Teaching The Kid The Ropes

We had our first good brawl of the NHL pre-season last night when the Rangers faced off again' the Islanders.

Skip to the 4:00 mark to see the goalies duke it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWU4dNgikZE

The AP described the tussle thusly:

"When [Simon] is trying to fight two guys at once, then I had to step in," DiPietro said. "All you're thinking is to help your teammates. It was a crazy game. A lot of crazy stuff happened. One good thing is that we're fighting for each other."

DiPietro squared off in a position ready to fight, removing his gloves and mask and pulling up his sleeves.

Montoya, who hasn't played in a regular-season NHL game, skated past DiPietro and seemed to not be interested in fighting or unsure of what to do. He had one fight last season in the AHL.

DiPietro, who fought former Islanders teammate Arron Asham in practice last season, signaled to Montoya to take off his gloves and mask as if to teach him the tricks of the trade. With a wide grin on his face, DiPietro grabbed Montoya and punches flew.

"You've got to defend your teammates," Montoya said. "The second you cross the blue line, that's what is going to happen. He's a tough guy, but at the same time he was going out of his way to try and start something. So I just had to do my part."

As Montoya lost his balance, DiPietro pulled him and the two fell with Montoya on top. DiPietro quickly jumped up and landed on top as punches continued.

It's kind of touching the way DiPietro would take a kid like that under his wing and show him how things are done in the bigs.