The Caps/Flyers Line Brawl and Goalie Fight in Photos

November 2, 2013 7:30 pm

Photo credit: Eric Hartline

Fighting in the NHL has been on the decline. It might be on its way out of the sport. Roster spots for goons are dwindling. Nerds have found no evidence that fighting impacts winning.

Yet on Friday night in Philadelphia, the Flyers decided the only way to save face after a figurative beatdown from the Caps was a literal beatdwn. Once Joel Ward scored his hat-trick goal, Wayne Simmonds threw an elbow to incite a fight with Tom Wilson. Ray Emery, Flyers back-up goalie and trained boxer, skated all the way down the ice and started throwing punches at Braden Holtby — even though Holtby declined to fight.

Steve Oleksy then dropped Vincent Lecalvier. Alexander Urbom fought Brayden Schenn. There was also a bit of loud noises from John Carlson.

“Emery knew exactly what he wanted to do,” Philadelphia Flyers color guy Keith Jones argued last night during the telecast, transcribed by the District Sports Page’s Dave Nichols. “You’re trying to bring this team together. You’re getting killed on the scoreboard, the Capitals have been the harder working team, the smarter team in this hockey game. They’ve capitalized on their opportunities, they’ve generated their chances and the Flyers sat back and allowed it to happen.”

“You wanna take a stand,” Jones continued. “You wanna try something to get this thing turned around – and not just this game, [but] the early part of this season. And so far, that hasn’t worked. But the Flyers, moving forward will try to come together as a team, in the locker room, it’s amazing what a fight can do sometimes. And the Flyers just took their shot at it right now.”

This logic is baffling. The Flyers, 29th out of 30 teams in scoring, lost their leading scorer (Lecalvier) and a member of their power play unit (Steve Downie) because of this idiocy.

The NHL does not intend to suspend Emery– either because they don’t have a clear rule against what he did or because don’t see anything wrong with it.

Photos of the line brawl and goalie fight are below. This may be the last one the Capitals are ever involved, so drink it all in. Also, please buy 100 of these shirts in orange.