PHILADELPHIA - Two seconds after the opening faceoff, Andre Roy threw down with Flyers heavyweight Donald Brashear.
Fourteen seconds later, Chris Dingman ran over Philly star Jeremy Roenick in a corner and fought Jim Vandermeer to back it up.
Message sent and received by the Lightning, who used the emotional boost as a catalyst for Thursday's 5-4 overtime victory.
"I can't say enough about what they did," Martin St. Louis said. "We said we were not going to let them beat us physically."
"It set the tone," Dave Andreychuk said. "They went out and did their jobs."
Roy said Brashear asked before the faceoff if he wanted to fight.
"We've been in a slump," Roy said. "Whatever I can do to help the team."
Said Dingman: "I'm going to finish every check. We knew they were going to come hard and we didn't want to sit back."
Lightning left wing Ruslan Fedotenko took the cue and jostled with Michal Handzus after Handzus ran Roy headfirst into the boards. And right wing Ben Clymer fought 6-foot-5, 235-pound Chris Therien.
Coach John Tortorella even jawed with Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock.
"I don't think coaches should be yelling at the opposing team's players," Tortorella said. "Obviously, he didn't like the way we started the game. Everybody was trying to back one another up. Obviously it (angered) the guy on the other bench but who gives a (expletive). To me, that's an attitude of the Flyers vs. the lowly Lightning. I'm tired of that (expletive). I really am."
ROAD WEARY: If anyone is happy to see Tampa Bay get home, it is director of team services Phil Thibodeau. Through a 12-day stretch in which the Lightning played six of seven on the road, Thibodeau, who handles the team's travel arrangements, dealt with:
A storm that kept the team an extra day in Buffalo.
Mechanical problems that delayed a flight from Tampa to Toronto by 31/2 hours.
The team bus spewing diesel fuel, which kept the players on the team plane for 45 minutes after landing in Toronto.
A nearly three-hour delay in Buffalo as the team tried to get from Toronto to Philadelphia. When the team landed in Buffalo to clear customs, every personal bag was searched, and the team plane was emptied and searched with a bomb-sniffing dog.
"You can ask anybody who has been around a little longer, they've seen things worse than this," Thibodeau said.
ODDS AND ENDS: Right wing Shane Willis, center Martin Cibak and defenseman Darren Rumble were scratched.
