The 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs delivered plenty of drama on the ice. But during Game 2 between the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings, an unexpected off-ice incident stole the spotlight.

The two teams locked horns in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs. During the second period, the Colorado Avalanche’s goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped a penalty shot by the Kings’ Quinton Byfield. 

After that save, the fans became very excited and started pushing and banging hard on the glass. Due to the constant pressure, the glass panel began to shake and suddenly shattered.

The broken pieces of glass fell directly onto the Kings' bench and also onto the interim coach, DJ Smith. The coach suddenly felt a push from behind, and then the glass fell on him. He did not even get the chance to duck. 

After the glass shards fell, Coach Smith went to the locker room for a while. But he came back to the bench a few minutes later and showed there was not much damage done.

As a result of this incident, the game was paused for 15 to 19 minutes. In the meantime, the Arena Staff cleared the broken glass, and a new glass was installed. The players waited until the repair was made. 

After the incident, Gabriel Landeskog, captain of the Colorado Avalanche, praised the arena staff. "I thought the ice crew did a good job, and they did their best to fix it as fast as possible. Doesn't happen every day."

Although there was no effect of the incident on the game. After the play resumed, the Avalanche won the game 2-1 in OT. 

Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings React To The Incident

After the game, reactions came from both teams, the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings. Kings head coach D.J. Smith described the scary moment, explaining that one fan kept pushing hard against the glass repeatedly.

"Whoever the guy was just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I looked back because it hit me a bunch of times, then it broke."

Gabriel Landeskog, captain of the Colorado Avalanche, said the arena became very loud after the save, and fans’ excitement went slightly overboard.

"It was loud there when Wedgy made that save, and fans got a little too excited," Landeskog said.

He also said the delay was unavoidable and that players simply had to accept it, though the repair work slightly affected the ice conditions afterward.

"There's nothing you can do to control it. There's nothing you can do about it, so you just deal with it," Landeskog said. "I think maybe the only thing was that there were so many bodies on the ice that it wore the ice out a little bit for the rest.

Jared Bednar, head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, said the incident was unusual but part of the intense nature of playoff hockey. 

"That's a different one," Bednar said. "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."

While the broken glass incident did not result in injuries, it highlighted the passion and intensity that define Stanley Cup playoff hockey. It is proof that in playoff hockey, excitement can sometimes spill beyond the rink.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi