Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love, but two Maple Leafs fans certainly weren’t feeling any of that on Tuesday night.
In fact, it was more like the City of Brotherly Shove.
In a video posted to social media from Tuesday night’s game, three fans – two men and one woman — wearing Toronto Maple Leafs gear appeared to be waving to some friends while standing in front of the glass during a break in play.
One Flyers fan apparently had seen enough, perhaps thinking the members of Leafs Nation were taunting the home team with their exaggerated waves.
Channeling some Broad Street Bullies’ energy, the Flyers fan hops over several rows of seats to confront the visiting fans.
After pointing at the two men – who both were sporting blue Auston Matthews jerseys – and gesturing wildly, the Flyers fan attacked them.
The man, who was wearing a black T-shirt, a black Philadelphia Eagles hat and glasses, landed several punches to the heads of both men as their female friend eventually tried to break things up.
After one of the Leafs fans appeared to get rocked by a blow to the head, stumbling backwards, the man in black stopped his assault and began walking back up the stairs.
In the clip, which has been viewed more than 375,000 times on X since being posted on Wednesday morning, it’s not apparent if there was anything further that caused the escalation in the incident and Wells Fargo Center security is nowhere to be seen.
Most Philadelphia fans were quick to distance themselves from the fan in question.
“Things like this make me embarrassed to be a fan of the Eagles… it’s all in good fun, it’s sports. No need to bring violence into it. It’s not that serious,” one user replied on X.
“Na that guy’s a clown. Ban him from the arena,” another wrote.
“Don’t promote this… this is a terrible look for Philly,” a third replied.
The Flyers fan did have reason to be upset — at his team.
Philadelphia was coming off an overtime loss against the Leafs in Toronto on Sunday night and currently sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division.
While it’s unclear at what point of the game the brawl in the stands occurred, the Flyers ended up blowing two leads against the Leafs on Tuesday night before falling 3-2.
The two teams have a history when it comes to violence involving fans.
During a game in 2001, Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi — father of current Leafs forward Max Domi — had to deal with a fan that got a little too close for comfort.
While serving a penalty, Tie was being jeered by some of the Philly faithful when he sprayed a fan with his water bottle.
A fan then lunged to reach over the glass to get to Domi before the barrier gave way. The fan tumbled into the penalty box and tangled with Domi.
The fan required stitches after the fracas and Domi eventually was fined $1,000 for the incident.