Cup of Joe: Starkey on sports in 400 words or less
The game was pretty much over — Game 5 of the 2000 Eastern Conference quarterfinals — when Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Luke Richardson intentionally fired a puck into the chest of Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner, or so the Penguins thought.
All NH-hell broke loose.
“It could have killed him,” Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said.
Afterward, Penguins coach Herb Brooks snapped, kind of like everybody does when the Penguins and Flyers play for big stakes.
Did you ever see the clip of Flyers goalie Ron Hextall skating after Robbie Brown, looking to chop his head off with his goalie stick?
That’s Flyers-Penguins.
Anyway, let’s just say Brooks didn’t appreciate Richardson’s move.
“I wonder if he’s a direct descendant of the coward who murdered Jesse James,” Brooks said. “I’m sure if you go back, he’s in the family tree somewhere.”
Sign me up for Penguins-Flyers in the first round, please. It didn’t seem possible until Rick Tocchet’s Flyers heated up recently, but the two are now slotted second (Penguins) and third in the Metro Division as of Monday morning.
If history holds, that series would provide its unique brand of blistering cross-state hate.
When I think Penguins-Flyers, these are among the many images and storylines that spring to mind ….
• Evgeni Malkin, still raging from a Mike Richards hit, skating in on a breakaway and blasting a point-blank slap shot past Martin Biron in Game 1 of a 2008 series.
• Sidney Crosby positively torturing the Flyers over the years, despite (or perhaps in part because of) the vulgar abuse Flyers fans heap upon him.
• Crosby, after getting his front teeth broken by Flyers defense Derian Hatcher, beating the Flyers on a breakaway in his rookie season.
• The Flyers forcing the Penguins to lose their minds in a 2012 playoff series, and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette labelling Claude Giroux “the best player in the world” afterward.
• Keith Primeau in the fifth overtime.
• Jaromir Jagr miraculously batting in a puck from his stomach against Hextall.
• The sight of Jagr in a Flyers jersey.
• The sight of Hextall in the Penguins GM booth.
• Max Talbot saying “Shhhhhh!” to a crazed Flyers crowd, sparking the comeback that eliminated them in ’09 (and later wearing a Flyers jersey himself).
• Jake Guentzel eliminating the Flyers with a four-goal outburst in Game 6 in 2018.
• Kasparaitis chopping down Eric Lindros like a giant oak tree in a 1998 game, then bracing for a bloodthirsty Philly crowd the next night — and a fight with Colin Forbes to get things started.
That’s Penguins-Flyers.
Sign. Me. Up.