Fighting in hockey is an interesting thing. Outside of actual combat sports, obviously, no other sport allows such a thing to happen without extremely grave consequences for the players involved. And no, I don’t mean having to sit out the game for 5 minutes! On one hand, it’s something that is easily marketable for the sport. ‘Come watch hockey, you might get a free boxing match thrown in!’ However, the realities of the fights are often very different to what you imagine. Obviously, fighting on skates is a very difficult thing. Hell, I find staying upright on skates standing still a difficult thing, never mind trying to dodge someone who’s trying to punch me in the face! But, because of this, the fights usually end up looking awkward, few meaningful punches connect, which is generally a good thing, unless it’s someone fighting Tom Wilson, then they should be allowed to use their stick!
In short, it’s more of a performative thing to fire up the team and the crowd, there’s not generally any real jeopardy for those involved, unless one is a particularly skilled fighter.