Violence & Brawls ·
Two Seconds In, Ten Skaters Were Fighting
A January 2014 Canucks–Flames opening brawl left eight players ejected. At intermission, John Tortorella became involved in a separate, partly off-camera confrontation outside Calgary’s dressing room.
Two seconds into the Vancouver Canucks’ game against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on January 18, 2014, all 10 skaters on the ice were fighting. Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa had taken the opening faceoff against Calgary forward Kevin Westgarth; then all five players from each team dropped their gloves.
Calgary coach Bob Hartley had sent out his fourth line to start, and Vancouver’s John Tortorella countered with his own. The fights produced eight game misconducts, leaving both teams with short benches for the rest of the night. Among those ejected was Kellan Lain, making his NHL debut for Vancouver. It ended after two seconds, following a fight with Westgarth.
“I don’t think anybody expected that,” said Calgary defenseman Chris Butler, another of the players ejected. “It’s been a while since something like that happened, five guys pairing off.” Calgary’s Brian McGrattan was bloodied in his fight with Vancouver’s Tom Sestito. Afterward, Sestito patted him on the back of the head. Both received fighting majors and 10-minute misconducts but remained in the game.
Tortorella yelled toward the Calgary bench after the brawl. The first period continued with scrums after almost every whistle. During the intermission, a separate confrontation unfolded outside Calgary’s dressing-room area. CBC cameras captured Tortorella attempting to enter the Flames’ locker room and McGrattan pushing him away.
After the two were separated, Calgary goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk came out of the dressing room and followed Tortorella. Calgary staff members and McGrattan restrained Malarchuk. Much of the altercation was off camera; another camera showed Vancouver defenseman Chris Tanev pulling Alex Burrows back toward the Canucks’ dressing room.
Asked by CBC’s Scott Oake during the second intermission, Calgary forward Lee Stempniak said he had been “a little surprised” to see Tortorella outside the visiting locker room. “I came in and there was a big log-jam,” he said. “I didn’t really know what happened. Still not quite sure what happened.”
After the game, Tortorella declined to comment on the hallway incident. He defended his starting lineup, saying he would not put other players at risk against Hartley’s selection, but expressed regret about the fight: “I’m not proud of it. I’ve apologized to every one of the players involved in it. I don’t feel great about it at all.” Hartley denied intending to provoke trouble with his lineup. “Those guys are playing well for us,” he said. “They got a goal last game. We’re not scoring many goals. We had zero intentions there.”
The depleted teams still had a game to finish. Calgary took the lead twice in regulation, and Vancouver answered twice, with Yannick Weber’s third-period power-play goal making it 2–2. In the fifth round of the shootout, Chris Higgins beat Calgary goalie Karri Ramo through the five-hole. Vancouver won 3–2, on a night when Lain’s NHL debut had lasted two seconds.