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Philadelphia Flyers Panoramic by Brian Wilson Photography on Flickr
The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins were in the Wachovia Center is a night the Philadelphia Flyers would like to forget.
It was game six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal and the Orange and Black had built up a seemingly comfortable 3-0 lead at home. The Flyers faithful was in a frenzy. Chants of “Crosby Sucks” and other vengeful slurs rained down from the orange-clad crowd. To the players on the ice it must have seemed like the building was going to collapse.
Shhhhhhh….
As Max Talbot and Daniel Carcillo traded punches on the ice, the crowd was ready to riot with excitement. Talbot lost the fight but as he headed to the penalty box he looked up at the crowd and pressed one finger to his mouth as if to say “quiet down, it’s not over yet.”
And it wasn’t. Less than 20 seconds later, Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Penguins. Two minutes later Mark Eaton did the same. By the end of the second period Sidney Crosby had scored to tie the game.
“20,000 fans in orange t-shirts just sat down.”
We all know that the Penguins won the game and the series. The Penguins know it. The Flyers know it. And that’s what will make tonight’s game so very, very interesting. The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers hate each other. The players do, the fans do, the ownership does. This isn’t minor dislike. This isn’t two competitive teams trying to one-up one another. This is hatred. Plain and simple.
blurry Max... by ztil301 on Flickr
Just watch the intro videos for the two teams home openers. In Philadelphia the video shows countless Penguins getting hit, punched and scored on by Flyers. In Pittsburgh the “shhhhhh” moment received its own spotlight in their season retrospective video.
And the most interesting part of this rivalry is not just that the teams hate each other, it’s the both teams are very, very talented as well.
Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Gonchar, Orpik, Fleury.
Richards, Carter, Briere, Timonen, Pronger, Emery.
The line-ups in this game include explosive offense, tenacious defense, hard-hitting grinders and two goaltenders that have both made the Stanley Cup Final before.
Of course, the teams are different from last year. In Pittsburgh Gill and Scuderi have been replaced by Goligoski and McKee. Max Talbot, the hero of game six, is out of the line-up with a shoulder injury. In Philadelphia, the biggest change is the additions of Chris Pronger and Ray Emery. Many have speculated that Pronger was signed to the Flyers for the purpose of shutting down Sidney Crosby.
The Flyers received a lot of hype during the offseason and they’ve lived up to that hype so far. In the young season the Flyers are 3-0, defeating the Hurricanes, Devils and Capitals. They’ve scored a total of 13 goals in those three games and have looked very impressive.
The Penguins are coming off of a sloppy 3-0 loss to Phoenix last night. It almost felt like the Pens were looking past their game with Phoenix and focusing on tonight’s contest with the Flyers. It was a bad move on their part. They’re 2-1 this season so far.
Tonight’s game has the makings of a classic. The Flyers have something to prove and the Penguins definitely don’t want to lose two in a row. Sidney Crosby has thrived in the Wachovia Center, despite the frequent chants telling him the opposite. Will Pronger be able to stop him? And, if so, will Malkin step up and take over? How will Ray Emery fare? What about Marc-Andre Fleury?
The puck drops in Philadelphia at 7:00.
Images:
“Philadelphia Flyers Panoramic” by Brian Wilson Photography
“blurry Max…” by ztil301
Rick Moldovanyi is a freelance journalist from Toronto. He covers the Pittsburgh Penguins at Penguins Experience and has written for several publications in the Toronto area.
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