NHL Coach showered with broken glass from fan during playoff game

Los Angeles Kings coach D.J. Smith was showered with broken glass in their playoff match against Colorado Avalanche, after a fan smashed through.

Colorado took a commanding 2-0 series lead in Denver, with the Kings getting a chance to bounce back this week with two home ties to try and keep the series alive.

The two match deficit isn't the only grievance Smith will have from the clash, after a fan in the front row shattered the glass plane after a Scott Wedgewood penalty-shot save in the second quarter.

The incident caused a 19-minute delay to proceedings, with the entire Kings bench returning to the dressing room as a new glass panel was fitted by stadium workers.

Speaking after the match, Smith recalled the scary moment he was left covered in broken glass.

“After the penalty shot, whoever the guy was just kept pushing and pushing and pushing,” said Smith, who was uninjured.

“I looked back because it hit me a bunch of times, and then it broke."

THIS IS INSANE: THE FANS IN COLORADO WERE SO HYPED FOR THE PENALTY SHOT SAVE THAT THEY SHATTERED THE GLASS BEHIND THE KINGS BENCH 😱🤯 pic.twitter.com/WYMgGZCQgl

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 22, 2026

Opposition coach Jared Bednar also commented after the match but placed the incident down to the passion that comes with NHL playoffs.

“Usually (it breaks) on the ice, and it can take a while, that’s a different one, but stuff happens, fans get excited," he added.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog also addressed the stoppage and echoed his coach's thoughts that these things are part and parcel of elite level ice-hockey.

“I don’t think really anybody was frustrated at that point,” he told reporters.

“I think maybe the only thing was that there’s so many bodies skating around the ice, so it did wear the ice out a little bit for the rest of (the period)

"It doesn’t happen every day, so you just deal with it.”

The Athletic managed to acquire eye witness accounts from fans at the scene, with Avalanche fan Mike McNish revealing the fan was hitting the glass as hard as he physically could.

“He was basically just wailing on it as hard as he could,” McNish explained.

“Some of the coaches were a little upset with the guy who did it, they said a couple choice words to him.”