The Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers have developed a very intense rivalry over the years. In the early days of the Caps’ existence, the Flyers would dominate the Capitals, but eventually the matchup became more even. In this piece, NoVa Caps looks back at a game that took place between the Capitals and Flyers on March 13, 1982, at the Capital Center, in Landover, Maryland.
Preview
Going into the game, the Caps had a record of 22-37-9. The Flyers had a record of 34-27-8 and were trying to catch the New York Rangers in the standings. The goalie matchup was Dave Parro for the Capitals against Rick St. Croix for the Flyers.
First Period
The most notable action to begin the first period was two Flyers getting penalized in quick succession. First, Brad March was penalized for hooking at 4:52, then Darryl Sittler was penalized for tripping at 5:23, giving the Capitals a 5-on-3 power play. Bobby Gould scored his 17th goal over a minute after the second penalty, at 6:32. He got assists from Chris Valentine and Dennis Maruk. This put the Caps ahead 1-0.
There was no more scoring for the remainder of the period, but plenty of penalties. A battle between Dennis Maruk and Bob Hoffmeyer at 12:22 resulted in a high sticking penalty for Maruk and two penalties for Hoffmeyer, one for slashing and one for roughing.
At 18:24 in the period, Randy Holt of the Caps and Tim Kerr of the Flyers got into a fight, with Holt earning an extra two minutes for roughing. This put the Flyers on a power play that spilled into second period.
Second Period
After Holt’s roughing penalty expired, Glen Currie scored the Caps second goal of the game and his fifth goal of the season, just 40 seconds into the second period. He got assists from Bobby Gould and Timo Blomqvist.
At 1:39, the Flyers’ Bobby Clark was assessed a tripping minor which put the Caps on the power play. Nearly 80 minutes later, at 2:54, Caps’ Darren Veitch scored on the ensuing power play, getting assists from Rick Green and Bengt Gustafsson. The Caps now led 3-0.
There were more fisticuffs less than two minutes later. At 4:19, Gaetan Duchesne of the Caps cross checked Paul Holmgren, who elbowed him in return. After that, Doug Hicks of the Caps fought Paul Holmgren. Both teams earned a fighting major and a minor penalty.
The Flyers finally made the scoresheet when Ken Linseman scored his 20th goal of the season at 8:38, getting assists from Reggie Leach and Bob Hoffmeyer.
At 15:31, Mike Gartner and Bobby Clarke got into a high sticking battle. At the same time, Bengt Gustafsson and Ken Linseman got into a fight. Gartner and Clarke both got two minor penalties, apiece, one for high sticking and one for roughing. Gustafsson and Linseman both got fighting majors.
Third Period
Jimmy Watson narrowed the Capitals’ lead to 3-2 when he scored on a 15-foot wrist shot at 2:24 into the final period. He got assists from Linseman and Clarke, which gave Linseman a Gordy Howe hat trick.
At 8:40, Brian Propp of the Flyers high-sticked Randy Holt, which put both teams on a 4-on-4 situation. During this 4-on-4, Gustafsson struck back with an eight-foot backhander to put the Caps ahead by two goals again. Gustafsson was assisted by Reggie Leach.
This was Gustafsson’s 21st goal of the season and also gave him a Gordie Howe hat trick as, like his fighting partner Linseman, also had a goal and an assist the prior period. So now both the Capitals and Flyers had recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick between two players who had fought one another.
Bobby Carpenter added his 27th goal at 16:10 to put the Caps ahead 5-3. He got assists from Gartner and Gustafsson. Darryl Sittler of the Flyers scored his 27th game at 18:24 getting an assist from Ilkka Sinisalo. The score was now 5-3.
With exactly a minute to go in the game, there were more fisticuffs. Randy Holt and Paul Holmgren got into a battle which resulted in a fight. Besides the fighting majors, Holmgren also earned slashing and roughing penalties.
Holt also earned a cross checking penalty. This put the Caps on the power play. Dennis Maruk scored his 55th goal of the season on the ensuing power play, just 14 seconds later. He got assists from Glen Currie and Bobby Gould. The final score was 6-3. This Caps’ win kept the Flyers two points behind the division leading New York Rangers.
The Flyers lived up to their Broad Street Bullies’ reputation in this game. It featured four fights and included two Gordie Howe hat tricks, one for each team. Over 80 total minutes of penalties were doled out. In addition to his fighting major, Gustafsson scored a goal and had two assists.
Related Reading
Box Score from NHL Com
UPI: Bengt Gustafsson Had One Goal and Two Assists
Box Score From Hockey Reference
By Diane Doyle
