VIDEO: Remembering the most penalty-filled game in NHL history

Through 40 minutes of the March 5, 2004 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators, the penalty ledger looked rather ordinary: 

The third period, on the other hand ... 

The final stanza saw the Flyers and Senators engage in the wildest game in NHL history, combining for a league-record 419 penalty minutes in a series of melees that resulted in 16 player ejections. Oh, and Philadelphia won 5-3.

So what kicked off the mother of all brouhahas? An errant high stick from a week earlier, delivered by Ottawa's Martin Havlat to Philadelphia's Mark Recchi. The Flyers sought retribution in the rematch – and were satiated in a way that resulted in one of the most bizarre 32-second stretches of game clock in professional sports:

• Philadelphia's Donald Brashear, he of the 2,634 career penalty minutes, kicked off the fracas by tussling with – and subsequently pummeling –Ottawa's Rob Ray. As their fight wound down, the remaining players on the ice squared off with one another, including goaltenders Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime.

• Ottawa countered three seconds later with one of the most lopsided tag-team bouts in history – Chris Neil and Zdeno Chara taking on Radovan Somik and Mattias Timander, each of whom was taking part in his only NHL fight. Somik ate a couple of well-placed rights from Neil, while Timander was fortunate to retain full use of his organs despite taking on the largest man in NHL history.

• Just three seconds after that, Philadelphia's Michal Handzus and Ottawa's Mike Fisher dropped the gloves in a spirited bout that ended with Fisher throwing a beautiful hip toss reminiscent of the legendary Ric Flair. 

• Just when it appeared things had finally calmed down, two more fights broke out. Recchi tangled with Ottawa's Bryan Smolinski in a bout that saw Recchi unleash nearly a dozen futile right hands, and John LeClair – who had finished in the top-12 in Lady Byng voting twice earlier in his career – earned a major for a skirmish with Ottawa's Wade Redden.

• Done yet? Nope! Two seconds after that, a pair of young skill players wrapped up the festivities as Ottawa's Jason Spezza squared off with Philadelphia's Patrick Sharp. Both players landed shots, but Sharp was awarded the bout by HockeyFights.com for connecting with a right that may have struck Spezza flush.

Despite taking part in one of the most violent hockey games in history, the teams were alarmingly calm in their next meeting – combining for just six penalties, all minors, in a 3-1 Ottawa victory April 2.