Behind four third-period goals Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers earned a come-from-behind victory, 6-4, over inter-state rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center. However, the contest will more than likely be remembered not for the Flyers gritty, comeback performance, but instead, the heated scrum between the two teams with less than a minute to go in regulation.
The brawl came after an empty-net goal by the Flyers' Jakub Voracek, his second of the period, that put the game away (6-3) with 1 minutes, 45 seconds to go. On the ensuing face off, Pens head coach Dan Bylsma put out his fourth line which led to Joe Vitale leveling Flyers' forward Danny Briere with a clean hit near center ice. Briere fell to the ice and a handful of fights ensued.
In the end, multiple penalty minutes were dished out and both head coaches were asked to leave their respective benches and go to the locker room.
Oh, and this happened after too (Flyers' Scott Hartnell made fun of Hulk Hogan!).
As for the game, the Flyers trailed 2-0 early in the first period but rallied using goals by Claude Giroux and Maxime Talbot to tie the contest at 2-2.
That's how the third period began, however, it didn't last long (2:35) as Wayne Simmonds scored to give the Flyers a 3-2 advantage. From there, the rout was on as Jakub Voracek and Marc-Andre Bourdon tallied goals to push the margin to 5-2.
This contest is a primer for what could come in the series and regular-season finale next Saturday (4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network). The two heated rivals could also meet in the first round of the NHL playoffs, as the Flyers and Pens are neck-and-neck in the Eastern Conference standings -- Pittsburgh is in fourth place with 102 points, while Philly is in fifth place with 101.
For more on Flyers hockey, check out the SB Nation blog Broad Street Hockey. Meanwhile, PensBurgh has everything on the Penguins.