TORONTO -- Less than a week after he was awarded an "A" as alternate captain, Flyers center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was involved in a fight.
Bellemare fought the Sabres Nicolas Deslauriers just minutes into Tuesday's 6-3 Flyers win in Buffalo.
It was a terrible mismatch – Bellemare is not a fighter. He's from Paris and everyone knows Parisians are lovers, not fighters.
Yet Bellemare said it was something he felt obliged to do.
"It was early in the game and we knew how important those points were," Bellemare said on Wednesday after practice at Air Canada Centre. "He asked me. I thought it was perfect timing to make sure we were all in the game."
Recall the Sabres came into play having lost five of their last six and were just two points behind the Flyers in the wild card standings.
"I knew as soon as I dropped [gloves] he was a little bigger and stronger and I was going to have to handle myself so nothing would happen to me," Bellemare recalled. "I had to find a way to pump the guys up. I think it worked."
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Matt Read scored two minutes after the fight to give the Flyers an early 1-0 lead.
Bellemare denied he felt compelled to do this just because he now wears the letter that belonged to Mark Streit when he was here.
"I haven't changed the way I play since they rewarded me with the letter," Bellemare said. "Every game is the most important game of the season. I really thought that doing that was going to help the team and make sure everybody was in the boat together."
Flyers coach Dave Hakstol lauded Bellemare after the game for fighting. This was Bellemare's second fight of the season and fifth overall in the league during his three-year career.