Brendan Smith vows no more UFC stuff with Zdeno Chara

DETROIT - No more UFC stuff, Brendan Smith vowed.

A day after suffering the indignity of having Zdeno Chara laugh in his face, Smith said he'll keep calm and carry on when the Detroit Red Wings' series against Chara's Boston Bruins resumes with Game 3 on Tuesday.

At the end of the first period of Sunday's 4-1 loss at TD Garden, Smith skated out of a scrum and swatted at Chara, a guy who tops 7 feet tall on skates, a foot more than Smith. Chara goaded Smith, urging him to drop his stick and his gloves, and Smith was saved from having to "prove his manhood," as teammate Jimmy Howard put it, when a linesman skated over and pushed Smith away.

"I should have backed out; it was a heat-of-the-moment thing," Smith said Monday. "I'll be honest, next time, we're going to stay away from that, because we want to play our game.

"It's a series to win. It's not a UFC match out there. You're not going to win the heavyweight battle by doing that."

Coach Mike Babcock said Sunday that he thought people should decide what their strengths are and stick with that — a message he reiterated Monday, when he said Smith made "a good decision" to back off.

"If you're a really good speaker, you should find employment speaking," Babcock said. "If you're a really good fighter, you should find employment fighting. You walk into the bar, and there's this beautiful young gal standing next to this 6-foot-5 monster, who you know makes his living fighting for a living, and you're the best pool player in the bar — are you going to play pool, or are you going to fight?

"Figure it out. Seems simple to me."

Asked whether he was calling Chara a monster, Babcock said no (and to be fair, at the start of the series, Babcock said it's to Chara's credit that he's an even better human being than a hockey player).

Babcock was emphasizing Chara's immense size. "One guy is 6-foot-9. One guy is not. What would be the good decision? I guess all I'm saying is I think you should do what you do well."

Helene St. James writes for the Detroit Free Press