Flyers beat Senators 5-3, set some records and milestones
Friday March 5th never be forgotten by the NHL, Flyers, or anyone who is a hockey fan. The Flyers vs. Ottawa game in Philly was a game full of Milestones and records set. First off, Amonte played his 1,000th game in the NHL. Over 14 NHL seasons he has played for the Rangers, Blackhawks, Phoenix, and the Flyers. Amonte has recorded 390 goals and 431 assists for 820 points and 661 penalty minutes in 1,000 games. Amonte becomes only the 12th Flyer to reach an NHL milestone. He joins other Flyer greats such as Bernie Parent, Bobby Clarke, Darryl Sittler, Craig MacTavish, Ron Hextall, Luke Richardson, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick, Eric Desjardins, Eric Weinrich and Jeff Hackett. Hackett and Hextall reached milestones for games played as a goalie, which is 500 games.
Another milestone was reached when Danny Markov scored the 3rd goal of the game at 16:10 in the period. This was Markov's 6th goal this season and more importantly it was the Flyers 10,000th goal as a franchise. They become only the seventh team in the league's history to achieve this milestone. They join the Original Six teams (Chicago, Boston, Toronto, NY, Montreal, and Detroit).
All
though those milestones were a great additive to comerative game, it will be
overshadowed by the record breaking PIM's in this game. After leading the game
5-2 in the third period Brashear started what was to be an all out braw.
Thus the Broadstreet Bullies were reborn. With 1:45 left to play in the
third period, Brashear went after Ottawa tough guy Rob Ray, who a little
while earlier tried to go after non-fighter Sami Kapanen. 'Brash' started
nailing Ray, ripping Ray's helmet off his head. Ray left the game a bloody
mess. Brashear had 5 penalties alone on that fight that earned him 32 Penalty
minutes and a game misconduct. Not even a second later all hell broke out
and soon became a 6 on 6 braw that included the 2 goaltenders, Robert Esche and
Patrick Lalime. Lalime skated the length of the ice to get to get after Esche,
but he only found him self getting beat up by Esche. They both got 3
penalties including game misconduct. After the mess was picked up and the new
goalies were in net, the fighting resumed once again as Ottawa's Chris Neal went
after Somik, one who does not fight that much. Handzus called it a chicken
move by Neal. I mean come on, if your going to fight, fight fair and fight
someone who is a fighter not go after a non-fighter and started to beat the crap
out of the Flyers Rookie. Flyers GM, Bob Clarke, went to confront Senator's
coach Martin for letting Neal beat the shit out of a guy who can not defend well
for his self. Clarke threatened to call up Craig Berube from the Phantoms
if the Senators dress enforcer Rob Ray in the final regular-season match up
between the two teams April 2 in Philadelphia. Then Handzus, who also
wasn't much of a fighter went after Mike Fisher. Ken Hitchcock stated of
the original fight
between
Brashear and Ray, “Their tough guy got beat up, then their next-in-lines fought
two guys who don’t fight.” After that the teams actually skated for 24 seconds
before John LeClair got drilled to the ice by a Senator, and that is when he
went at it, also Recchi fought Bryan Smolinski. The final fight happened
between Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza. As each Flyer was thrown form the
game, he was greeted by Cheers and Clapping by the previous Flyers who had got
thrown from the game. There were 23 players counted for 397 Penalty
minutes, 21 players who received fighting majors, and a total of 23 players
thrown from the game. Of those 23, 16 of them accounted for game misconducts.
