Red Wings – Avalanche brawl The Red Wings – Avalanche brawl was a large scale on - ice melee that occurred March 26 , 1997 , at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit , Michigan , United States , between two National Hockey League rivals , Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings . The brawl , alternatively called Bloody Wednesday , Fight Night at the Joe and Brawl in Hockeytown , stemmed from a previous on - ice incident between the two teams during 1996 Western Conference Finals : a controversial hit by Claude Lemieux on the Red Wings ' Kris Draper . Previous incident . In Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals , Avalanche right wing Claude Lemieux checked Draper from behind , driving Draper ' s face into the boards . The hit sent Draper out of the game and into the hospital with a broken jaw , shattered cheek and orbital bone , which required reconstructive surgery involving his jaw being wired shut and numerous stitches . The Avalanche would go on to defeat the Red Wings in 6 games , eventually winning the Stanley Cup . The brawls . In the next regular season , although the two teams had played each other three times without incident , this fourth meeting on the night of March 26 was different , with nine fights in the game . In the first three match - ups , Lemieux had not dressed for the Avalanche , so Lemieux was making his first appearance against the Wings since the hit on Draper . As tensions mounted early in the first period , defencemen Brent Severyn ( Avalanche ) and Jamie Pushor ( Red Wings ) fought at 4 : 45 of the first period , followed by a fight between forwards Kirk Maltby ( Red Wings ) and René Corbet ( Avalanche ) at 10 : 14 . The major melee ensued at the 18 : 22 mark , leading to the third fight . Shortly after a collision between Red Wing center Igor Larionov and Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg , Wings enforcer Darren McCarty seized the chance to avenge his Grind Line teammate by escaping a referee ' s grasp and hitting Lemieux with a right hook from the side . McCarty laid many blows on Lemieux , who fell to the ice and covered his head ( labeled " turtling " by the hockey media ) ; McCarty managed to land a few more punches , drag Lemieux to the boards , and knee him in the head before the two were separated by officials . Seeing what McCarty was doing to Lemieux , Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy skated out of his net to defend his teammate , but was intercepted by Red Wing forward Brendan Shanahan , who was skating at full speed , with an open ice body check , sending him sprawling momentarily into Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote . While Shanahan and Foote tangled , Wings goalie Mike Vernon went out to center ice to meet Roy , which ended up escalating to a fight when Vernon and Roy dropped their masks , gloves , and blockers . The scrum between Larionov and Forsberg ended with the oft - injured Forsberg aggravating an injury . As a result of the third brawl of the first period , Forsberg and Larionov each received matching minor penalites for roughing ; Roy and Vernon were each assessed minor penalties for roughing Shanahan and Foote , respectively , and major penalties for fighting each other , and McCarty received a double - minor for roughing Lemieux , giving Colorado a power play . Forsberg aggravated an injury in scrum with Larionov and would not return , and the McCarty / Lemieux incident left patches of blood on the ice that were visible before the ice was resurfaced by the Zamboni ; blood also ended up on the boards near the Red Wings bench . Fifteen seconds after the Roy / Vernon fight , Avalanche winger Adam Deadmarsh and Red Wing defenceman Vladimir Konstantinov would drop the gloves in another fight for the final fight in the first period . There would be five more fights ( and four stoppages ) in the second period : a fight between Shanahan and Foote four seconds into the second period , simultaneous fights between Avalanche winger Mike Keane and Red Wing winger Tomas Holmstrom and between Severyn and Red Wing defenceman Aaron Ward 3 : 34 in ( Severyn and Ward were ejected for a secondary fight ) , McCarty and Deadmarsh at 7 : 24 ( McCarty also received a roughing ) , and between Pushor and Avalanche defenceman Uwe Krupp at 11 : 26 . When the third period ended , the score was tied 5 – 5 . Incidentally , it was Fedorov who scored the winner against Roy in overtime , assisted by Shanahan and Larionov . Aftermath . Mike Vernon , who won his 300th career game , believed the brawl - filled game " brought the Red Wings together " in time for the playoffs . Colorado head coach Marc Crawford , meanwhile , wondered why McCarty did not receive a game misconduct for his largely one - sided instigation and subsequent fight with Lemieux ( McCarty received a double - minor for roughing for that incident , and also received a fighting major later in the game ) . Subsequently , Avalanche right winger Mike Keane criticized Draper for having McCarty fight on his behalf . A similar free - for - all took place on May 19 , during Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Joe Louis Arena , when during a penalty - filled game , Crawford was seen screaming obscenities at Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman across the glass separating the two benches . The Wings would win that game 6 - 0 . Crawford was fined $ 10 , 000 for the tirade . The next year during a game in November between the two teams , McCarty and Lemieux began to throw punches seconds after the opening faceoff , much to the delight of the Joe Louis Arena crowd . And then on April 1 , 1998 , Joe Louis Arena was the site of another Avs - Wings brawl . This time Patrick Roy challenged and then squared off with Chris Osgood at center ice . The referees called more severe penalties this time , as Roy and Osgood both received minor , major , misconduct , and game misconduct penalties . The two teams combined for 46 penalties totaling 228 minutes . The Wings ultimately won the game 2 – 0 , and would go on to win the second of their consecutive Stanley Cups . The game and brawl is considered a defining moment in modern Red Wings history . However , as players began to leave each team through free agency , trades , or retirements , the rivalry began to die down . A game between Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche on March 23 , 2002 broke into a brawl ( much smaller than the previous two ) when Kirk Maltby came into Patrick Roy ' s net and Roy took exception . The brawl continued when Red Wing goalie Dominik Hašek skated down the length of the ice to confront Roy but tripped on a discarded stick , causing him to crash into and knock over Roy . Infuriated , Roy threw off his gloves and mask to fight as Hasek did the same , but the two were restrained by referees , thus preventing Roy from fighting a third Red Wing goalie since 1997 .