The AHL is winding down their regular season, and the Albany Devils had nothing to play for as they prepare for a Calder Cup run. But they ran into a feisty opponent on Saturday in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and things got nasty as the teams participated in not one, but two line brawls.
Line brawl number one, which took a while to develop and also featured the coaches:
For a little context on the above video:
The Devils felt that Bridgeport defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, just out of juniors, made intentional knee-on-knee contact with Albany rookie Nick Lappin. Devils captain Rod Pelley skated toward Wotherspoon to speak to him.
“He’s an 18-year-old kid,” Pelley said. “I thought it was a very questionable close knee-to-knee hit, and I just wanted to him know, hey, watch-your-knee type of thing. There was no intention to fight him.”
Then line brawl number two, sparked by Devils rookie Blake Pietila barreling into the Bridgeport goaltender:
I think you can figure out the context on that one.
The teams combined for 248 penalty minutes in this game. If some of these guys get promotions to the show, then Devils/Islanders games could be a lot of fun soon. For the more immediate future, Albany might play Bridgeport in round one. If Saturday was a preview of what is to come, whooooo boy.
