Jeremy Swayman has made no secret about his willingness, if not desire to get into a fight. The Bruins goalie appeared to be about to get that chance on Sunday night.
The play started when Bruins forward Marat Khusnutdinov either bumped into Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper or was pushed into Kuemper.
Either way Kuemper didn’t like it and grabbed Khusnutdinov from behind and ripped his helmet off. Given the difference in padding, it’s incredibly unusual for a player to fight a goalie. But Swayman didn’t think Kuemper’s aggression should go unaddressed. He skated out to the center circle, banged his stick on the ice and challenged Kuemper to come meet him there.
The Kings goalie accepted the invitation and was coming out to square off before the officials stepped between him and Swayman, who had already ditched his gloves.
Khusnutdinov was given an interference penalty. Kuemper was assessed a roughing penalty for the helmet strip and both goalies were given leaving-the-crease infractions.
That was the first penalty assessed to either Bruins goalie this season.
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