Penguins get frosty when Flyers come up

No matter what the language, Pittsburgh’s players just don’t like Philadelphia.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Russian-born star, remains a man of few words as he learns English and its tricky nuances.

One subject, though, gets him talking, and a lot: the Philadelphia Flyers, the opponent the 21-year-old Malkin already loves to hate.

The NHL’s second-leading scorer and MVP finalist still talks about the 8-2 loss in Philadelphia Dec. 11, how the Flyers bullied the Penguins and got them off their game by inducing fights. In an additional indignity, he remembers popcorn being dumped on the Penguins’ bench by rowdy fans.

“That’s one of the teams that it’s really not a pleasure to play against,” Malkin said. “I really don’t like playing against them. I don’t like that team.”

Don’t like the Flyers? Join the crowd, Evgeni — most Penguins fans haven’t for 41 years, or since the two expansion franchises joined the NHL in 1967. The Flyers and Penguins share the state of Pennsylvania but not much else, and their rivalry has been a long, lively and, occasionally, bloody one.

This season, for example, Malkin received a nasty cut on his left cheek from the skate of the Flyers’ Mike Richards on March 16, and the two teams began fighting less than a minute into their April 2 game in Pittsburgh.

Now, the in-state rivalry is taking a previously unseen turn as the Flyers and Penguins met in a conference final for the first time. With the winner advancing to play for the Stanley Cup, the Eastern Conference finals that start Friday in Pittsburgh are certain to be competitive, contentious and colorful.

Penguins general manager Ray Shero first experienced it as a youngster. When the Broad Street Bullies of Flyers coach Fred Shero, Ray’s father, were winning two Stanley Cups in the 1970s, they regularly beat up on the Penguins — Pittsburgh once went 15 years without winning in Philadelphia.

Ray Shero has longed switched loyalties, but he was a self-described rink rat who hung around the Flyers dressing room with players such as Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bill Barber and Bill Clement.

“I loved the Flyers,” Ray Shero said. “I lived and breathed hockey, like a lot of kids who grow up around hockey teams, and there a lot of fond memories.”

Not that many in Pittsburgh have such pleasant memories of the Flyers, who lead the series 129-76-31. The Flyers won the three previous playoff series against the Penguins in 1989, 1997 and 2000, overcoming a five-goal, eight-point game by Mario Lemieux (1989) and a five-overtime game in Pittsburgh (2000).

In a twist last season, the Penguins swept the eight regular season games against Philadelphia for the first time. This season, the Flyers won the first four and five of eight, though they lost 7-1 in Pittsburgh on March 16.

“The playoffs are always intense but it throws a little spice into it when it’s Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,” Sidney Crosby said. “It doesn’t get any easier.”