The Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway on Saturday. Without question, one of the best match ups on the docket is the long-awaited revival of the Battle of Pennsylvania between thePhiladelphia Flyersand thePittsburgh Penguins.
The two teams entered the league in the same year, 1967, as part of the NHL's first wave of expansion, which doubled the league's size from six to twelve teams.
In the early going, the Flyers dominated the rivalry with the Broad Street Bullies, making back-to-back Stanley Cups and making a few more Cup Final appearances after that.
In the '90s and 2000s, the Penguins have been more successful, buoyed by superstars like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Marc-Andre Fleury.
Still, anytime these two teams get together, it can get wild.
So let's look back at some of the most memorable moments of one of hockey's most intense rivalries.
When Sidney Crosby was drafted by the Penguins in 2005, they were bad.
However, within a few seasons, they were Cup contenders, but the Flyers were usually one of the teams battling them toward the top of what was then the Atlantic Division.
Crosby was all in on the rivalry in 2012 when the two teams met in the opening round of the playoffs. In Game 3, he — somewhat childishly — batted Flyers forward and Jakub Voracek's glove away from him.
Obviously, frustration was mounting as Pittsburgh lost that one 8-5. It was the second straight game in which they yielded 8 goals to the Orange and Black.
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