Flyers-Pens rivalry still simmering
PHILADELPHIA » In a way, it’s even more of a rivalry than it once was, even if the disparity between the Pittsburgh Penguins and their two Stanley Cups in the last two seasons and a Flyers team that has missed the playoffs for three of the past five seasons has seemed a bit cavernous lately.
The Flyers, 0-1-1 against the Penguins earlier in the season, were trying to change that losing trend to their favorite state rivals Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center. They also hope to reverse a trend of another sort...
It’s been nearly six years since the Flyers won in the postseason, a rather memorable six-game physical implosion of a first-round series in 2012 that matched Penguin skill against Flyers grit. While the Flyers wouldn’t go beyond the next round that spring, that victorious Penguins series captured the imagination of hockey fans in both cities and beyond, partly due to then-Flyers coach Peter Laviolette’s targeted declaration that Claude Giroux might be the best player in the world rather than the other team’s No. 87.
With Sidney Crosby proving his greatness in the years since no matter what head games Lavy played, that series sparked a rivalry renewal that ranked right up there at the top among the league’s most hotly contested meetings. Odd thing was, it was the Flyers that seemed to hold the Penguins in their spell for a while.
During the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, the Flyers won eight of nine meetings with the Penguins. But after Mike Sullivan took over as head coach during the 2015-16 season, and with a new commitment to checking from re-stocked depth forwards, the Penguins turned the tide. They were Cup winners the last two seasons while going 5-3 against the Flyers in the often entertaining but sometimes Penguin-dominated season meetings, which included one outdoor game in Pittsburgh last season.
Yet Crosby said Wednesday that his team still approached these games treading lightly.
“I still feel like, even in years with different situations, both teams are still at their best (in these games),” Crosby said before the game. “There’s always something extra in these games. But with what’s on the line tonight and important points in the division ... I think it’s to be expected that (the intensity) will pick up a little bit more.
“You’re kind of into that last stretch where teams are playing playoff hockey. That’s the way it’s being officiated, so I think we have to be aware of that.”
Yet the Flyers entered their game against the Penguins still playing catchup in this rivalry, and not only because they were a point behind the Penguins in the Metro standings. The Pens won 5-4 in overtime in Pittsburgh Nov. 27, and pasted a 5-1 loss on the Flyers Jan. 2.
It was after that game that coach Dave Hakstol perhaps pointed out in the locker room how the gap between the teams had widened.
“I’ll be blunt and honest,” Hakstol said Tuesday, “the game here in January, we were too easy to play against.”
So it probably wasn’t a coincidence how the Flyers reacted to that onesided loss: They won eight of their next nine games, igniting a post-holidays resurrection which has taken them from the cellar regions of the Metropolitan Divison to a fairly solid playoff standing with a month of stretch-drive hockey remaining.
And they have their closest rivals to thank for it?
“The situation being what it is, how important the points are and us being right next to each other in the standings, there’s a lot to play for,” Crosby said. “We’ll be ready.”
*** Steadily improving rookie center Nolan Patrick played a part in getting the Flyers even on a brilliant goal early in the second period Wednesday night. Patrick stripped Pittsburgh’s Derick Brassard right in front of the Penguin net. The puck went to the sideboards where Jake Voracek found it and rifled a return pass that Patrick nearly tipped home. It went off a Penguin stick but still went in for a goal.
But it’s that ability to find speeding pucks that made Patrick such a valuable resource in recent weeks while Wayne Simmonds was missing seven games with an upper body injury. Simmonds returned for this Penguins game, but Patrick had served as the man in front of the opposing net during power plays in his absence.
“You’ve got to give credit to Nolan,” Voracek said. “He did a tremendous job. He had a couple of rebound goals and some goals when he was in a good spot then. He did really well. But (Simmonds) obviously has been in that spot for the last several years. We’ve been running the same unit for the last several years. We’re used to each other.”
*** NOTES » Andrew MacDonald returned to the lineup after a one-game injury absence. He assisted on a second-period Travis Konecny goal . ... New defenseman Johnny Oduya skated in the morning but was a scratch from the game. He went out hurt early Sunday in South Florida . ... Sid Crosby had three assists by the end of the second period. He hit the 1,100-career point mark along the way.