The one thing that truly separates the NHL from other major sports leagues is the frequent amount of fighting that occurs during games. In other sports, the referees or umpires will rush to break up any physical altercation the second things escalate, but in hockey, they allow the players to duke it out and even encourage them to resolve their issue right there on the ice.
While rare, goalie fights are arguably the most entertaining events to watch in all of sports. Watching the most tame, unproblematic and protected guys on a hockey team getting mad enough to skate 200 feet across the entire rink to beat the snot out of each other is always so electric and hilarious. With all of their padding, it’s like watching sumo wrestling on ice.
In recent years, the referees have stopped goalie fighting altogether, as there are always two of them to keep them on their side of the ice whenever they try. Since Los Angeles Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper and Boston Bruins' Jeremy Swayman were denied from going at it two weeks ago. It seems that we have seen the last NHL fight between our favorite masked men.
Here are some of the most memorable goalie fights in NHL history:
TOP 10 Greatest Goalie Fights Of All Time (HD) VINTAGE ERA
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Top 10 NHL Goalie Fights
No. 10: Corey Schwab vs. Tommy Soderstrom
In a game between the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, Devils’ forward Bill Guerin laid a huge hit on Islanders’ defenseman Rich Pilon behind the Islanders’ net and Pilon tripped him to the ice. After the refs are unable to hold Guerin back from the brawl, Islanders’ goalie Tommy Soderstrom skates over and grabs Guerin from behind, much to the displeasure of Devils’ goalie Corey Schwab, who rushes over to Soderstrom. He takes off his trapper and blocker and proceeds to throw punch after punch, nonstop at the maskless Soderstrom, who tries to block them with his glove without getting a single punch in.
No. 9: Mike Smith vs. Cam Talbot
The most likely last goalie fight in NHL history was one of chaos and truly embraced one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Calgary Flames’ goalie Cam Talbot laid back on the puck to freeze it, and Edmonton Oilers’ forward Sam Gagner dove toward the net and put his stick under Talbot to poke at the puck after the whistle. What ensued turned the Battle of Alberta from a slogan to a real-life historical event. Talbot quickly gets to his knees and punches Gagner twice with his blocker before getting to his feet and pushing another Edmonton player into the boards. This leads to a line brawl, including two separate fights among the skaters. Witnessing all of this is Oilers’ goalie Mike Smith, who patiently waits for Talbot to come fight him at center ice. Talbot sees this and skates over, where the two proceed to duke it out. They grab each other’s jerseys and Smith throws five punches to Talbot’s head, landing three in a row while Talbot throws a couple of body shots before Smith gets him down and punches him again to end the fight.
No. 8: Rick DiPietro vs. Brent Johnson
Losing 3-0 late in the third, Islanders’ goalie Rick DiPietro laid a dirty hit on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke, sending him into the boards and chaos soon erupted. While the Islanders and Penguins went after each other in the corner, Penguins’ goalie Brent Johnson decided to take matters into his own hands and stick up for his teammate by fighting DiPietro himself. The aftermath was ugly for DiPietro as that punch was strong enough to fracture his face and even worse, give him another concussion, something he had been struggling with his whole career. This fight was extremely short and didn't even last 10 seconds, but that’s the exact reason it’s on this list.
No. 7: Ray Emery vs. Braden Holtby
With the Philadelphia Flyers taking a 7-0 beating courtesy of the Washington Capitals in the third period, goalie Ray Emery decided to do some beating of his own. This one would definitely be in the top five if it had more than one willing participant, but even then, it was still entertaining enough to earn the number seven spot. After Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds and Capitals’ Tom Wilson dropped the gloves, Emery saw his chance to take out his own frustrations by skating the length of the ice to scrap with Capitals’ goalie Braden Holtby. Holtby, who clearly had no interest in fighting and was then forcefully grabbed and pulled to the ice by the Flyers’ netminder, who escaped the clutches of the linesman. Emery swung Holtby around like a rag doll into the boards, violently punched him in the back of the head many times and slammed him to the ice before he got a real chance to fight back, which started a chaotic line brawl between the two teams. Emery received an instigator and a leaving the crease penalty on top of a game misconduct, but honestly, when being thrashed on the scoreboard like that, it’s hard to even care.
