Reusse: Wild vs. Flyers brings much hockey history to mind

A majority of Minnesota hockey followers of some seniority probably would name “Miracle on Ice” documentaries and video segments as their favorite inside looks at the activity.

The events that took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., in February 1980, with Herb Brooks’ underdog Yanks winning a gold medal, were certainly notable. Yet, it is my opinion that for bringing to life true hockey, this docuseries cannot be topped:

HBO’s four-part 24/7 titled “Road to the NHL Winter Classic” that started in December 2011 and concluded on Jan. 5, 2012. The combatants in this contest were the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, meeting outdoors in the Phillies’ ballpark.

The foul-mouthed ringmasters for this entertainment were Rangers coach John Tortorella and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette. Some of the locker room discussions when the coaches were feeling cranky made “Slapshot” out to be insight, not satire.

Twelve Decembers later, Tortorella, 66, is coaching his fifth NHL team and it’s the Flyers, and Laviolette is coaching his sixth NHL team and it’s the Rangers. Most big-league sports, this would seem strange — head coaches having switched teams.

In the NHL, it can be a Monday after a couple of teams have a bad weekend.

When checking the coaching movements of “Torts” and Peter, this was the highlight: Laviolette replaced the fired Paul Maurice as Carolina’s coach in the 2003-04 season, won a Stanley Cup with the ‘Canes in 2006, was fired early in the 2008-09 season and replaced by … yup, Paul Maurice.

There was also this: Tortorella was hired as Flyers coach by General Manager Chuck Fletcher before the 2022-23 season. Then, our old pal Chuck was fired in March 2023 for doing nothing at the trading deadline.

Miraculously by NHL standards, Tortorella has survived two nonplayoff seasons and was coaching Game 31 of 2024-25 for the Flyers on Saturday afternoon vs. the Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Any concern among the Wild faithful that the 7-1 abomination suffered at the sticks of Edmonton on Thursday predicted a skid was taken care of a few minutes into the first period, when Marc-Andre Fleury used his glove, acrobatically, instantly, to make a save as the Flyers’ Travis Konecny came in alone.

Way back in October, Fleury was making his first start of the season — a 5-4 shootout loss to Seattle. That night, Fleury’s glove looked as unreliable as that of Edouard Julien, another local athlete from Quebec.

Question that night: “Why did hockey boss Bill Guerin feel obliged to bring back Fleury? It has to be sentiment, period.”

Answer on Saturday: “Good ol’ Bill. What more would you want in a second goalie than The Flower!”

That early rescue kept things under control until Kirill Kaprizov decided to get ridiculous with his goal scoring. Six minutes left in the first and Kaprizov was 90 degrees from Samuel Ersson on the goalie’s left.

There was a 6-inch square to fit in an impossible-angle shot. What are you going to do?

If you’re Kaprizov, let loose a shot where the puck bounces off the side of Ersson’s facemask/helmet, ricochets inside the net and puts you at 19 goals for the season.

Kaprizov got to 20 in a bit easier fashion — an empty-netter to make it a 4-1 final. The result cooled off a Flyers team that was having a good stretch.

Postgame, perhaps in recognition of the longevity for both an opposing coach and Fleury, Tortorella was asked if he had an urge to offer a tip of the cap to The Flower’s early heroics.

“No, I’m not tipping a cap to anybody,” he said. And then added: “I’m not interested in talking about Minnesota players.”

Which meant he didn’t want to talk about the first-period “fight” between the Wild’s powerful left wing, Marcus Foligno, and Philly’s Garnet Hathaway.

When you think of the Flyers and fighting, the mind immediately goes to Fred Shero’s “Broad Street Bullies” of the ’70s. Those who weren’t around 50 years ago but love hockey lore — they watch tapes of the Bullies.

Those were riots. This wasn’t it. This was Foligno throwing one punch and Hathaway going down to one knee. This was midway in the first period and Foligno was seeking payback for a shot taken by Hathaway at the Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek in an early-season game at Philadelphia.

“He’s a tough player,” Foligno said. “I give him credit for saying, ‘Yes.’ ”

Meaning, do you understand I’m going to throw a punch here, and Hathaway squaring off, acting defensive with his hands, but then taking the punch.

Did you think the fight would last longer? “I was hoping it would,” Foligno said.

The Broad Street Bullies would be ashamed to have that one-puncher called a “fight,” Marcus.

Foligno, with a smile: “I’m glad I didn’t play in that era.”

As is Garnet Hathaway, and even more so.