Video of the Flyers-Capitals line brawl (includes goalie fight)

Share

The Washington Capitals embarrassed the Flyers on their home ice on Friday night, a 7-0 shutout at the Wells Fargo Center. That was without Alexander Ovechkin by the way, the reigning NHL MVP a scratch due to an upper-body injury.

With the loss, the Flyers dropped to 3-9-0 on the season, their six points good for last place in the Metro Division—only the Buffalo Sabres have fewer overall. That should do it for game analysis.

If you can’t beat ‘em… beat ‘em up. With the game thoroughly out of hand early in the third period, the Flyers suddenly became the Bullies again. One round of fisticuffs broke out, and that quickly devolved into a line brawl—the latter starting because Ray Emery picked a goalie fight. Here’s Sarah Baicker’s recap of events:

Wayne Simmonds and Tom Wilson had just dropped the gloves, the result of a clean hit by Simmonds on Steve Oleksy. Emery then left his crease, skated the length of the ice and let loose on Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, who had made it clear he wanted absolutely nothing to do with a fight.

“He didn’t want a fight,” Emery said after the game. “But I said, basically, ‘protect yourself.’ He didn’t really have much of a choice.”

It sounds like Emery was being kind of a dick. The referees agreed, slapping him with two minutes for instigating.

Two more fights broke out, with Brayden Schenn taking on Alexander Urbom while Vinny Lecavalier went toe-to-toe with Steve Oleksy. That didn’t turn out so well for Lecavalier, who reportedly may miss games with a facial injury as a result of the fight.

We enjoy a good, clean fight like most hockey fans, but one could certainly make the case this was completely unnecessarily. If nothing else, it may have cost the Flyers their leading scorer for awhile.

>> Fighting belongs in hockey; Emery’s actions don’t [CSN]

Contact Us