Malkin’s play a puzzle
Penguins miniseries vs. Flyers? What fun!
There is plenty to dislike about the 2021 NHL season, nearly all of it because of COVID-19. That it took until March to get approval for 2,800 fans to attend Penguins games at PPG Paints Arena is at the top of the list.
But there also is at least one thing to like about the pandemic-shortened season. That the Penguins will play each of their seven East Division rivals eight times is wonderful and makes for incredible hockey. That they will play the Philadelphia Flyers in three consecutive home games this week almost seems too good to be true.
The 2,800 fans lucky enough to get inside the Uptown palace for the three games, with the first game Tuesday night, should be in for great fun.
Penguins-Flyers would be must-see hockey this season even if there wasn’t a history between the teams. They are two of the five teams fighting for four playoff spots. The Flyers had their way with the Penguins earlier this season, winning 6-3 and 5-2 in the first two games in Philadelphia. They hold a two-point edge over the Penguins for the final postseason slot with two games in hand.
But you might have heard there is history between the clubs — a real, nasty, often hatefilled history. It’s not just
between the players and coaches. It’s between the fans of the teams.
All of it has made for some of the best, most amazing, most violent and even occasionally humorous memories in NHL history.
Let’s relive some of it, shall we?
• The Penguins went 0-393 against the Flyers at the Spectrum in Philadelphia from Feb. 7, 1974, to Feb. 2, 1989. You are a real historian of the teams if you know Bobby Clarke and Terry Crisp scored late goals for the Flyers to start the streak in a 5-4 win and that John Cullen, Phil Bourque, Bob Errey, Rob Brown and Dan Quinn scored Penguins goals against goaltender Ron Hextall in a 5-3 win to end it. The winning goalie on that historic night? Wendell Young with 39 saves, many terrific.
• Mario Lemieux had a record eight-point performance — five goals and three assists — in a 10-7 Penguins win in the 1989 playoffs. As great as Lemieux was that magical night at Civic Arena, the game is remembered more for the feisty — OK, dirty — Hextall chasing Brown around the ice after Brown scored the Penguins’ ninth goal. Now that Hextall is the Penguins general manager, he and Brown should be some sight to see at team alumni functions.
• The Flyers got in the last lick in that 1989 playoff series by winning Game 7, 4-1, at Civic Arena behind 39 saves from Hextall backup Ken Wregget.
• Lemieux received not one but two standing ovations from the Flyers’ always lovable fans. Talk about amazing. The first happened in March 1993 when he joined the Penguins after his final radiation treatment for cancer that morning and had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 Penguins loss. The second came after the Flyers eliminated the Penguins in Game 5 of their 1997 playoff series when the crowd at CoreStates Center knew the great Lemieux was retiring. I wonder if the Flyers’ appreciative fans will show similar love to Sidney Crosby at some future date. I’m betting no.
• The Penguins won the first two games of their 2000 playoff series against the Flyers in Philadelphia, but then lost the next four. The series turned when Keith Primeau scored the winning goal in the fifth overtime of Game 4, ending a night and morning of 152 minutes, 1 second of hockey at Mellon Arena. Penguins goaltender Ron Tugnutt said afterward he lost 25 pounds during the marathon.
• A high stick from the Flyers’ Derian Hatcher knocked out two of Crosby’s teeth in a game in Philadelphia early in the 2005-06 season, Crosby’s rookie year. Those sweet Flyers fans have never let him forget that he complained to the officials about the cheap hit after Hatcher wasn’t penalized, receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his trouble. Egged on by Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock, who accused Crosby of diving, Philly’s angelic fans have been calling Crosby “Hatey Seven” and “Cindy Crosby” ever since. The funny thing is, the more they chant “Crosby Sucks!” the more Crosby torments their team. He has 45 goals and 107 points in 72 regularseason games against the Flyers. Even without his teeth that long-ago night, he scored the winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win.
• A brutal hit from the Penguins’ Darius Kasparaitis knocked out Flyers star Eric Lindros in a game in March 1998. Literally knocked him out.
• The Penguins swept the eight-game season series against the Flyers in 2006-07. Marc-Andre Fleury was the winning goalie in all eight games.
• The Penguins eliminated the Flyers in six games of the 2009 playoffs on their way to the first Stanley Cup of the Crosby era. Many believe the Penguins were inspired to come back from a 3-0, second-period deficit to win deciding Game 6 at Wachovia Center by Max Talbot’s fight with Daniel Carcillo and Talbot’s subsequent “Shhhh” to the Flyers’ always classy fans. I’m saying Ruslan Fedotenko’s goal 14 seconds later was the turning point. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
• The Flyers ruined opening night at PPG Paints Arena in November 2011, beating the Penguins, 3-2. Claude Giroux scored the game-winner, short-handed.
• Jaromir Jagr signed with the Flyers in July 2011 after leading the Penguins to believe he was going to rejoin them. Many Penguins fans still haven’t forgotten what they believe was Jagr’s inexcusable insult of Lemieux.
• What a finish it was to the 2011-12 season. First, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and Penguins assistant Tony Granato jumped on the benches and screamed at each other in a game in April at PPG Paints Arena. Then, during the Flyers’ 8-4 win during Game 3 of the team’s first-round playoff series, the Penguins embarrassed themselves and team owner Lemieux by gooning it up and taking 89 penalty minutes, leading to suspensions for Arron Asham, James Neal and Craig Adams. Finally, after the Flyers eliminated the heavily favored Penguins with a 5-1 win in Game 6 at Wells Fargo, Laviolette took great pleasure in calling Giroux, his captain, “the best player in the world.” Laviolette all but said, “Take that, Cindy Crosby!”
• The Penguins had to wait six seasons to get playoff revenge against the Flyers, winning their first-round series in six games. Jake Guentzel scored four goals in an 8-5 win in deciding Game 6.
It’s very possible the Penguins and Flyers will meet again in the playoffs this spring. It’s also very possible one of the teams won’t make it to the postseason. Don’t take any chances. Enjoy every second of the three games this week. There won’t be a better, more interesting week of hockey during this regular season.
The 2,800 fans who will be PPG Paints Arena aren’t the only lucky ones.
All of us are lucky to see Penguins-Flyers, times three.