Sports

Red Wings Fan Dumps Beer On Lightning's Brian Boyle

April 18, 2016 / 11:52 AM EDT / CBS Detroit

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The Wings got a much needed win to cut the the Tampa Bay Lightning's lead to 2-1 in the series, but an ill-behaved fan took his excitement a little too far.

Lightning center Brian Boyle got into a scuffle with Justin Abdelkader that didn't come to blows, but Boyle got the brunt of a fan's alcohol assault.

A man in a grey and black winged wheel shirt threw his souvenir cup of frothy beverage over the glass. The majority of the drink hit Boyle, but he seemed unfazed.

Goaltender Petr Mrazek watches in the foreground as the crowd erupts in a sort of "oh no he didn't" reaction to the flying suds. It's kind of a miracle how seemingly none of the beer hit Abby.

Abdelkader didn't throw a punch — following instructions from his coach — and Boyle skated away and flapped his arms to indicate his opponent was too chicken to fight.

"If he needs to do that, good for him," Abdelkader said.

With 54 seconds left in game two Abdelkader bloodied Tampa Bay's Mike Blunden in a fight involving several players and 14 penalties.

Back to the knucklehead fan and his beer. I've got to admit it probably seems like a good idea at the time and most Wings fans are happy to see it hit the maligned Boyle, but this is a prime example of how not to act as a Wings fan.

Reddit commenter NeuralHandshake summarized the etiquette best, "... unless it's a hat trick, teddy bear toss, or a sea creature. Never throw anything during play. It's not cute and it makes the lives of the ice crew so much more difficult."

Some would call this alcohol abuse, but the damage to the game and to Wings fans reputation could be worse than the loss of a few sips of brew.

#LGRW and next time let's keep it classy.

Game 4 is Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena.

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