“Both coaches were sticking up for their players and got into a little verbal battle over it,” Murray said. “It was an emotional time. We met in the playoffs before. Both teams were competitive. The way it was going, both knew we had a chance to win in those particular years. You tried to get every edge that you could.

“When the fights went on on the ice, the coaches had to have some conversation.”

The fans watching on television got to hear most of it. As the coaches angrily pointed fingers at each other, they unleashed a flurry of major-league expletives. In the middle stood Rob Ray, the Sabres’ rinkside commentator who had played for both teams.

“That was the very first night that my mike was live,” Ray said. “They were experimenting with me being between the benches, and up till that point it was me push a button, talk to the truck and say, ‘OK, we’ve got something to talk about,’ and they’d turn the mike on and you would do it.

“They decided because I was comfortable with both sides maybe we’d leave the mike on live and go with it. Fortunately they did because it kind of opened up the door to hear what was going on and what was being said.