from Sam Carchidi of Broad Street Bull,

Several Flyers said their brawl in a blowout loss against Washington on Friday has unified the team and served as a much-needed spark and rallying cry.

The Flyers received lots of negative national coverage for the four simultaneously fights _ one in which Ray Emery pummeled the fellow goalie Braden Holtby, who didn’t want to participate. The fights occurred eight seconds after visiting Washington took a 7-0 third-period lead.

Left winger Scott Hartnell said the team “fed off” the brawl and it carried into Saturday’s 1-0 win in New Jersey, a game in which the Flyers (4-9) allowed just 14 shots and had no turnovers.

“Obviously, fighting is part of the game. It’s been a while since you see three or four fights in one stoppage and a goalie going down and attacking another team’s goalie,” Hartnell said after Monday’s practice in Voorhees. “People are all over Razor (Emery) for doing that. But look what he did. He played solid for us and got us a shutout. We were excited. Even though the crowd booed us the whole game, it felt like a win after that little scrum. We love it, fans love it here in Philly. It’s part of our heritage. We definitely fed off it. We gotta keep doing it. We can’t win one and lose two every time. It’s got to continue.”

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