No. 6: Garth Snow vs. Steve Shields
As a line brawl ensued between the Flyers and Buffalo Sabres, Flyers’ goalie Garth Snow got in the face of Sabres’ forward Rob Ray. After Ray did a WWE-esque takedown of the Flyer he was fighting, Snow and Shields decided they were going at it whether the linesman liked it or not. Snow went after Shields, and neither one batted an eye to the ref in between them as Snow ripped Shields’s mask off and they started throwing punches over the linesman’s head. The linesman then let them go and Shields violently punched Snow multiple times before getting him over to the Buffalo bench and pulling his jersey off. Once Shields had officially won, two referees tried to separate them which took 11 seconds to do, as Shields was not satisfied. Although a shorter fight, the free-for-all feel, the hilarity of the linesman fighting for his life in between these two behemoths and a legendary call by Rick Jeanneret make number six the perfect spot for it on this list. This brawl was chaotic to its core.
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No. 5: Ron Hextall vs. Felix Potvin
What do you get when you unnecessarily take a slapshot from the other end of the ice as time winds down against the 1996 Philadelphia Flyers? You get the most violent goalie in NHL history extremely pissed off. Although a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame, Ron Hextall was known for being a dirty netminder, always looking to pick a fight with skaters and other goalies. Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Felix Potvin, on the other hand, was not at all known for fighting and was more known for being a very quiet and reserved goaltender who simply got the job done. So when the taller, bigger, and more aggressive Hextall came sprinting across the arena to go after Potvin, everyone watching thought Potvin was about to be beaten to a pulp. Potvin was ready for him as soon as Hextall left his crease, matching him punch for punch and ripping off both Hextall’s mask and jersey. He managed to hold his ground for 50 seconds against the most aggressive goalie of all time until both of them got tired from all their equipment and stopped.
No. 4: Dan Cloutier vs. Tommy Salo
On April 4, 1998, Dan Cloutier decided to do what no goalie had or has ever done since: attempt to fight the entire opposing team. After New York Rangers’ forwards P.J. Stock and Darren Langdon went after Islanders’ defenseman Zdeno Chara, a massive line brawl ensued. Seeing that this was a fight Czerkawski could not win, Islanders’ goalie Tommy Salo decided to try and tag team Stock. Unbeknownst to him, Rangers’ goalie Dan Cloutier was feeling psychotic that day and was already on his way over with one target in mind. He violently grabbed Salo and tried to pull him to the ice. After getting his jersey pulled off, Cloutier got Salo down on the ice and beat the living daylights out of him, looking like Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi if he had used his fist instead of a lightsaber. After a while, he finally skated away, but he wasn’t satisfied. Since he lost his jersey in a fight, meaning he was already kicked out of the game, Cloutier decided to go over to the Islanders' bench to challenge the whole team to a scrap. After this, one referee had seen enough and backed Cloutier up to prevent any physical altercation, although he and the Islanders had a lengthy minute-and-six-second verbal argument before Cloutier finally skated to his own bench.
No. 3: Mike Vernon vs. Patrick Roy
One of the greatest goalies in NHL history loved himself a good fight, especially against the rival Detroit Red Wings. While the camera focuses on Red Wings’ enforcer Darren McCarty punching Colorado Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux, Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy and another Red Wings player jump into frame and knock each other to the ice. Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon skates over and attempts to pull Roy out of the bottom of the pile of players on top of him in order to fight. A jerseyless Roy gets up, catches his breath and starts going at it with Vernon after he spins an Avalanche player to the ice. In a very evenly matched fight, it was Vernon who eventually got the victory as he took Roy down to the ice.
No. 2: Ray Emery vs. Martin Biron
Before he became a Flyer and gave Holtby the beating of a lifetime, Ray Emery was an Ottawa Senator and showed the world what an absolute psycho he was. After a pile of players trying to fight each other was created at center ice, Sabres goalie Martin Biron decided he was going to go over and scrap with Emery who was known to get in a few fights in the minors. Emery drops his blocker and his glove, then Biron takes off his mask to reveal a huge grin on his face like a true supervillain. Before Biron could even get one punch in, Emery violently strikes him five times before pinning him to the ice. As Biron grabs Emery’s right pad to trip him and get free, Sabres’ enforcer Andrew Peters decides he can take Emery to avenge his goaltender. The only fight more rare than a goalie fight is a goalie fighting a skater and that’s exactly what happened next. Peters skated over and grabbed Emery’s collar. The fact that Emery was visibly having the time of his life during every second of it makes me laugh every time I watch it and made this well deserving of the No. 2 spot. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing while out on the ice and he loved every second of it.
