Lightning's Austin Watson Starts Brawl At End of Game By Intentionally Injuring Predator Player With Slap Shot

It's becoming less and less common to see line brawls occur during NHL games, and even less common to see them happen at the end of a game. However, this wasn't the case in last night's Lightning-Predators Game.

In the dying seconds of the game, the Lightning's Austin Watson took a slapshot directly at Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. The shot was pretty unnecessary, as the Lightning were down 5-1 in the game. The shot immediately started a line brawl near Tampa's bench.

Watson was given a misconduct on the play and an unsportsmanlike penalty.

Just ten minutes prior to this incident, Watson was involved in another that saw him drop the gloves with Cole Smith. Maybe this was what kept his blood boiling until the end of the game?

The shot was clearly a dirty move and should be looked at by Player Safety. Interestingly, Watson spent the first part of his career playing for the Nashville Predators, before leaving for the Ottawa Senators and then the Tampa Bay Lightning this year.