'Twas the week before Christmas, when all through TD Garden Bruins players were getting into a fight with their opponents, much like the ancient Spartans.

As players dropped their gloves and violently bear hugged each other, a very recognizable song was playing on the speakers, one that would be known by both your brother and your mother.

It was "Feliz Navidad," the decades-old, iconic Christmas anthem that spreads holiday joy and festive cheer—and then some. For on Tuesday night possessed by some unseen Yuletide spirit, the Bruins and the Mammoth really got into it.

It started with Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz slashing a Bruins player, who didn't appreciate that cheap move and incited Boston's bench to rise and return the favor.

As fists flew left and right and people got tackled on the ice, "Feliz Navidad" kept playing on into that wonderful night.

Afterward, Schmaltz was sent to the penalty box for his sin, while three other players got 10-minute misconducts and also ended up in the bin. The Bruins got the last laugh, though, and took home a 4-1 win.

NHL fans loved the Christmas-themed brawl and rightly so, calling the moment a work of poetry, a piece of cinema and an all-time great show:

Merry Christmas from the Bruins!

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bruins-Mammoth Game Ends on Wild Brawl Set to ‘Feliz Navidad’ Soundtrack.

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