Monday night's Capitals-Ducks game in Washington featured some old-school animosity and extracurriculars, but Garnet Hathaway took things a bit too far and now may be facing some trouble with the league. The Capitals forward was thrown out of Monday's game after spitting in the face of Anaheim defenseman Erik Gudbranson during a second-period brawl at Capital One Arena. 

With about half a minute remaining in the second period, Washington's Brendan Leipsic delivered a heavy hit to Derek Grant behind the Ducks' net. Tensions had been rising throughout the period and that big collision, which could have been viewed as charging, caused things to boil over. 

Several Ducks players took exception to the hit and engaged in physical altercations behind the net. Meanwhile, play continued and the Capitals actually managed to score a goal with little resistance as multiple Anaheim players were preoccupied.

Hathaway was among the most active players in the fracas, and he delivered some heavy blows to Grant before taking the Ducks forward down to the ice. As officials attempted to restore order, Hathaway and Gudbranson were held alongside one another by a referee. 

With things appearing to settle down, Hathaway grabbed and unbuckled Gudbranson's helmet strap just to be a pest, and that move set off the Ducks defenseman. Gudbranson responded by delivering a sucker punch to the Caps forward, and Hathaway decided to pay him back with spit to the face.  

That gross bit of revenge was caught by the official and Hathaway was called for spitting -- a transgression that carries an automatic match penalty. The Capitals forward was tossed and he could be in line for supplemental discipline as well.

A total of 55 penalty minutes were handed out between the two teams, including Hathaway's match penalty and a 10-minute misconduct issued to Gudbranson.

After the game, Hathaway spoke to the media and copped to spitting on Gudbranson, admitting he made a poor decision in the heat of the moment. 

"The refs were trying to break it up and I felt like there were a couple sucker punches thrown and I got one there quick," said Hathaway. "I reacted a little emotionally and unfortunately spit came out of my mouth after I got sucker punched and it went onto him."

The Caps forward openly expressed his regret for the way things played out.

"It has no place (in the game)," he said. "It was an emotional play by me and you don't plan any of that stuff in your head. It was a quick reaction and unfortunately the wrong one for me."