Clifton Energizes Boston Bruins With New Year’s Eve Fight

BOSTON – While the Boston Bruins could be reasonably accused of looking past the Buffalo Sabres to Monday’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park while struggling to separate from the Sabres on Saturday afternoon, don’t blame it on rugged Black and Gold defenseman Connor Clifton.

Cliffy Hockey was fully engaged as evidenced by the veteran B’s defenseman’s willingness to drop the gloves and defend teammate Taylor Hall after Peyton Krebs drilled him against the side boards by the benches and knocked him down to the ice. It looked like Krebs came looking for trouble with Clifton, and the Boston Bruins defenseman complied while switching hands and dropping Krebs after a couple of left-handed punches.

Krebs lays out Hall and then scraps with Clifton. pic.twitter.com/jcMW1SwQW6

— The Charging Buffalo (@TheChargingBUF) December 31, 2022

For some reason Krebs was gesturing to the Buffalo Sabres bench after getting dropped in the fight, but it was definitely a sign of an emotional Sabres team looking to keep their winning streak going after capturing five straight victories headed into Saturday afternoon.

It was Clifton’s third fight of the season and his first since the end of October, and it was the first NHL fight for the 21-year-old Krebs, according to hockeyfights.com.