Everyone knew something would happen, but no one could have predicted the escalation.
On March 5th, 2004, the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators engaged in one of the craziest hockey brawls in the history of the sport. But the seeds for the fight had been planted just days before.
February 26th saw the Flyers and Senators skate to a 1-1 draw at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. During that game, Senators forward Martin Havlat was given a 10-minute misconduct for attempting to injure Mark Recchi. Havlat slashed the face of Recchi, receiving a five-minute major, the 10-minute misconduct and a two-game suspension.
While it was certain Havlat would be a target the next time these teams tangoed, Flyers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock hinted that the Flyers would be out for revenge when these teams met again.
“Someday, someone’s going to make him eat his lunch,” Hitchcock said. “This is something, in my opinion, that the players should take care of.”
Fast forward to March 5th, and all hell broke loose.
With less than two minutes remaining in the 3rd period, the Flyers were up 5-2 and had the win pretty much solidified. Then, the player’s forgot about the game and decided it was time to make NHL history.
Dubbed “The Brawl”, Rob Ray and Donald Brashear dropped the gloves in what was a solid fight. Not done there, an entire-line brawl broke out seconds after the original fight had ended. It was utter madness in Philly. Even goaltenders Patrick Lalime and Robert Esche dropped their glove and blocker. Both were ejected for the fight.
It was a classic line-brawl and a pretty good send-off for a raucous Flyers’ crowd. But the teams were not done yet.
With 1:45 left, Dean Brown, the Senators commentator was right on cue, asking “If anything else would happen.” The words weren’t even out of his mouth yet when Chris Neil and Radovan Somik began fighting.
It took 9-minutes in real time to reach 1:15 left in the hockey game. After the Neil and Somik tilly, the teams would exchange blows yet again.
The referees began throwing the player’s out of the game, leaving Ottawa with 5-players on the bench and Philadelphia with 4.
It seemed like everything was finally calm. Both teams barely had enough players to play hockey, let alone fight again.
And then there was another fight.
Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza were both given 10-minute misconduct’s for fighting and would be the final fight of the night.
Overall the teams combined for 411-PIMs, with Donald Brashear receiving 34 of those minutes.
It was a historic contest between the clubs. While they may not have a rivalry nowadays, fans certainly look back at the incident and the brawl is always brought up when the Flyers and Senators meet.
