Bruins D Chara bloodies Blackhawks LW Koci

Oct 26, 2007 - 3:12 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara showed the sparse crowd at the TD Banknorth Garden on Thursday night that he isn't afraid to drop the gloves.

Boston's captain, Chara challenged Chicago Blackhawks enforcer David Koci to a fight midway through the first period. Koci was game, but Chara re-broke the left wing's nose and opened a pronounced wound before officials jumped in to stop the battle.

"It is just part of the game," Chara said. "He was going hard to the net and I was doing my job and protecting the crease and the goalie. Things like that happen."

Koci, who had broken his nose last week in an exchange with Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Wade Belak, went directly to the locker room and did not return.

It was Chara's first fight as a member of the Bruins. The towering Slovakian signed with the team in July 2006.

"That was months, if not a year, of tension and frustration," Ward said. "Unfortunately, that young man (Koci) bore the brunt of the emotion that Z had pent up there."