Kings No Match for Fightin’ Flyers, 7-4

It was standing room only in the penalty box when the Kings battled the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum Sunday night.

Referee Kerry Fraser called a 44 penalties totaling 191 minutes, assessing the Flyers 23 penalties for 112 minutes and the Kings 21 penalties for 79 minutes.

It looked more like a World Wrestling Federation show than a National Hockey League game.

It took longer to play the first period than it did for the Kings to fly here from Hartford, Conn., because of all the delays due to fights. There were 19 penalties for 97 minutes assessed in the first period, which lasted 1 hour and 4 minutes.

Five players were ejected, which lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes. The Kings, who lost defensemen Dean Kennedy and Jay Wells, were down four defenseman at the end of the game. Three Flyers were ejected, defenseman Ed Hospodar, right wing Dave Brown and left wing Derrick Smith.

In between fights, the Flyers came back from a 3-2 second-period deficit by scoring five unanswered goals and beat the Kings, 7-4, before a sellout crowd of 17,211.

Right wing Tim Kerr scored three power-play goals to lead the Flyers. It was the seventh career hat trick for Kerr, who now has six goals in his last three games and is tied for the league lead in power play goals.

The Flyers, who lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final last season, have won seven straight games this season. The Flyers (9-2) and Oilers (9-2) have the best records in the league this season.

The Kings (3-9), ended their six-game trip with a 2-4 record and return home to open a five-game homestand against the Oilers at the Forum Wednesday night.

The Kings and Flyers have a history of playing some wild games. The teams were penalized for 380 minutes in a game on March 11, 1979 when Kings’ Coach Pat Quinn was coaching the Flyers. There was a bench-clearing brawl at the end of the first period in that game which resulted in 372 minutes in penalties, 184 by the Kings and 188 by the Flyers.

This time, the action started just 53 seconds into the first period when Kings goalie Bob Janecyk went at it with Flyers center Peter Zezel.

It was the second straight night that someone took a run at Janecyk.

Hartford’s Torrie Robertson hit Janecyk during the third period of the Kings’ 8-1 win over the Whalers Saturday night to touch off a fight.

Zezel stuck his forearm in Janecyk’s face and Janecyk raised his stick and they went at it, fighting it out inside the net. Kennedy came to Janecyk’s defense, taking on Zezel.

Kennedy was ejected from the game after getting a 10-minute misconduct for being the third man in the fight and he also got a two-minute minor for roughing. Janecyk got a five-minute major for slashing and a two-minute minor for high sticking. Zezel got a pair of two-minute minors for roughing.

Janecyk intimated that Flyers Coach Mike Keenan had Zezel run him on purpose.

“That weasel of a coach (Keenan) they have over there should have more class,” Janecyk said. Asked what started the fight, Janecyk said, “He (Zezel) gave me an elbow in the face and I gave him a stick. It sure seemed like they were trying to run me.

“After what happened last night (with Robertson), I’m more aware of it (cheap shots). Everyone’s not going to be able to do it or they’re going to get a stick in the face. You’ve got to defend what’s yours.”

Quinn also hinted that the Flyers intentionally tried to run Janecyk.

“They are notorious for it. There are about six or seven teams in the league that run goaltenders and the Flyers happen to be one of them. The unwritten law in the game is that the goalie is not supposed to be infringed upon, but it’s not enforced.”

But Keenan and Zezel said that the Flyers weren’t trying to intimidate Janecyk.

“Tell Pat to go look at the video tapes and he’ll see that Janecyk started it,” Keenan said after looking at a tape of the incident in his office “We didn’t intentionally take anyone off.”

Asked what happened Zezel said, “I was going to the net for the puck after (Murray) Creven shot it. I had momentum and I bumped into Janecyk. As I turned to the net he hit me and that’s what started it. It wasn’t intentional. . . . I didn’t mean to hit him. It just happened that I bumped into him.”

But the action was just starting.

Left wing Rich Sutter of the Flyers got a 10-minute misconduct at 3:03 of the first period after he intervened in a pushing match between King left wing Phil Sykes and Flyer left wing Brian Propp. However, Sykes and Propp weren’t penalized.

Wells and Brown, who would later square off in the main bout of the game, each got five-minutes for fighting at 5:56 of the first period and King rookie center Brian Wilks and Poulin fought it out at 6:37 of the first period.

Wells and Brown went at it again with 7:40 left in the first period after Brown gave Janecyk an elbow. Hospodar and Kings left wing Brian MacLellan also got in on the action.

Wells got a two-minute minor for roughing and five minutes for fighting Brown, MacLellan and Hospodar got five-minutes apiece for fighting and and Hospodar also drew a double game misconduct.

Wells and Brown fought it out for the third and final time with 10:37 left in the second period. It started between Brown and Kings rookie defenseman Al Tuer, but Wells jumped in after order had seemingly been restored. Brown opened a laceration under Wells’ right eye which required six stitches.

Wells was ejected from the game after getting a game misconduct and five-minutes for fighting. He left the Spectrum and returned to his hotel room.