BOSTON — Just past the midway point of the first period, Parker Wotherspoon rested on his hands and knees near the blue line in front of the Rangers bench on Sunday night at TD Garden.
The Bruins defenseman had just absorbed a late shoulder hit up high from Brennan Othmann and Boston’s trainers came to the ice to check on him. Wotherspoon went to the dressing room. He was checked for a concussion and cleared and came back for the second period.
“I didn’t even turn and I got smoked,” Wotherspoon said. “It just took the wind out of me.”
With just under three minutes left in the second period, Othman, a 21-year-old, who spent most of last year in the AHL, hit Wotherspoon again. This time not quite as high and not quite as late, but still a little of both again.
So at the end of the second period, when the two got tied up and Othman shoved Wotherspoon in the face, the Bruins defenseman’s anger boiled over.
Fighting in the preseason is different than in the regular season. Some guys will look for confrontation to prove they’re willing to stick up for a teammate or to bring attention to their toughness. Some guys who are competing for a roster spot will avoid fighting to prevent losing 5 minutes of audition time in the penalty box.
Wotherspoon enters the preseason as the Bruins’ likely seventh defenseman, meaning he’s likely to make the roster but competing for ice time. But he’d had enough and went after Othman and won the fight on all cards.
He landed punches with each hand before Othman dropped to his knee and the linesmen jumped in.
“It’s part of the game. It comes with it. I don’t go out there and take these games lightly,” Wotherspoon said. “I’m going out there to compete and play hard every shift, just like in the regular season. I like how I handled it.”
Wotherspoon got an extra two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for ripping Othman’s helmet off and flinging it aside, but the crowd gave him a mini-ovation as he left the ice.
Jim Montgomery wasn’t a fan of the helmet toss but otherwise liked the response.
“I just like that at the end of the period, he got his revenge,” he said. “I thought he did well in the tussle.”
