Flyers-Senators Brawl Sets NHL Penalty Record 22 Years Ago

22 years ago today the Flyers and Senators set an NHL penalty record that will never be broken

Drew Smith
March 5, 2026
Flyers
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On this day in 2004, the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 at the Wachovia Center in a game that became the most penalized in NHL history and will almost certainly stay that way forever.

419 penalty minutes. 61 penalties called in the third period alone. 409 of those 419 penalty minutes came in the third period. And 55 of the 61 third period penalties came in the final two minutes of the game. Read that again. Fifty-five penalties in two minutes. The officials were essentially spectators at that point.

Senators and Flyers combined for an NHL-record 419 penalty minutes

On this day in 2004, the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers combined for an NHL-record 419 penalty minutes, 409 of which came in the third period 🤯

There were 61 penalties called in the third period, 55 of which came in the final two minutes of the game. pic.twitter.com/8dH8tBGZGQ
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) March 5, 2026

Twenty players were ejected. Full team brawls broke out near both nets and along the boards. Enforcers like Jesse Boulerice and Chris Neil were at the center of it and the game devolved into something that looked less like hockey and more like a controlled riot inside an arena.

The fans at the Wachovia Center that night were watching history whether they knew it or not. Tickets reportedly went for $21.90 and people who still have their stubs from that night have something genuinely worth keeping.

The record has stood for 22 years and the way the NHL has evolved, there is virtually no chance it ever gets touched. The game has moved away from fighting as a regular part of the product. Enforcers as a roster role have largely disappeared. The league actively discourages the kind of third period meltdown that happened that night in South Philly.

Which means what the Flyers and Senators produced on March 5, 2004 is frozen in time as the most chaotic, most penalized, most gloriously unhinged hockey game ever played. Philadelphia was involved, naturally. Some records are just meant to belong to this city.