7 Memorable Goalie Fights in NHL History

Although it's true that fighting is a hot topic for many, nothing brings people together more than seeing each team's goalie go after the other's.

Watching goalies sprint the length of the ice to go after their guardian counterpart makes everyone in the arena (or stadium!) lose their minds, fans and players alike, and it's such a rare occurrence that virtually any time it happens in the NHL, it is a moment that's never to be forgotten.

After watching Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and Boston Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman throw down during the Stadium Series game at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday night, we not only got it out of our minds watching it, but we also got it back into our memory banks, too.

We're looking back on some of the most memorable goalie fights we've seen over the years, so throw off your trappers and blockers and sprint down memory lane with us as we remember when goalies decided to steal the show by putting on the foil.

Andrei Vasilevskiy vs. Jeremy Swayman

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Let's just kick things off with the inspiration for everything. There's never been a goalie fight during an outdoor game, and given how many of them have occurred over the past 20 or so years, that's pretty remarkable.

But as things heated up in Tampa, Florida between the Bruins and Lightning, it was only fitting that the division rival goalies, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jeremy Swayman, would look to steal the scene. After all, goalies don't sit for their penalties, and they rarely get booted from games for doing so, so why not, right? What a scene they produced.

It was an incredible sight to see these two go for it and become part of legend while producing a scene that won't soon be forgotten. As far as scraps go, it wasn't an epic in length, but it was in every other way.

Sergei Bobrovsky vs. Alex Nedeljkovic

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If Vasilevskiy and Swayman had some inspiration for their fight on Sunday, perhaps stick taps are warranted for Florida Panthers and San Jose Sharks goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Alex Nedeljkovic for bringing goalie fights back to the forefront earlier this season.

The sight of Bobrovsky sprinting down the ice and the eagerness of Alex Nedeljkovic to engage with him was one thing, but it was something else entirely to watch players from both teams, who were just all going after each other and ready to brawl, stop to watch the goalies duke it out.

Nothing the officials could do could stop them from going after each other, but the sight of Nedeljkovic and Bobrovsky throwing down united them in awe of what was unfolding around them. It was virtually unanimous the glee their teammates took in watching them scrap, and, oddly enough, the game itself calmed down after that, which is kind of amusing how that worked out in the end.

Patrick Roy vs. Mike Vernon

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Patrick Roy

The Colorado Avalanche-Detroit Red Wings rivalry from the late-90s and early-00s is the kind of thing we'll almost never see happen again. Looking back on those games with the hate the players had in their hearts any time they faced each other, the ferocious competitive nature of every game, and how it seemed like destiny that they'd meet in the playoffs year in and year out, that combination of elements will never be matched again.

We'll spare you the history lesson and take you back to March 26, 1997, when the two teams met for the final time in the regular season.

In the Western Conference Final the previous year, the Red Wings were infuriated after Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux delivered a vicious hit from behind on Red Wings forward Kris Draper that left him brutally injured with broken bones in his face and numerous stitches. The Avalanche won the series and went on to win their first Stanley Cup, leaving the Wings seething about the loss and situation all summer.

But during that final regular season game the next season, a board battle between future Hall of Famers Igor Larionov and Peter Forsberg touched off a line brawl the likes of which we've never seen since and one of the highlights of it saw Hall of Fame goalies Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon go at it while chaos erupted all around them.

Ray Emery vs. Martin Biron

If ever there was a goalie who was always game for a scrap, it was Ray Emery. Throughout his career, he found a way to get in the middle of the action with the opposing goalie, and he had no one his equal.

Emery loved boxing, and while he was with the Philadelphia Flyers, he paid tribute to legendary boxers on his masks. He was one of a kind, and opposing goalies who decided to have a go with him found out he was the real deal.

The earliest moment in his career when we learned Emery liked to fight came in 2007, against the Buffalo Sabres with the Ottawa Senators. The Sabres were incensed after Chris Drury took a brutal hit from Chris Neil during the game and were out for payback. Neil wasn't penalized for the play and coach Lindy Ruff saw red. He sent out a line of tough guys against a Senators line made up of... not tough guys, and things got way out of hand after that.

While the melee broke out in a full line brawl. Emery made his way down ice and Sabres goalie Martin Biron, decidedly not a fighter, engaged with him. While that fight didn't last long, Emery got a real fight in with Sabres tough guy Andrew Peters immediately after it.

Ron Hextall vs. Felix Potvin

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Sometimes goalie fights are more like fun and games, worth a laugh, but sometimes they are not.

When the Flyers and Maple Leafs got into it in 1996, legendary Philly goalie Ron Hextall and Toronto's Felix Potvin got into it in the kind of tilt that would've stood the test of time with even the best enforcers of the day.

The two goalies traded punches like mad, and Hextall came away from the fight bloodied, with his jersey pulled off. Even though everyone else on the ice had been scrapping and pawing at each other in a tense situation, it all came to a screeching halt as the goalies threw down.

Hextall was never one to back down from anyone, goalie or otherwise, and seeing him duke it out with Potvin wasn't too big of a surprise, but seeing Potvin handle his business as well as he did against a notoriously tough customer like Hextall helped make Potvin beloved in Toronto.

Corey Schwab vs. Tommy Söderström

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Chances are, when you think of goalies fighting, you're not thinking of either Corey Schwab or Tommy Söderström, but you probably should.

Let's take you back to 1995 when the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders met, and things got hot. Players paired off, and with some of each team's tougher guys out there scrapping in the Isles end of the ice, Schwab made a beeline for Söderström and started whaling away.

What started with both guys hammering away at each other, with all their equipment still attached, turned into Söderström trying to stave off Schwab as Schwab's flurry never stopped. Söderström ended up with a cut and bleeding while Schwab stayed steamed at seeing his teammates getting in the middle of it all. Given that it was a rare night off for Martin Brodeur, Schwab made the most of it.

Garth Snow vs. Steve Shields

Somehow, it seems Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres goalies always found ways into fights, and when the two teams came together in 1997, when things got heated between them (as they were prone to do), it only makes sense that the goalies got into it.

Only it wasn't Ron Hextall and Dominik Hašek this time around; it was Garth Snow and Steve Shields laying it all out there.

No one could call a fight, especially a goalie fight, the way Buffalo's legendary play-by-play man, Rick Jeanneret, and you hear some of his best work with Snow and Shields going absolutely bonkers against each other. Shields didn't like seeing Snow taking jabs at his teammates from the other end of the ice while some of the toughest guys in the league (Rob Ray with Dan Kordic and Brad May with Chris Therien, for example) paired off in the Flyers' end.

Snow was never one to shy away from anything or anyone, and Shields was wired the same way. It was the perfect storm for seeing these two pair off and for providing scenes.