The fight between the Washington Capitals' Jay Beagle and the Pittsburgh Penguins' Arron Asham October 13 is almost infamous now. Between the sheer brutality of the skirmish to Asham's taunting afterwards, the fight has been dissected in many different ways. Yet, one perspective we haven't heard is that of Beagle himself. Mike Vogel was able to get that in a one-on-one interview released Monday.
On whether or not his injury can be labeled as a concussion:
"I don't think it's a concussion. When you go down like that, your head doesn't feel great for the next couple days, so that's what we were doing. We were making sure that everything's going to clear up. I feel great."
On his recollection of the fight with Asham and what led up to it:
"It was the end of the shift...I was heading off to the bench and Asham kind of challenged me to a fight and so we dropped the gloves. I had a good grip on him...I actually lost grip with my left hand When I regripped, I regripped wrong...and I left myself open."
On Asham's post-fight "Go To Sleep" taunt:
"I really don't have any thoughts on it. It's an emotional game. It's a fight. There's a lot of emotions in it. Afterwards, he apologized...the rest is history."
Vogel also reported that Beagle, who has missed nine consecutive days of practice and has yet to play since leaving in the third period of the Pittsburgh game, will not make the team's trip to Western Canada this week.