Tasser’s Take: Bring on the Flyers

Bring on Filthadelphia.

With their win over the Flyers on Tuesday, the New York Rangers… Bring on Filthadelphia.

With their win over the Flyers on Tuesday, the New York Rangers clinched the Atlantic Division and the top seed in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, which sets the stage for another classic Penguins-Flyers playoff matchup. And I can’t wait, especially after Sunday’s 6-4 Flyer victory was marred by an entertaining free-for-all at the end of the game.

It’s only natural that the pre-playoff atmosphere caused tensions to be high most of the game. Sidney Crosby got away with a slash on Flyer’s star Claude Giroux, then took a cheap shot cross-check by Brayden Schenn.

With time winding down following Philly’s game-clinching empty-net goal, forward Joe Vitale leveled Flyer’s assistant captain Daniel Briere with a vicious — but legal — open-ice check. This set both teams into a frenzy, with the Penguins prizefighter Deryk Engelland trading punches with Wayne Simmonds, Arron Asham circling the benches like a vulture looking for a fight and a heated exchange (to put it mildly) on top of the end boards between Flyer’s coach Peter Laviolette and Pen’s assistant Tony Granato.

Laviolette was upset the Penguins chose to play their checking line in the last minute of a decided game, calling the move “gutless.” And Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma took ill to Schenn’s “cheap shot” on Crosby and the fact that after the Vitale hit, Laviolette broke a stick — part of which ended up in the Penguins’ bench area. After the game, the Flyers announced that Briere was out indefinitely with an upper-back contusion — a result of Vitale’s check.

That game had the effect of pouring gasoline on an already raging bonfire.

These teams hate each other, and their respective cities don’t care much for each other, either. And seeing as the two teams are virtually cemented into the fourth and fifth seeds, we’ll get to witness an exciting Keystone State matchup featuring the best rivalry in the game. The only question at this point is, if there is a Game 7, at which end of the state will it be located?

Pittsburgh currently holds the higher seed, with a three-point edge over the Flyers and two games to play. However, this situation might actually bode well for Philadelphia, as the team is 5-0 thus far at Consol Energy Center.

Personally, this matchup scares me while it excites me. On one hand, there is nothing better than eliminating your bitter rival from the playoffs (remember 2008 and 2009, Flyers fans?). But at the same time, this matchup is more worthy of an Eastern Conference Final, not its first round. Although I believe that the Penguins will win (in seven, if you must know), there is not a team in the East that I believe can beat the Pens — except for the Bullies across the state.

But before all of this goes down, we get another playoff preview. Regardless of whether or not the fourth seed is up in the air, expect a heated battle between the two teams in the regular season finale Saturday that will only serve as further kindling for the rivalry. Which team is going to sign the Hanson brothers first?

Got to love playoff hockey.