The greatest rivalry in the NHL: The battle of Pennsylvania

Pure hatred. It’s a commonality in the most iconic rivalries in sports. Ohio State vs. Michigan, Celtics vs. Lakers and the Steelers vs. the Ravens and the Bengals. These are examples of the most iconic and heated rivalries in sports. But one that rivals these is the battle of Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Flyers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Battle of Pennsylvania is a long-standing rivalry. And one that won’t be going away any time soon. This year, the stakes have been raised as this matchup has turned into an NHL Stanley Cup Playoff first-round series. But aside from this year, three factors set this rivalry apart.

The History

The first-ever matchup between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins was played nearly 60 years ago, on October 19th, 1967. That game took place at the then-Philadelphia Spectrum and ended 1-0 for the home team. What coaches, players and fans may not have noticed at the time was that this was the start of something great in hockey.

Early on in the rivalry, the Flyers dominated. And while the Penguins have made a push in the past to overtake their rivals from the east side, the Flyers currently lead the series, with an overall record of 169-106-30.

The first playoff series between the two teams came in the 1988-1989 season. And just like the early days of the rivalry, the Flyers would win. Although it was a tough series, Philly would pull out a win in game seven of the Patrick Division Finals by a score of 4-3.

The Players

Remember that first playoff matchup? There was a young player for Pittsburgh named Mario Lemieux. By this point, Lemieux had cemented himself as a star, but even though Pittsburgh lost this series, his performance in that series would make him even more legendary.

Through those seven games, Lemieux collected nine goals in the entire series. His most memorable performance came in game 5, where he sent five pucks to the back of the net with three assists on top of that.

Just over 16 years after that series, in 2005, Lemieux would make the biggest decision of his career. After retiring in 1997, Lemieux would resume playing in 2000 and become the first player-owner in NHL history. During that 2005 draft, Lemieux would be a huge factor in drafting an 18-year-old kid from Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia. That kid was Sidney Crosby.

Leading up to the 2005 NHL Draft, Crosby had taken the hockey world by storm. He was lighting up the stat sheet for Rimouski Océanic in the QMJHL for his junior hockey career.

Crosby also famously participated in the L.A. Kings’ development camp at just 16 years old. Not only did Crosby participate, but he dominated against grown men who were NHL-caliber players.

This move by the Kings was, of course, against the rules, as Crosby had another two years before he was draft-eligible.

Crosby isn’t the only great player the modern-day Penguins have seen in this rivalry. Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marc-André Fleury have been just a few of Crosby’s future Hall of Fame teammates.

But don’t sleep on the Flyers. The Flyers faithful can boast of Hall of Famer Eric Lindros, Claude Giroux and Keith Primeau, to name a few.

The Hatred

You can’t talk about the rivalry without talking about the hatred these two teams have for each other. Following a 2012 playoff game against the Flyers, Sidney Crosby, when asked about an incident that had occurred during that particular game, was quoted as saying, “I don’t like any guy on their team.” The reporter then asked Sid why he doesn’t like them; his response was blunt: “'Cause I don’t like ‘em.”

One of the most iconic incidents happened just a few nights ago.

In Game Three of this year’s series, on April 22nd, the Penguins were up 1-0 with around 15:30 to go in the second period. After Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner covered a puck, a fight ensued between Penguins forward Brian Rust and Flyers forward Travis Konecny.

What followed was an over-minute-long scrum between those two players and others. After a 10-minute delay to get everything sorted out, 10 players were penalized, totaling over 20 penalty minutes among all players involved.

Though the Penguins have shown some fight, the Flyers currently lead the series 3-0 and are looking to complete the sweep. Game four of the series will be in Philadelphia at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Puck drop is slated for Saturday, April 25th, at 8:00 p.m. If you’re unable to attend, the game will be broadcast on TNT and truTV.

Max Malec is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mvm7264@psu.edu.