Back in the days when ice hockey had just started, there used to be moments when players got into serious brawls that it resulted in emptied benches onto ice. This is famously known as bench-clearing. Since this is not allowed anymore, people have almost forgotten what a true donnybrook really is. So here’s a list of the top three brawls in the history of NHL that will give you a closer look into what ice hockey was like a few decades ago.
- Philadelphia Flyers Vs Montreal Canadiens (5/14/87)
The Conference Finals of 1987 saw an unexpected brawl in Game 6. The Philadelphia Flyers were playing against the Canadiens in Montreal and the latter team liked to end its pregame warm up by sliding a puck into their opponent’s empty net after they left the ice. For some reason, the Flyers asked them not to do it in that particular game. Claude Lemieux still ended up doing it, resulting in an interesting brawl between the two teams before the game had even started. Since most players were already in the locker room, they had to come back running, without even wearing their jerseys, to take part in the brawl.
- Toronto Maple Leafs Vs LA Kings
The story behind this one is pretty good. In the Campbell Conference Finals, the LA Kings were visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 1. While on their way to winning the game, Toronto’s best player, Doug Gilmour, who was just harmlessly skating across the ice, was suddenly hit by King’s enforcer Marty McSorely. It was a dirty hit is what most people say. The team came crumbling down after Gilmour got hurt. This is when another player stepped up and tried to deliberately make a wrong right. This leads to Wendel Clark, the first-liner, heading for McSorely to defend his teammates, resulting in one of the most classic brawls of all times.
- Ottawa Senators Vs Philadephia Flyers
At the end of the game between Ottawa Senators Vs Philadephia Flyers, when there were only 2 minutes left to play, Donald Brashear and Rob Ray squared up and dropped the gloves. Even before it dawned on the others, both benches cleared immediately and lo and behold, a brawl! At the end of it, 3.20 players had been ejected and a record 419 combined penalty minutes were handed out.
While these would have been a delight to watch live, you could still not lose hope and prep yourself up for the next game of NHL, Philadelphia Flyers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, on March 27, 2019. Get cheap NHL hockey tickets online at low price only at Headline Tickets. Browse through our NHL Hockey tickets section to gain more info on the same.
