PHILADELPHIA — Could we be seeing a detente between the Flyers and Penguins in their Keystone State rivalry?
That has been the case through the first two games of the season series, both Penguins victories. The two teams have combined for just 40 penalty minutes and one fight, a Jamie Oleksiak TKO of Brandon Manning on Jan. 2. By Flyers-Penguins standards, that’s rather tame.
It’s a far cry from the Broad Street Bully days or Ron Hextall chasing down Rob Brown or Sidney Crosby kicking Kimmo Timonen‘s glove on the ice.
Just don’t interpret a lack of fighting as a lack of emotion or “compete,” as they say. It’s still a rivalry night that doesn’t need NBC Sports’ endorsement.
“It should be a spirited game, it always is when it’s Pittsburgh,” said Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds, who returns tonight after missing the last seven games with an upper body injury.
So, has the rivalry changed or the game?
Bit of both. The last time Philadelphia and Pittsburgh squared off this season, the Penguins still had Ryan Reaves but he’s since been traded. The Penguins are the NHL’s ninth-most penalized team at 9:39 per game while the Flyers, in a bit of a reversal from their rough and tumble past, are 15th at 8:45.
“The game has changed, how the game is being played out there,” Mike Sullivan said. “I think personnel has changed, but rivalries are rivalries. There’s always a heated emotion associated with the games. They’re always fun to be part of. This one will be a hard-fought battle tonight.”
Indeed, with the Penguins leading the Flyers by just a point in the still tight Metropolitan Division, both teams need points more than a pound of flesh. A win could catapult either into first place. After a rough start to their season, the Penguins appear to be back on track. The Flyers have been plagued by inconsistency, but appear to be in a much better place from when they last met the Penguins in early January.
“It’s a real important two points, you can put any tag you want on it,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “I don’t think we need any measuring stick. We don’t need any of that.”
But should Wednesday night’s game devolve into a series of scrums and fisticuffs? Well, neither side can rule that out either.
“Nope, absolutely not,” said Bryan Rust. “Some games just evolve differently and things like that, but I definitely expect it to be a bit of a heated one given the history of the teams and the nature of where we are in the standings and the overall importance of the game.”
