The game was out of hand, so Lightning players used their fists. Trailing 6-0 early in the third, Tampa Bay mixed it up to show it would not back down, from a fight or from the series.
"We have to set the tone, too," Lightning forward Tim Taylor said. "We have to make sure whatever they do to us is not going to bother us. I think we had to send a statement and say, "Hey, we're here to play. You beat us this game, but we'll be back and ready to fight next game."'
The teams combined for 25 penalties for 118 minutes in the third, with most of the infractions resulting from two scrums. Six 10-minute misconducts, four fighting majors, nine roughing minors and four other minors were issued.
Tampa Bay's Andre Roy received a game misconduct for being the third man in a fight, sent to the dressing room at 7:30.
The most flagrant episode came at 11:07, when Taylor and Flyers tough guy Donald Brashear collided in open ice. It appeared Brashear was aiming for Taylor's head, though Taylor said the awkward contact was the result of an evasive move by Brashear.
"It was just a situation in the game where I was lining him up, trying to get a good hit on him," Taylor said. "I just missed him, and he jumped over top of me."
No call was made until Taylor responded by slashing Brashear, who then checked defenseman Cory Sarich hard into the boards. That's when Lightning tough guy Chris Dingman got into the action, taking on Brashear.
"You've got to stick up for your teammates," said Dingman, who drew misconduct, fighting and instigating penalties. "But we need to battle from the start of the game, not the end. We've got to be ready."
The Lightning's 72 penalty minutes were a record for a home game, breaking the mark of 46 against Washington on April 12, 2003. The Flyers' 58 minutes were the most against a visiting team, nearly doubling the high of 30 shared by two teams.
Goalie fine after scary moment
Flyers goaltender Robert Esche said he was alarmed but otherwise unharmed after teammate Vladimir Malakhov slashed him on the right side of his neck under his mask with 9:07 left in the second period.
Malakhov was riding the Lightning's Martin St. Louis through the crease when his stick got high, prompting Esche to chuck off his gloves and clutch his throat in panic.
"I was fine," he said. "It got me pretty good in the beard. Just something like that, as a goalie, you always think of stuff like that, what happens."
Immediate dividends
Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock's decision to move left wing Sami Kapanen to defense and scratch defenseman Joni Pitkanen paid immediate dividends. Kapanen's short-handed goal 11:17 in gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead less than three minutes after he registered the second assist on Mark Recchi's power-play score.
Radovan Somik, who took Pitkanen's place in the lineup, had an assist on John LeClair's first-period goal.
Replays anger Flyers coach
Hitchcock was less than pleased with repeated replays on the large-screen monitors of the collision between Brashear and Taylor. The Flyers said fans threw peanuts and french fries at their bench.
"I don't care if it's Tampa Bay or Philadelphia. You can't incite the fans like that," Hitchcock said. "It's a very dangerous situation, and it should not happen.
"The replays are there to replay. They are not replayed to question referees' calls or incite people. And it's ridiculous, and it should not happen."
Lightning officials had no comment.
Less than powerful play
Even with St. Louis' goal, Tampa Bay has converted just six of its past 48 power-play opportunities and four of its past 32. It is not a recent trend. The Lightning converted just four of its final 41 opportunities (9.8 percent) during the regular season.
Odds and ends
Lightning goaltender John Grahame, in his first game since April 1, when he beat the Panthers 4-3, stopped 15 of 17 shots. ... Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk played his 150th playoff game. ... Left wing Fredrik Modin's 13 points on five goals and eight assists are tied with Calgary's Jarome Iginla for the playoff lead. ... Yankees owner and Tampa resident George Steinbrenner purchased 350 tickets for Game 2 and distributed them to men and women stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. ... The attendance of 21,314 was the second-largest in arena history, 111 fewer than Game 1.
