Good Friday Massacre

Game play

After a number of fights, a bench-clearing brawl broke out near the end of the second period. When the teams returned to ice for the extended third period, as they were warming up, a second brawl broke out between the teams, including players who had already been ejected from the game but had not been notified prior to their return to the ice. The officials had to be summoned to the rink to restore order.

Bruce Hood, the referee, was late in announcing the penalties as the third period began, and the players reassembled on the ice. As a consequence, a second brawl erupted and lasted until the players left once more. Hood was roundly criticized for his handling of the fight and eventually retired after the playoffs that year, doing so amidst speculation that his retirement occurred at the behest of NHL officials.

A total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 11 players were ejected. Amongst the fourteen altercations at the end of the second period were the Canadiens' Mario Tremblay smashing the nose of the Nordiques' Peter Stastny, and Louis Sleigher knocking Jean Hamel unconscious by hitting him in the eye. Hamel managed to return for training camp in the autumn of 1984, but sustained another eye injury in Montreal's last pre-season game, prompting him to retire. The second brawl included a fight between brothers Dale Hunter and Mark Hunter.

Aftermath

When the brawl took place, the Canadiens were trailing 1-0. They came back to score all five of their goals in the third period to defeat the Nordiques that night 5-3, thereby winning the series 4 games to 2. However, the Canadiens were defeated in the Prince of Wales Conference Finals by the New York Islanders in six games.

Broadcast

It was broadcast on CBC Television and Télévision de Radio-Canada in Canada, and on the USA Network in the United States.