PHILADELPHIA – A hostile crowd is the accepted burden of a pro athlete. Having to play under attack from a flaming missile tossed out of the stands is not part of the contract.
This one – possibly a road flare of the kind used during highway emergencies – flew toward the ice, flaming and smoking, landing next to the bench where the Devils were trying to coax victory out of overtime last night.
The missile erupted in acrid smoke that chased coach Brent Sutter and his staff into the runway and left the visitors looking to see if another was headed their way.
When the smoke cleared and play resumed, it took only 30 seconds for Philly’s Jeff Carter to score a remarkable OT winner to give the Flyers a 3-2 triumph, their second victory over New Jersey in as many days.
The Devils wouldn’t blame defeat on the flare, but it didn’t help them.
“Your eyes started itching,” goalie Martin Brodeur said. “It’s easy to say now [that it affected the outcome]. It’s unfortunate that on the next shift, [Carter scored].
“Definitely, [it affects] your focus. I just made a big save [on Simon Gagne]. It takes your head off it for a little while.”
The perpetrator “fled the building without being apprehended,” according to the Flyers, who had asked via the PA announcer for fans to finger the culprit.
“It reminded me a little bit of soccer games, like in Italy,” said the Devils’ Patrik Elias. “Maybe they should do the same thing they do there [offending teams play in empty stadiums]. This was a little too much. It doesn’t belong in the game. Someone could get hurt.”
Added Sheldon Brookbank: “There was a flame on it. It was a good way to ruin the flow of a good hockey game.”
And Brodeur: “That could have hurt a lot of people. It puts stuff in perspective. For the fans, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
“I’ve had stuff thrown on the ice – batteries, pocketknives, a big bottle of liquor. This looked like a flare.”
The incident overshadowed an old-time game, punctuated by four fights. Mike Knuble’s first-period goal for Philly was answered by Zach Parise’s tip-down in the second. Scott Hartnell put the Flyers back in front before Brian Gionta scored his first this season to close the second period.
After the scoreless third, Brodeur delayed the Flyer celebration by gloving Gagne’s bid off the crossbar. That’s when the flare landed on the ice. A Flyer picked it up, skated past the Devils bench toward his Flyers, then was instructed to go back past the Devils bench toward the Zamboni gate – a double dose for the Devils.
“It was like gas,” Sutter said. “It was awful. Our eyes were just burning.”
Perhaps the flare had nothing to do with Carter’s winner, a deflection while he and his stick were on the ice. But wondering when the next was coming is something no visitor should have to deal with.
Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner sat out with a suspected charley horse, suffered in the second period of the Flyers’ 6-3 triumph in Newark Friday.