Well, that didn’t take long. The Philadelphia Flyers came ready for their first series matchup against in-state rivals Pittsburgh. Problem is, Pittsburgh forgot to bring a gameplan or any kind of defense. The Flyers have gone up 3 games to none and look to easily sweep the series that should have gone to Game 7, in OT.

Instead we were treated to a pathetic example of a talented Pens team trying to ‘fight’ their way to a win. Yeah, you just can’t do that against Philly. You’re gonna lose no matter what season you try that in.

Pittsburgh and Philly faced off on NBC Sunday afternoon in what turned out to be a blowout 8-4 win by the Flyers. But the game was never in the hands of Pittsburgh. Except maybe the first 8 minutes before the wheels fell off. And when I say fell off, I mean it. They came flying off!

I don’t know what was more embarrassing…Marc-Andre Fleury letting in a few of the easiest shots ever or Sidney Crosby acting like a baby girl. Watch as Crosby helps kick off a 10-minute fight/melee with this little childish act

Philly built a 3-1 lead quickly and soon filled the penalty box as all the Pens including Sidney Crosby tried to square off against the Flyers. That is when they weren’t giving cheap shots. Check out Arron Asham of the Pens joining the instant suspension club by crosschecking and then punching the Flyers Breyden Schenn head into the ice…from behind.

And here’s James Neal of the Penguins with a stupid, blind-side hit on the Flyers Sean Couturier in the closing minutes of the game. Sad.

It’s sad to see this type of behavior from such a talented group of guys. And it sucks it was on primetime TV so all those people catching the game and thinking hockey was a stereotypical game of goons hitting each other got their wish. Shame on you Pittsburgh. You’re so much better than that.

Heck, even Pens head coach Dan Bylsma looks confused. What the heck is going on in Pittsburgh? Are the Hanson Brothers running the joint?

There’s only a week left of hockey action before the playoffs begin. Both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers have clinched a playoff spot but that didn’t stop them from pulling back on any punches in their cross-state rivalry Sunday.

After the Flyers made the game 6-3, Philly coach Peter Laviolette called out Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma for sending out the checking line.  The players fought and the coaches fought (always a great thing!) in an awesme scene of emotion.

The Flyers ended up winning the game 6-4 but it was the box score for PIM’s (after 15 penalties were called) in the third period that was epic. Check out the melee that begins about 4 minutes into the video below.

After the fight the Flyers bench looked a bit thin after a total of 52 penalty minutes were handed out. Personally, I hope these two teams meet in the playoffs, which is a good chance, because it will be a vicious series.

I loooooooove a good rivalry and one of the best, next to Montreal and Boston, is the animosity that Devils and Rangers fans have toward each other. The fans and team both love to hate each other which is to be expected from two states nestled next to each other. If this game would have happened on St. Patrick’s Day it would have been even better, and far more appropriate.

The Rangers and Devils began their game by dropping their gloves and getting into a fight. Reminds me of a good minor league game.

[via BroBible] It hardly took three seconds for the animosity between the Rangers and Devils to boil over tonight. Before the game had even started, Rangers coach John Tortorella and Devils coach Peter DeBoer started jawing from the benches. The good thing about being a hockey coach is that you can get very large men to fight your battles. Seconds after the puck dropped, blood was spilled as all three forwards from each team squared off in a face-crunching brawl.

It seemed like Torts took offense to DeBoers’s decision to start his enforcer line and was briefly shown screaming F-bombs over the glass.

Awesome. That’s how you should start every game!

The Devils are 10 points behind the Rangers and destined to be watching the playoffs on TV this year instead of playing in them so Devils coach Peter DeBoer likely just downed his Molson and said “F-it. Let’s just beat the crap out of them.”

And so a new tradition was made.

Usually, you don’t see people celebrating a goal by dropping their gloves and starting a fight. But that’s not totally unexpected when you see a Flyers game. Just like the rare Scott Gomez goal, this type of thing doesn’t happen too often.

We’ve talked about Dion Phaneuf and Scott Hartnell before with their epic “Suck it, Phanuef” video from the NHL All-Star Game.  Well, tensions are still high and the mouths are still flapping.

After Phaneuf and Hartnell bump and grind around the net in the first period, Hartnell finally gets the puck in goal. And to celebrate he decides to beat the tar out of Phaneuf, who is standing right next to him.

It’s a quick fight but a great one just to keep the Phaneuf-Hartnell storyline going until the next game.

It’s always humorous when a player throws a tantrum after being given the boot. North Dakota Fighting Sioux player Danny Kristo not only gives us a chuckle for throwing a little baby tantrum after getting ejection but if you watch the reason why you’ll laugh some more.

That’s because Kristo delivers a dirty, if not the dirtiest, hit I’ve seen in awhile as he drives an opponent into the boards and gives a very deliberate elbow to the head in the process.

Hey ref, is that a penalty? Guess so in the NCAA. Who knew?

North Dakota Player Freaks Out After Getting Thrown Out For a Very Dirty Hit

The Vancouver Canucks scored 4 power-play goals to finish up some business. The Canucks just couldn’t get past the Boston Bruins in last season’s Stanley Cup Finals. With a little hard work, and some fighting, the Canucks finally proved they could beat the Bruins.

Both teams started out slow this season. In fact, it looked like the Stanley Cup hangover hit both teams as it took until just about a month ago for them to wake up and prove themselves to be as good as they were last year.

Last years Stanley Cup Finals summed up in a picture

Less than four minutes into their first game between the teams since the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years, at least five Canucks surrounded and jostled Boston’s Shawn Thornton near the Vancouver bench after he came to the aid of a teammate who had been hit.

And two minutes later, the Canucks scored the first of their four power-play goals on their way to a 4-3 win Saturday.

“I think it makes a statement to the rest of the league that we’re back and we’re looking forward to getting back to where we were,” Vancouver goalie Corey Schneider said.

The Canucks are second in the NHL with 55 points and the Bruins are third with 53.

YouTuber RamaPijama caught this epic tiny tot hockey fight with his 9-year-old brother’s team. His brother’s team, Kokshetau – Burabay (green) ends up fighting against the team from the capital city of Kazakhstan – Astana (white).

Turns out during the final handshakes, when everyone is supposed to be nice and cordial, some of the players started talking trash which then ends up in a post-game brawl.

I love hockey!

Gregory Campbell vs Joe Vitale. The Battle on the Ice!

The Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins game on Dec 5, 2011 featured a fantastic brawl between Campbell and Vitale. They fought and fought and fought some more.

Around and around they go. They even take a breather somewhere in the middle and then keep going. Great fight. Both guys are winners here.

The Russian KHL League is kinda the Wild West of hockey as rules are set aside and mayhem rules. One team in particular, Chekhov Vityaz, likes to make headlines for its fights more than its play.

Every coaches dream turned into a nightmare for fans as a coach, fed up with a fan that threw an object at him, grabbed a hockey stick and went after the fans in the stands.

In America, the nosebleed section is at the top of the stands. In Russia, it apparently is right behind the home team’s bench.

Andrei Nazarov is the coach of Chekhov Vityaz, a team in the Russian hockey league (KHL). This team is known for having a lot of fights and even the players smile while getting punched.  After a game that saw 156 penalty minutes handed out a fan tossed something at the Vityaz bench.

Andrei, who played in the NHL and complied a nice career 1,409 penalty minutes, took to his instincts and immediately grabbed a hockey stick and started to swing into the crowd. Andrei didn’t make it over the glass but security did escort the bad guys out of the game.