At a meet-and-greet for the Rangers at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night, when introduced to the fans, Brashear was greeted with a sizeable amount of booing, according to the New York Daily News.
It made for something of an awkward moment - "Come on, now," emcee Dave Maloney said - but also an opportunity for the Blueshirts' new big man to provide his own introduction in his very own style.
Not overly surprising considering the last time Brashear was on Garden ice he knocked out Blair Betts with a hit during the first period of Game 6, earning a six-game suspension from the NHL - and quite a few family-unfriendly cheers from the blue seats at MSG.
For his part, Brashear took the reaction in stride.
"Those fans that are booing, I'll take you one-by-one," Brashear deadpanned when he reached the stage in the Garden Theatre's anteroom.
One interesting comment from Brashear was that he felt his hit helped turn the series around.
"It did. It certainly gave our team some wings," Brashear - who was joined on the stage by Chris Drury and fellow newcomers Marian Gaborik, Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik - told reporters before the event. "In the playoffs, you want to get that extra edge, and sometimes it's things like that that make a difference. That extra spark got the guys going on the bench."
Of course, with the Capitals tied at 1-1 in Game 6 and facing elimination when the hit happened and the Rangers buzzing around Semyon Varlamov, a five-minute major could have spelled the end of Washington's season. But Brashear wasn't penalized for the hit and the Capitals went on to take the lead for good later in the first and the series in seven games.
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