that noted pugilist, Mats Sundin. "I thought it was an appropriate thing to do."

As these spectacles go, though, this was rather tame. As a practitioner of the Code, Janssen did what was expected of him. He declined to throw a punch for at least the first half of what turned out to be a long bout by hockey standards, 1 minute 35 seconds, according to those who had their watches on it.

Janssen submitted to his beating at the hands of Belak, threw and landed a few punches of his own in the late going and then slowly ground to a halt as both he and Belak fell down in exhaustion. Both men then repaired to the penalty box to serve their major penalties for fighting.

"We all know what's going on, we know how this game is," Janssen said later. "I'm sure he wanted a piece of me. I knew I had to pay the piper and I did."

Janssen also protested that the only reason he did not throw a punch early in the fight was that at 5 foot 11, he was giving away six inches in height to 6-foot-5 Belak. "I have to wait those guys out," he said. "All my fights are long ones."

It was all neat and clean and just how a certain faction around the National Hockey League likes it. "I'm still beautiful," Belak said. "I was trying not to get hit. I still want that modelling career."

Besides, Janssen said, both he and Belak were just doing their jobs.

"You know what?" Janssen said. "If none of this had happened, we would have fought anyway. I was trying to get the guys going. I respect the hell out of Wade. He's a great guy, a great fighter."

Then he looked at the media surrounding his locker and added, "I'm sure all you guys enjoyed that, too." No one disagreed.

So, the loss of a star is avenged and there is no unpleasantness, such as more concussions, legal authorities sticking their noses in and lawsuits. Jeepers, the Leafs even won to create a three-way race on points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Unlike that party-pooper Steve Moore, Janssen submitted to his beating. Moore had the temerity to give as good as he got in a fight with Brad May subsequent to his check on Markus Naslund of the Vancouver Canucks. This meant Todd Bertuzzi stalked him in the next game between the Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche, jumped him from behind and beat him until his hockey career was left in a tangle of a concussion, broken vertebra, lawsuits and ugly headlines.

According to a certain faction, this was all Moore's fault. Somehow, he failed to live by the Code.

Janssen, though, got with the program. Yes, sir, and don't we all feel better now? Anyone who mentions the possibility that this fight could have resulted in more ugliness like, say, the concussion Leafs forward Kris Newbury suffered in a fight on Feb. 10, which was the last time he was in uniform, is just a nervous Nellie who doesn't understand the way we do things in the modern-day NHL.