The Caps beat the Penguins 3-2 in overtime, but the win did not come without consequence.
In the third period, Jay Beagle took a penalty on Kris Letang. Penguins Arron Asham decided he wanted to dance and Beagle had no choice but to accept that invitation.
Asham is an experienced hockey fighter. Beagle is not, so you can imagine that it didn’t go very well.
There was a quick knockout. There was a lot of blood. There was ill-advised taunting. And then Beagle pulled out his own tooth.
Pulled out his own tooth.
His own.
Tooth.
He may have lost the fight, but his act of self-dentistry earns him today’s tough guy award.
Bruce Boudreau explained the fight like it was a sparring match in a local kiddie gym.
"Jay got popped a pretty good one,” he said post-game. “He was playing a really good game, and challenged a pretty tough customer, a guy that is used to fighting and Jay is not that used to fighting. He got tagged a good one."
In case you didn’t see it, “tagged a good one” means “knocked the f*** out.”
After Beagle hit the ice, Asham taunted him by calling a knockout boxing-style and then making sleeping motions by putting his hands under his head. He later apologized, and blamed adrenaline for his decision.
"I was into the game,” he said. “It was uncalled for, classless on my part. I think that those guys over there know I'm not that kind of guy to be going off."
Here’s the video of the fight and the bloody aftermath. Fair warning, you might want to put your sandwich down before you watch this.
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