With the Philadelphia Flyers not playing during the Olympic break, what better time to take a look at the top 3 brawls in Flyers history?
There have been a plethora of Flyers line brawls over their 50+ years as a franchise in the NHL. They didn’t get deemed the Broad Street Bullies for nothing. In this article, I will be ranking my top 3 Flyers line brawls of all time. Feel free to leave a comment on which Flyers brawl was your favorite down below.
Honorable Mention – Flyers vs. Penguins || April 29, 2000
During game two of the 2000 Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Penguins and Flyers, emotions boiled over – as they so often do during these rivalry games. The Flyers would go on to lose this one 4-1 and trail in the season 2-0, but the game would be most remembered for the line brawl that broke out during the third period.
After a faceoff, everyone on the ice found themselves a dance partner. Flyers’ current head coach Rick Tocchet started the maylay as the puck was dropped. From there on, it was war, Rene Corbet vs Luke Richardson, Matt Barnaby vs Craig Berube, and Bob Boughner vs Daymond Langkow. Even the Flyers’ goaltender – and current color commentator – Brian Boucher was looking for a dance partner.
Cooler heads eventually prevailed, but the brawl sparked life into the Flyers. Trailing 2-0 in the series, they rallied back to defeat the Penguins 4-2 and advance to the Eastern Conference Final, where they ultimately fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.
No. 3 – Flyers vs. Penguins || April 15, 2012
It was game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, and the Battle of Pennsylvania was on in full force at the then Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers had a 2-0 lead in the series, and we’re coming off an 8-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins two days prior. Emotions were high, and a dirty, late hit by James Neal on the then 19-year-old Sean Couturier started to boil things over. There was no call on the hit, but the Flyers fans in attendance were angry – rightfully so. Dan Bylsma left Neal on the ice after the hit, and Neal would again take a run at another Flyer; this time, it was assistant captain Claude Giroux.
At the same time, behind the play, Brayden Coburn and Evgeni Malkin were exchanging words, and then things boiled over. In front of both benches, Jakob Voracek dropped the gloves and wrestled Chris Kunitz to the ice. Derek England and Pavel Kubina were wrestling, and Brayden Schenn and Sidney Crosby threw a couple of jabs while tied up.
Cooler heads prevailed until Wayne Simmonds went up to James Neal and gave him a couple of cross checks while the refs were sorting out the penalties. At the same time, Crosby grabbed a hold of Scott Hartnell, and Craig Adams jumped in. The two squared off at center ice and began throwing punches. Most notable was Adams pulling Hartnell’s famous curly hair. Hartnell pumped up the crowd as he went to the locker room, and finally, cooler heads prevailed. The Flyers would eventually go on to win the game 8-4 and the series in six games.
No. 2 – Flyers vs. Canadiens || May 14, 1987
During warm-ups of the 1987 game seven playoff matchup between the Flyers and the Montreal Canadiens, tensions boiled over. The Canadiens had a pre-game ritual of shooting the puck down the ice after warmups into the opposing team’s net, and the Flyers had enough of it.
Flyers defenseman Ed Hospodar and backup goaltender Glenn “Chico” Resch waited until the Canadiens players – Claude Lemieux and Shayne Corson – came back onto the ice after warmups ended and made a beeline towards the two Canadien players. Hospodar got a hold of Claude Lemieux and began pounding on him while Resch held back Corson from interfering.
The rest of the teams made their way back out onto the ice at the legendary Spectrum, as they tried to decipher what was going on. Eventually, many players found a dancing partner as both teams found their way onto the ice. Many players were only wearing their undershirts and pads since the warmups had ended. As the organist played in the background, it was a spectacle to be seen. 50-plus players on the ice with multiple fights breaking out, it is a Flyers brawl that will go down in history for sure.
No. 1 – Flyers vs. Senators || March 5, 2004
One of, if not the most famous, Flyers brawl occurred on March 5, 2004, when the Flyers hosted the Ottawa Senators. There was tension brewing from the previous time the two teams met, when Senators Martin Havlat swung his stick at Flyers’ Mark Recchi’s head. The contest was looking to be relatively quiet until, with 1:48 left in the third period, Flyers’ Donald Brasher dropped the gloves with Rob Ray. It was a heavyweight bout to be sure, as the fight left Ray bleeding from the forehead. Just as you thought things were settling down, Brasher got jumped by Todd Simpson of the Senators, and all hell broke loose. A full line brawl erupted, which was capped off with a goalie fight between Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime.
What normally would have been the main event was just the undercard for what was about to happen next.
On the ensuing draw, Senators Hall of Famer Chris Neil dropped the gloves with Radovan Somik. This led to another line brawl as multiple fights broke out, most notably with 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara squaring off with 6-foot-1 Mattias Timander.
As the second brawl of the night was settled and the players were sent off the ice, another faceoff was bound to happen, and yet another line brawl broke out. This time, headlined by Flyers’ Michal Handzus squaring off against Mike Fisher.
Cooler heads looked to prevail, as the officials could finally drop the puck without a brawl breaking out; however, just a few seconds later, Senators’ Wade Redden and Flyers’ John LeClair got tangled up, and then behind that, Mark Recchi and Bryan Smolinski dropped the gloves and center ice and began throwing punches.
Recci, LeClair, Redden, and Smolinski were all sent off the ice, and the game would continue with only about 3 to 4 players left on each team’s bench.
On the ensuing draw, as the announcers believed the fighting to be over, Senators’ Jason Spezza and Flyers’ Patrick Sharp dropped the gloves simultaneously with the puck and began throwing punches.
That would be the last fight in the game as the Flyers went on to defeat the Senators 5-3. The game had a total of 419 penalty minutes, an NHL record. The Flyers had 213 penalty minutes – the most for a single team in NHL history – and the Senators had 206, which ranks third in NHL history.
Comment below what your favorite Flyers brawl of all time is!
