PHILADELPHIA -- Sidney Crosby was christened into this rivalry in 2005 by a Derian Hatcher stick in the mouth.
It cost him a few teeth and a little blood, but gave him a pretty good sense of the animus that has existed between the Penguins and Flyers for decades.
And while Philadelphia's past couple of general managers, Ron Hextall and Chuck Fletcher, have tried to build rosters based on qualities such as speed and skill, the Flyers showed during the Penguins' 7-3 victory at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night that they're still capable of returning to their Broad Street Bullies roots.
Oh, both sides were guilty of contributing to the nastiness that provided a backdrop for the Penguins' only victory on this side of the Commonwealth in 2020-21, but the Flyers were responsible for the two most egregious incidents.
The first came a second or so before Crosby scored the first of his two goals, when Flyers forward Travis Konecny slew-footed Bryan Rust, coming at him from behind and using his left leg to knock Rust's right leg out from under him.
Rust subsequently spent most of the second period in the locker room, although he returned for the third.
That means he got a good look at a stunning cheap shot by Philadelphia defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who launched Mark Friedman into the boards from behind after Friedman had scored into an empty net at 15:53 to give the Penguins a 6-3 lead.
It was a dangerous hit, and one for which Friedman clearly was unprepared. Despite slamming into the boards, however, he apparently was not injured.
After the game, Mike Sullivan spoke of the rivalry in measured tones, referring several times to how emotions tend to percolate to the surface when these teams meet.
"Anytime the Flyers and the Penguins play, they're usually emotionally charged games," he said matter-of-factly. "And tonight was no different."
Sullivan, though, already had expressed his unfiltered feelings about Gostisbehere's hit when, with the Penguins up by three goals and barely four minutes to play in regulation, he sent out his No. 1 power play unit -- modified, to include two defensemen rather than the usual one -- as Gostisbehere went to the penalty box to serve the cross-checking minor he had been assessed.
Gostisbehere was freed 64 seconds later, after John Marino buried a shot behind Flyers goalie Brian Elliott to close out the scoring -- and to deliver an emphatic message about how the Penguins felt about Gostisbehere's hit.
Marino's goal also allowed the Penguins' offensive output to match the total they had given up 24 hours earlier, in a 7-2 loss to Philadelphia.
And while their defensive play Tuesday left considerable room for improvement -- "We would prefer not to give up as many chances as we did," Sullivan said -- it was a pretty good bounce-back effort after one of their most lackluster showings of the season.
"We weren't pleased with the effort we had (Monday) night, and we wanted to be better," Sullivan said. "And I thought, to a man, we were a much better team tonight."
While it was a generally solid showing by the team, it was a particularly strong one by Crosby and his linemates, Jake Guentzel and Rust, as they combined for three goals and four assists.
The previous night, those three had been on the ice for four Flyers goals.
"We weren't happy with (Monday), for sure," Guentzel said. "I thought we were much better tonight."
It's no coincidence that teammates followed the example they set.
"They're leaders on our team," Sullivan said. "So when they have a night that they don't feel as though they play (up to) their own expectations, they always find ways to respond."
The Penguins, of course, rely on Crosby's line to be a steady source of offense. Not so with the guy who put them in front to stay just 104 seconds into the game.
That would be defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who had gone 41 games without scoring, but showed a deft touch when he slid a backhander between Elliott's legs after taking a nice feed from Jared McCann.
"(Pettersson) has some nice hands on him," said Guentzel, who is something of an authority on the subject.
Pettersson's defense partner was equally impressed.
"That was a great goal," Marino said. "We haven't seen that from him in a while."
The victory moved the Penguins back into sole possession of first place in the East Division; they are two points ahead of second-place Washington, although the Capitals have two games in hand.
Those two clubs, along with Boston and the New York Islanders, are battling for playoff seeding in the East, but regardless of who the Penguins are matched with in Round 1, they can expect that club to play a physical game designed to neutralize the impact of the Penguins' team speed.
Consequently, their ability to withstand the Flyers' hitting, legal or otherwise, bodes well for their postseason prospects.
"If teams want to do that to us, we can play that style," Guentzel said. "We just know that we have to win any way we can."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins lost the season series, 3-4-1. They had the same record against Boston.
• Jason Zucker also scored for the Penguins, his second in two games.
• Tristan Jarry stopped 30 of 33 Flyers shots, including several on quality chances that could have altered the course of the game had they resulted in goals. "We're definitely lucky to have a guy like that," Guentzel said.
• Teddy Blueger went 10-2 on faceoffs, but he was the only Penguins to finish with a positive mark on draws. The Flyers were credited with a 39-30 edge.
• Friedman, who really does not seem to be popular with members of the team that waived him earlier this season, led the Penguins with three hits. In addition to absorbing Gostisbehere's cheap shot, Friedman had a fight with Joel Farabee early in the second period.
• Flyers forward Claude Giroux was honored as the game's No. 3 star, presumably in recognition that his two assists helped the Flyers avoid losing by more than four goals. Or maybe just that his plus-minus of minus-2 only tied for the worst on his team, rather than having that distinction to itself.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Wells Fargo Center:
1. Sidney Crosby, Penguins
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
3. Claude Giroux, Flyers
THE INJURIES
• Winger Brandon Tanev has resumed skating after suffering an unspecified upper-body injury April 3.
* Defenseman Mike Matheson is week-to-week after being struck in the face by a puck May 1.
• Forward Evan Rodrigues is day-to-day with an unspecified lower-body injury.
• Goalie Casey DeSmith has an unspecified lower-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Jared McCann-Jeff Carter-Frederick Gaudreau
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mark Friedman-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Alain Vigneault's Flyers:
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk-Nolan Patrick-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Oskar Lindblom-Scott Laughton-Wade Allison
Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun
Shayne Gostisbehere-Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim-Philippe Myers
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will have Wednesday off before closing out the regular season with games against Buffalo Thursday and Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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