When the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice in Buffalo earlier this month, the contest featured a fight in the first period between Buffalo tough guy Andrew Peters and Leafs enforcer Wade Belak. The gloves were dropped, both players danced a bit with clenched fists, they both engaged, the crowd screamed and yelled, Belak landed the first blows, then Peters got his footing and answered. The two were separated, the crowd cheered wildly and players from both benches tapped the boards with their sticks in the support.

When it was all over, the reaction of most was “My, wasn’t that odd?” The fact that a fight in a hockey game is an unusual distraction rather than an anticipated event just shows how far the game has come in a very short time.

Do you remember those epic fights between Buffalo’s Rob Ray and Toronto’s Tie Domi? If the guys didn’t square off at least twice in a game, fans would feel like they’d been shortchanged.

Like it or not, fighting is fast becoming a dying art in the new NHL. And while teams still like to have that tough guy to call on when needed, that player had better show some skills other than just throwing punches.

Andrew Peters is a good example. Or should we say the lean, mean, buffed Andrew Peters who dropped a bunch of weight, added muscle and spent the summer sharpening his hockey skills. While still seeking his first points this season, Peters is spending a lot of ice time in the slot, screening the goaltender and getting his own shots off. With his size and strength, he is a tough player to move.

On average this season, there have been 0.31 fighting majors called per game. That compares to 1.55 a decade ago. And teams like the Carolina Hurricanes want no more part of fighting, and have initiated a rule banning fights.

The origin of fighting in the NHL goes back to the 1940s and 1950s, when bench-clearing brawls and stick swinging were commonplace, and marquee players did their own fighting rather than relying on an enforcer to protect him.

With league’s expansion on the 1960s and 1970s, lesser-skilled players came into the league, and Boston’s Bad Bruins and Philly’s Broad Street Bullies won Stanley Cups largely on the ability to outmuscle their opponents.

By the late 1970s, the league added the third-man-in rule to prevent the clearing of benches, and later the instigator rule, awarding an extra two minutes to a player who deliberately starts a fight.

But nothing has accelerated the decline of fighting more than the post-lockout rules changes designed to make the game speedier and more electric. And, while there has always been a place for fighting in the game and there always will be, the emphasis has shifted towards speed and skill, and fans who love the game and buy tickets are showing their approval.

One guy who doesn’t like the trend away from fighting is CBC’s colorful commentator Don Cherry, whose “Coach’s Corner” is a staple on Hockey Night in Canada. “Everyone knows everybody loves fights,” Cherry said on a recent program. “They better start listening to the people who are at the game and pay the money than the twits upstairs who get in for free.” When CBC host Ron McLean called Cherry out on his opinions and indicated that attendance and league revenues are up in the new NHL, Cherry, who is never one to mince words, called McLean “a pussy.”

At the heart of the changes happening in the sport are not so much the fans or the league officials who write the rules; it’s the players themselves. Separate ugly incidents in recent years involving players Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorley drove the point home that a career and millions in earnings can be gone in an instant over something stupid. The players are migrating to skill and playmaking. In the long run, that makes us fans the winners.

TARO SEZ…

■ On November 5, newest Sabre Drew Stafford became just the second player in NHL history to get his first NHL point in the overtime of his league debut.

■ The Sabres 10-0-0 road win streak to open a season is also a new NHL record. Three teams shared the old record at seven games—Detroit (2005), Philadelphia (1985) and, yes, the Leaves of Toronto (1940). Guess the purists up there have another reason to howl!

■ Speaking of new records, the Anaheim (don’t call us Mighty anymore!) Ducks defeated Vancouver on November 9 for their 16th consecutive game with at least a point, breaking the record set by the ’84-’85 Oilers.

■ Welcome to Buffalo, Andrew DiMento and Daniel Tsunekawa of Oceanside, California. These two hockey fans are in the midst of a two-month tour by car to all 30 NHL arenas. Last night’s visit for the Buffalo/Ottawa game was their 15th stop. The pair will hit the finish line on December 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

■ Maxim Afinogenov out with an “upper body” injury? It may be November, but it appears the postseason has begun when referring to player injuries.