By the time the game had ended there were only 5 players left on the benches,
three from the Flyers and two from the Senators. Amonte, Lapointe, and Timander
were the 3 Flyers left on the bench. Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Bondra were the
Senators who were left for the final seconds of the game. Ten fights over a span
of 32 seconds threw nine Flyers and seven Senators out of the game. The Senators
had 32 penalties, and the Flyers had 34 penalties in the game. Tough Guy
Patrick Halvat, who in the last game gave Mark Recchi a 2 handed high stick to
the face, did play on Friday night. But when the brawl broke out Senators'
coach Jacques Martin sent him to the penalty box to serve a penalty. Looks
like Mr. Tough guy is not so tough. The Flyers ended up having 213 penalty
minutes, and the Senators with 209 combined a total of 419 penalty minuets the
game, and 409 in the third period alone. That broke the old NHL record of
406 penalty mintues in a game, previously set my the Minnesota North Stars and
Boston Bruins back in 1981. The two teams also broke the penalties
in a period record, previously held by the 1979 Flyers and Los Angeles Kings
(372), at 409 minutes. The Flyers also broke the record for most penalty
in minutes by a team with 213. Brashear made a good statement after the
game "If you want to screw around, we will take care of business.” The two
teams will meat once again for the final time this season on April 2nd at the
Wachovia Center as the Flyers will rap up their final home game of the season.
Hopefully, the Flyers can playas well as they did on Friday, March 5th.
SCORING:
Ottawa scored the first goal of the game at 4:07 in the 1rst period. Christopher Neil got his eighth goal of the season, and Todd Simpson, Martin Havlat got the assists. But the Flyers would come back with three unanswered goals before the the first period ended. First, Claude Lapointe scored ar 10:41 in the first to tie the gane, then Recchi scored at 11:11 in the first to get twenty-fifth goal of the season when he rebounded a shot from John LeClair. Danny Markov made it 3-1 with just under four minutes to play in first. His shot deflected off Ottawa's Chris Neal's glove into the goal to give the Flyers their 10,000th goal as a franchise. They become the 7th team to achieve this goal joining all six of the original six franchises. The Flyers league leading power play increased the cushion to 4-1. Zhamnov fed the puck to Slaney at the point, and Slaney quickly sent a cross-ice pass to Kim Johnsson, who then got off a quick shot that found the top corner at 5:22 of the second period. Ottawa defenseman Zdeno Chara scored on a power-play goal on a slap shot to keep the game with-in two by the second intermission. Zhamnov scored on Gange's loose puck to increse the game 5-2 game at 6:54. The Senators ended up getting a goal on the Flyers goalie Suan Burke, who replaced Robert Esche who got ejected from the game along with eight other team mates after an all out braw, to put the final score on the board, and to end a crazy unforgettable night at a final score of 5-3.
Notes:
Chris Therein and Joni Pitkanen left the game in the first
period and did not return. Chris Therein left with a left shoulder strain and
Pitkanen left after he got his bell rung. The Flyers are now 8-3-3-1 when
wearing their third jersey this season. The final meet between these two
teams is April 2nd at the Wachovia Center, which will be the final home game of
the season for the Flyers.
Quotes From the Game:
"That kind of thing happens in a hockey game," said Michal Handzus. "It kept going and kept going, but we stuck together as a team. We fought until the end."
"Martin kept sending out guys to fight, Martin hid Havlat in the penalty box (serving a fighting penalty for goalie Patrick Lalime) and wouldn’t put Alfredsson and Bondra and those guys out there. So he wasn’t trying to win the game." - Flyers GM Clarke on Senators Coach Jacques Martin on his decisions
"I think he was embarrassed that he let in five goals, but it’s fun for hockey, it’s fun for our team, it’s fun for our fans -- I thought it was perfect." Flyers Goalie Robert Esche on Senators goalie Patrick Lalime coming across ice to fight him
"It was the Wild, Wild West out there." - Flyers coach Ken Hitchcok on the fights
"When it's time to go, it's time to go" - Michal Handzus on fighting
"My teammates didn't forget what happened" Flyers Mark Recchi on how his teammates repsonded to the two-handed high stick he recieved last week by Havlat
"Why wouldn't I? Did you see the last game?" Donald Brashear when asked why he started the Fighting
“Their tough guy got beat up,” said Ken Hitchcock of the original fight between Brashear and Ray. “Then their next-in-lines fought two guys who don’t fight.”
"If you want to screw around, we will take care of business.”
Donald Brashear on how the Senators responded to the fighting