The Boston Bruins didn’t get back in the win column without some fisticuffs between A.J. Greer and Wayne Simmonds on Wednesday night.
It all began after Greer netted a goal past Ilya Samsonov to give Boston a two-goal lead in the third period. Just seconds later, when the Bruins and Maple Leafs resettled to face off, Greer and Simmonds instantly dropped their gloves and squared off. However, Simmonds would get the best of Greer, taking him down to the ground before both forwards were separated by the officials and sent to the penalty box.
Greer acknowledged that the energy rush from his scoring his fifth goal of the season played a factor in his split-second reaction to accept the challenge. And in hindsight, the 26-year-old admitted that “it wasn’t the best decision.”
“I think it was he asked for it and I just had some adrenaline from the goal I had just scored so I don’t know,” Greer said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It wasn’t the best decision because we were up 3-1 but it’s hard for me to say no. I’m someone who competes hard and I don’t know, I just want the upper edge all the time.”
This wasn’t the first time that Greer expressed any issue with Simmonds. When the Maple Leafs visited the Bruins at TD Garden on Jan. 14, Greer and Simmonds exchanged words, which didn’t result in a fight but did earn the pair each 10-minute penalties from the officials.
“I didn’t even think twice, I just said, ‘Yeah,'” Greer said. “When I tried to hit him at first, I didn’t get a grip on him so it was hard for me to come back cause he has a long reach. But I protected myself and nothing came from it. … He had that reach against me so it was just a matter of making sure that I was gonna be safe in that situation but I just thought that I couldn’t say no to that just cause of the emotions I was going through.”
Greer and the Bruins proceeded to snap their three-game losing streak with the 5-2 win and enter the NHL All-Star break with a league-leading 39-7-5 record to end the first half of the season.
