You may have already forgotten about it, but after Dustin Penner scored the series-clinching overtime goal against Phoenix, Coyotes fans were a bit mad. Some Coyotes fans threw garbage on the ice and took aim at Kings captain Dustin Brown thanks to his hit on Michal Rozsival that put him out of the game in the extra session.
Kings GM Dean Lombardi thinks it was the actions of goalie Mike Smith that helped incite the crowd to play the role of wrestling fans and shower the visiting victors with trash as the Los Angeles Times shares. Lombardi says acting out like angry European soccer fans has no place here.
“If those guys are acting in that manner toward the officials, it’s a license for the crowd to do the same. What Smith did, he threw that stick at an official and then right after that, somebody is throwing a beer can at Sutter and our captain. That’s why Europe has that rule. You are responsible for that riot if you are going to show that lack of respect for officials.”
Thankfully there was no riot, but it was clear after the game that many Coyotes players didn’t handle defeat with grace or much composure. While Smith had no regrets about what he said, seeing fans throw trash at players after a loss just makes everyone look bad. Hey, at least no one was hurt. Luckily bad Coyotes fans have bad aim.