No. 1: Patrick Roy vs. Chris Osgood
One year after Patrick Roy lost to Mike Vernon, his Avalanche were playing the Red Wings again and their new starting goalie, Chris Osgood. As another line brawl ensued between these two teams, Roy saw his chance to get his revenge and wanted to go after Osgood as the ref held him back. In a near-minute-long scrap, Roy and Osgood traded violent punches, with Roy pulling Osgood’s jersey off and throwing long, charged right hooks to his head. What made this fight extra special was the atmosphere, as both netminders gained the upper hand at various points in the fight inside an extremely amped up Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Everything about this fight was perfect. The lead-up where Roy visibly threatened Osgood, the two each rebounding from almost losing their balance, and the Detroit crowd being unmatched in any goalie fight that has ever taken place. It is safe to say that this is the greatest goalie fight of all time.
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Additional Notable Goalie Fights
- Carey Price vs. Tim Thomas
- Brent Johnson vs. Rick DiPietro
- Rick DiPietro vs. Al Montoya
- Ray Emery vs. Martin Biron
- David Aebischer vs. Philippe Sauve
- Tomas Vokoun vs. Miikka Kiprusoff
- Patrick Lalime vs. Robert Esche
- Ty Conklin vs. Pasi Nurminen
- Patrick Roy vs. Dominik Hasek
- Patrick Lalime vs. Byron Dafoe
- Jani Hurme vs. Felix Potvin
- Dan Cloutier vs. Steve Passmore
- Olaf Kolzig vs. Byron Dafoe
- Dan Cloutier vs. Tommy Salo
- Steve Shields vs. Garth Snow
- Felix Potvin vs. Ron Hextall
- Tommy Soderstrom vs. Cory Schwab
The Decline of Goalie Fights
Two decades since Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime went at it as part of the Philadelphia Flyers-Ottawa Senators brawl that set the NHL record for penalty minutes, goalie fighting has essentially disappeared from the league. There has not been one since before the pandemic, and only three have taken place over the past 10 years.
“I think goalies have gotten smarter and they’re like, no, there’s no reason to get in a fight,” Biron said.
Biron and Emery in 2007 is one of just seven goalie vs. goalie fights since the 2004-05 lockout and 43 overall dating to 1954, according to HockeyFights.com (there are 141 other times where at least one goalie was involved in a tussle).
“There had to be at least 80 fights a year, so the opportunity was at least once a night for something to break out to extend beyond two guys fighting,” said retired goaltender Glen Hanlon, who got into five scraps in the NHL, including two against another goalie. “Back then, watching the two turtles race to center ice to have a fight didn’t seem that crazy and it was a lot of excitement. Not anymore.
The most recent NHL goalie fight was between Edmonton’s Mike Smith and Calgary’s Cam Talbot on Feb.
A couple of Stanley Cup winning-goalies, Jordan Binnington and Marc-Andre Fleury, tried to throw down during a game between St.
“If you’re going for it, you’re going for it,” said Binnington, who lost $65,000 in salary as a result.
“Last year was close. And I feel like the linesmen have been told to really not let it happen, which is understandable. It is an automatic ejection to cross the center red line for a fight along with the potential for fines and suspensions.
“What?” Emery replied.
“There’s so much parity in the sport right now that every game matters so much,” Esche said.
Esche, now president of the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets, thinks there are plenty of goalies who would want to fight, if the opportunity existed.
In his younger days, Darcy Kuemper would watch those videos before games to get pumped up.
“They’re very memorable when you see goalies go at it,” Lindgren said.
“Even going back to juniors, my junior partner got into a fight with our rival team. That was a full-out line brawl, and obviously sitting and watching that close was really cool. Certainly something I’ll never forget. Parents? Not so much.
“I’m like: ‘Please don’t,’” Biron said.
“You’re going to get either hurt by taking a punch or hurt by giving out a punch. And he laughs. But I’m like: ‘Do as I say, not what I did.
“The fierce competitor and the teammate and the person that’s like that in me would be like, ‘Look out, I’m coming in again,’” Biron said.
Binnington, the Blues goalie, said he doesn’t think goalie fighting will ever become extinct.
“Goalies get intense, too,” he said.