Flyers – Senators brawl The Flyers – Senators brawl was a line brawl that occurred during a National Hockey League game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators on March 5 , 2004 . The two team ' s combined penalty minutes , 419 , were the most in a single game in the history of the league . The game was played at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , U . S . , which is the home arena of the Flyers . The line brawl was initiated by Philadelphia left - wing er " enforcer " Donald Brashear and Ottawa ' s right wing er Rob Ray with approximately 1 : 45 left in the third period , the Flyers leading the game 5 to 2 . Once the fight between the two players ended and they began to skate to the penalty box , the rest of the players on the ice for each team , including goaltender s Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime began to fight . At the next faceoff , Philadelphia ' s center Michal Handzus and Mike Fisher , the center for Ottawa , immediately began to fight . Approximately 30 seconds after that fight , another fight broke out involving all of the players on the ice , with the exception of the two goaltenders . Finally , a fight broke out between Patrick Sharp of Philadelphia and Jason Spezza of Ottawa . The game ended with a final score of 5 – 3 , the Flyers winning . By the end of the game , 20 players had been ejected for their role in the brawl , leaving a combined total of five players on the team benches . The officials of the game took about 90 minutes to sort out all of the penalties that each team had received . In the end , the Flyers had 213 team penalty minutes and the Senators received 206 , combining for the record total of 419 . Continuing the fighting from the game , Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke had to be restrained from going after Ottawa coach Jacques Martin after the game , taking issue with his handling of his team . Previous incidents . The brawl was likely to have been initiated because of a previous incident between the teams . About a week before the brawl , the Flyers were in Ottawa for a game against the Senators . During the third period , Flyers winger Mark Recchi was following Martin Havlat of the Senators when he crossed into the Philadelphia defensive zone . As this happened , Recchi hooked Havlat , causing both of the players to collide and fall into the boards . When Havlat got up from the ice , angered by Recchi ' s hook , he took his stick above him and slashed Recchi , hitting him in the face . Havlat was given a five - minute major penalty for attempting to injure Recchi , along with a game misconduct penalty . He was later given a two - game suspension by the NHL due to the incident . He was also forced to give up US $ 36 , 585 . 36 of his salary as he was already suspended previously for kicking Eric Cairns of the New York Islanders during a game earlier in the season . Revenge was also mentioned after the game by Ken Hitchcock , then the head coach for the Flyers . During a post game interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , making the comment " Someday , someone ' s going to make him eat his lunch . This is something , in my opinion , that the players should take care of . " Mark Recchi also mentioned revenge , not specifically from the Flyers , during an interview with the CBC . " It doesn ' t surprise me coming from this guy . He ' s that type of player . He ' s done it before . It might not come from our team . But he better protect himself , " said Recchi .