"We were play-fightin' more than anything."
That was Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price after his team's 8-6 loss at the Boston Bruins, discussing his scrap with friendly rival Tim Thomas during a line brawl. Anyone who watched the Price/Thomas incident will nod in agreement with that statement, because it was less a fight than a careful dance that left them in various states of undress.
We don't want to say the fight was lacking, but it would have been twice as violent upon the introduction of two down pillows ...
If Brent Johnson vs. Rick DiPietro was MMA, this was WWE. The only thing missing were gimmicks; and really, how much better would that scrap have been if Thomas was dressed like Sgt. Slaughter and Price like an evil rodeo clown? The answer is "a lot better" ... at least until the Milan Lucic run-in for the DQ.
Here's Price on the fight and the surreal offensive explosion last night:
Thomas, meanwhile, had his own strategy in mind before skating out to face Carey Price. Coming up, the Thomas Plan and a video clip of his postgame chat.
"I had this big old plan. I was going to grab his right and I was going to throw lefts because I know he's bigger and taller and has a reach on me.
"I thought I could do a better job throwing lefts in him and when I went to grab he got a good hold on my right arm and I got nothing. So then I was like, oh now what do I do? Because I know he's got a big right cocked and ready to come so I tried to switch arms and get my right free and I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and when he threw the right I pulled on...I was trying to pull him off-balance and his shirt came off his head and then I fell and...actually as I was falling my left arm came free and but then it was over. He fought with the fighter's manners as far as not hitting when you're down."
Somehow, it's completely comforting and appropriate that Tim Thomas always has a plan filed away in his brain in case a goalie fight breaks out.
Here's the full Thomas interview:
In case you missed it, here's Jack Edwards yelling for about 2 minutes. Oh, and a goalie fight: