The Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy and the Detroit Red Wings' Chris Osgood were supposed to be preventing goals on April 1, 1998. Instead, the two goaltenders found themselves exchanging punches near center ice at Joe Louis Arena.
It was another remarkable chapter in a rivalry that had already produced some of the most memorable confrontations in NHL history.
The animosity between the teams had been building for several seasons, particularly following Claude Lemieux's controversial hit on Kris Draper during the 1996 Western Conference Final. The Red Wings responded during a March 26, 1997, meeting that became known as the Fight Night at the Joe. That evening featured a massive brawl, including a fight between Red Wings goaltender Mike Vernon and the Avalanche's Roy.
The Fight
Just over a year later, Roy found himself facing another Red Wings netminder. The April 1998 contest was scoreless through two periods before Sergei Fedorov gave the Red Wings a 1-0 advantage at 7:06 of the third. Fedorov would strike again a little more than four minutes later, extending the Red Wings' lead to two goals.
Less than two minutes later, the hostility between the teams erupted into absolute chaos. At the 12:49 mark, several players became involved in an altercation near the Colorado net. Roy left his crease and joined the confrontation, while Osgood skated down the ice from the opposite end. Both discarded their gloves and began throwing punches, providing the Joe Louis Arena crowd with another unforgettable moment.
Roy landed several blows, but Osgood eventually wrestled the Avalanche goaltender to the ice near the Red Wings bench. Officials struggled to separate the two as players and coaches watched from nearby. For Osgood, it was a considerably different experience from his usual responsibilities between the pipes. For Roy, it marked his second straight fight against the Red Wings goaltender in a little more than a year. The penalties were substantial.
Roy received 27 minutes stemming from the third-period confrontation, including a fighting major, a misconduct, a game misconduct and two minutes for leaving his crease. Osgood received 17 minutes, a fighting major, a game misconduct and a leaving the crease penalty. Both goaltenders were finished for the evening.
The game itself featured 218 combined penalty minutes, with the Avalanche accumulating 116 and the Red Wings receiving 102. The Red Wings won 2-0 and got a combined 14 saves from Osgood and replacement Kevin Hodson. Roy stopped 22 of 24 shots before Craig Billington replaced him. Nearly three decades later, the Roy-Osgood confrontation occupies a special place in the history of one of hockey's fiercest rivalries.
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