I wouldn’t call Caps defenseman Karl Alzner a pacifist. He’s just not a fighter – at least he hadn’t been through 174 career NHL games. But Tampa Bay forward Steve Downie tends to turn kind souls into raving maniacs. It’s part of his deal. When the Lighting agitator, with his team down 3-0 in the second period, wouldn’t let go of Aznar’s stick the two threw down well behind the play.
Downie got the best of him with a couple punches to the back of Alzner’s head and two late ones that left him with a swollen cheek. Alzner did manage to get a shot or two in on his own. But his teammates didn’t care about the result. They just liked seeing someone willing to take on Downie – especially a player deemed least likely to do so.
“I think [Downie] got away with quite a bit at the end of the game, which probably should have been stopped. But he’s that guy that likes to play hard,” Alzner said. “I’m not going to let him just run around and do that – regardless if I take the punches, if I’m giving the punches. Someone should do something there. It’s just one of those plays where we’re up 3-0 and maybe it’s a good time. Just go for it.”
Alzner had never fought in the NHL or AHL. But he did point out that he has three bouts on his record as a junior player in the rough-and-tumble Western Hockey League. The two players jawed back-and-forth while sitting in the penalty box. Alzner later said he was angry about what he saw as late punches from Downie as he was falling to the ice. The other Caps players gave Alzner shouts of encouragement as he came back to the bench. Even head coach Dale Hunter and assistant Jim Johnson let him know they were pleased.
“His first career? Oh. I thought he did well,” teammate Dennis Wideman said. “Downie’s a tough guy. He stood in there real good, and it’s good to see him get in there and stand up for himself.”
And the two combatants – teammate John Carlson jokingly tweeted that Alzner and boxing champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. should rumble in the future – do have some shared history even as teammates. Alzner knew what he was getting into. And after a near fight with Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy last week, other Caps players told Alzner his first real fight was only a matter of time.
“I played with [Downie] at World Juniors a little bit and I know what kind of guy he is,” Alzner said. “Last year – or two years ago – I got a roughing penalty against him. So we’ve gone at it a little bit. He’s one of those guys that he’s going to play hard and he’ll fight his best friend, if that’s the case. That’s just the way it is.”
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