Massive Brawl Leads To Legendary Penalty Call After ‘Every Player On The Ice’ Kicked Out Of Senators-Panthers Game

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Historically speaking, the Panthers and the Senators haven’t been near the top of the list of the NHL’s most heated rivalries, but it’s hard to argue that’s still the case in the wake of a heated skirmish that led to one of the best penalty calls in the history of hockey.

Last season, there was a grand total of 166 penalty minutes handed out during a tilt between the Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators in April, and while that’s a pretty hard mark to top, the two teams managed to outdo themselves by when they met in Canada’s capital city on Monday night.

The Tkachuk family was in the house to watch brothers Brady and Matthew face off, and while their dad has previously stated there’s an unofficial policy that prohibits them from dropping the gloves against each other, that certainly doesn’t apply to the rest of their teams.

Tempers had already started to flair by the time the Panthers were boasting a dominant 4-0 lead with less than eight minutes to go in the third period, and they officially boiled over when Brady was thwarted on a breakaway after getting out of the penalty box.

A scrum formed behind the Florida net and every single player on the ice (aside from the goaltenders) quickly got it on the action. Officials did what they could to keep order, but they were fighting an uphill battle to defuse the fracas.

When the dust finally settled, head referee Garrett Rank announced a slew of penalties, as he handed out three two-minute minors before announcing “Every player on the ice has a 10-minute misconduct” (although that didn’t apply to the netminders).

In a perfect world, all of those guys would’ve been forced to cram into the penalty box, but the fact that the Panthers had a commanding lead with less than 10 minutes to go meant they served as de facto ejections that forced both sides to finish out the game (which Florida won by a score of 5-0) with three lines.

The Senators and the Panthers (who racked up 167 penalty minutes when everything was said and done) will face off again on February 20th, and it’s safe to say it will be one of the most highly anticipated games of the NHL season.