Fan fight erupts at Flyers-Rangers playoff game

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Action News has obtained cell phone video of a brawl that erupted among fans at Tuesday night's playoff game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.

More than a half dozen people were involved in the brawl in section 209 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Witnesses say the fight had been building for much of the game. Then with about six minutes left and the Flyers throttling the Rangers, tempers erupted.

Dan Hershberg witnessed the chaos, telling us, "One of the guys, I don't want to call him a ringleader - one of the most vocal - stood up and flipped the bird to basically everyone in a two section radius."

Hershberg says Flyers fans were heckling the Rangers fans for much of the game, but the season ticket holder says it was like any other game, and the heckling didn't cross the line.

He and arena officials say after the second period security approached the Rangers fans and told them to calm down.

"They gave them pretty fair warning in the second period that, 'guys this is not in your best interest to be poking the bee. You should either calm down or get out,'" Hershberg explained.

Ike Richman of Comcast-Spectacor reminds fans to, "Let the games be played by the teams on the ice - not the fans in the stands. Support your team, root for your team, but if things don't go your way, let the team on the ice handle it.

Rangers/Flyers is always a heated rivalry. After the Winter Classic in 2012 a Rangers fan was attacked outside Geno's Steaks. Philadelphia fans, fair or not, have a reputation nationally of being obnoxious and out of control... and last night's brawl won't help.

"Flyers fans are complicit in this but I'm pretty confident that this wouldn't have happened had the Rangers fan minded their business," said Hershberg.

Action News spoke to one of the Rangers fans by phone Wednesday and he claims he and his friends did nothing wrong, but he refused to go on camera.

No one was seriously hurt and no one was arrested.