NEED TO KNOWColorado Avalanche fans shattered the glass over the Los Angeles Kings' bench during their 2-1 overtime win on Tuesday, April 21
Kings coach D.J. Smith went back to the locker room to clean up after being covered in the broken glass
The game was paused for more than 15 minutes while the glass was replaced at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado
Colorado Avalanche fans got a little too excited during their playoff game against the Los Angeles Kings.
During the second period of the Avalanche's overtime win against Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 21 at Ball Arena, Colorado fans became so excited while cheering on their team that they shattered the glass behind the opponents' bench.
As seen in a video from the broadcast, the glass goes out just above the Kings players and directly onto head coach D.J. Smith, who received the brunt of the shards.
"The entire pane of glass lands on Coach Smith," said broadcaster Bob Wischusen. Analyst Erik Johnson joked, "He's gonna need a shower."
Smith covered his head as the glass was breaking and began brushing the pieces out of his suit before he decided to return to the locker room for assistance. He was away from the bench for a few minutes before returning, according to ESPN.
The broken panel forced officials to pause the game while the glass was replaced, which took more than 15 minutes, per ESPN. The Avalanche went on to win the game in overtime by a score of 2-1.
After the game, Smith told reporters, "Whoever the guy [was] just kept pushing and pushing and pushing," and recalled, "I looked back because it hit me a bunch of times, then it broke."
Gabriel Landeskog of the Avalanche addressed the broken panel postgame as well, saying, "Fans got a little too excited," when one of his teammates made a save. Of the delay, he said he thought "the ice crew did a good job, and they did their best to fix it as fast as possible," noting that a situation like this "doesn't happen every day."
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters, "That's a different one," after the game. "But I mean, stuff happens. Fans get excited. Our guys were excited, competing hard. There was a bunch of melees on the ice today. It felt like playoff hockey."