The Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers finished the first period of Friday’s game without a goal, but the first 20 minutes were anything but uneventful.
Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds went down at 18:14 of the first period after being elbowed in the face by Capitals defenseman John Erskine.
There was blood on the ice when Simmonds was finally able to skate to the bench and he wasn’t with the Flyers for the start of the second period, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi. However, Erskine was not penalized for his actions.
Well after the initial hit, but before the puck was dropped, Philadelphia’s Zac Rinaldo and Washington’s Matt Hendricks got into a fight. Both were ejected from the game as a result.
That sparked Scott Hartnell to praise Rinaldo via Twitter in the middle of a game.
If you want to see the entire incident, you can do so below: