The Hits Keep Coming for Flyers, Caps as Series Heads Back to Philly

WASHINGTON — The series has gotten so physical that Game 5 started with a fight and it didn't stem from the first 10 seconds of the contest.

Brayden Schenn wasn't aware it was coming, that T.J. Oshie was going to ask for retribution that fast for a cross-check in Game 4 that Schenn had on Evgeny Kuznetsov.

"I didn’t expect it all but I respect Oshie for coming up to me and doing it the right way," Schenn said. "I said it (Friday) morning, I wasn’t a fan of the play I made last game either. I feel like I’m an honest player and I got challenged by one of their skill players. I felt it was an even matchup and you gotta respond and man up to the things the other team doesn’t like."

That came after Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sat out Game 4 for a boarding call in Game 3 that earned him a one-game suspension. Washington coach Barry Trotz said he sent two clips to the league — the Schenn cross-check and another from Wayne Simmonds earlier in the series — in hopes of the Flyers hearing about it.