Flyers and Pens Continue to Battle

We’ve written that whoever comes out the winner of the current quarterfinal series between the Flyers and Pens will likely be a little banged up afterwards. Both teams have been doing their best to ensure that happens. The most physical game of the series to date occured on Sunday afternoon, with Philly cutting Pittsburgh’s series lead in half.

Two fights took place in the contest as well, both early in the first period. Five minutes into the game, Chris Kunitz leveled Kimo Timonen with the biggest hit of the playoffs thus far behind the net. After an immediate response from Ryan Parent that only resulted in a shove, Kunitz was challenged by Scott Hartnell along the benches. Hartnell got in a few punches while Kunitz struggled to keep his balance and a linesmen intervened.

Less than a minute later, a couple of liberties taken by both teams resulted in a big-time scrum along the side boards. Darroll Powe and Kris Letang ended up with the only set of fighting majors after order was restored. Claude Giroux and Tyler Kennedy dropped the gloves and exchanged blows too, but were only given roughings.

The award for the weekend’s biggest surprise performance easily went to Patrice Bergeron, who floored Josh Gorges with a left hand during his first NHL scrap in the third period of Saturday’s Habs-Bruins game. Friday saw an end-of-game scrum between the Blues and Canucks that led to majors being called onBarret Jackman and Steve Bernier.

Videos added

Kristopher Letang vs Darroll Powe Apr 19, 2009
Chris Kunitz vs Scott Hartnell Apr 19, 2009
Josh Gorges vs Patrice Bergeron Apr 18, 2009
Barret Jackman vs Steve Bernier Apr 17, 2009
Braydon Coburn vs Bill Guerin Apr 15, 2009
David Clarkson vs Andrew Alberts Dec 4, 2008
David Clarkson vs Arron Asham Dec 4, 2008
Dean Chynoweth vs Turner Stevenson Jan 28, 1996
Sandy Moger vs Chris Murray Jan 28, 1996
Corey Perry vs Francis Bouillon Oct 25, 2008
Doug Doull vs Darren Langdon Dec 16, 2003
Andrew Alberts vs Sheldon Souray Apr 4, 2006
Sean O’Donnell vs Sheldon Souray Jan 31, 2004
Dan LaCouture vs Garth Murray Apr 1, 2006
Craig Rivet vs Hal Gill Mar 9, 2006
John Kordic vs Jay Miller Nov 12, 1987
Jared Boll vs Cam Janssen Apr 5, 2008
Tom Kostopoulos vs Jeremy Reich Mar 20, 2008

Some reads

This ‘Ax’ keeps grinding away
Fighting issue at discussion stage
When the Ducks get a whistle, Mike Brown gets a call
Patrice Bergeron punches in
Cup-driven Marian Hossa a perfect fit in Detroit
Eric Lacroix won’t be candidate for GM position
Sim stays positive while playing for Bridgeport
Staal taking after Francis