Penguins Beat Flyers; Add A New Twist To Rivalry's Novel

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers have played a lot of games over a lot of seasons in the history of their franchises dating back to when both came into the league during the 1967 expansion, and we've seen a lot of unique things go down over the years when these two clubs face-off.

Flyers' goaltender Ron Hextall chasing Penguins' forward Rob Brown in the 1989 playoffs after Brown scored on him, for one example.

Penguins' defenseman Darius Kasparaitis fright training Flyer's star Eric Lindros in the neutral zone in 1997 during a game at Mellon Arena, for another.

Never before has there been one player biting another.

Until, perhaps, last night.

As the seconds ticked off at the end of the Penguins' 5-4 victory over the Flyers last night, things happened which typically happen at the end of games against the Flyers when they're on the losing end.

Fights.

Scrums.

During last night's chapter, Pens' defenseman Kris Letang got tied up with Flyers' goof Scott Hartnell behind the Penguins' net after Mike Richards bowled right into it (and Penguin goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury) and knocked it off its moorings with 1.2 seconds to go.

Letang flipped Hartnell down on his back on the ice, and the two rolled around.

In the ruckus that ensued with other players joining the fray, Letang immediately got up and quickly went to the locker room, holding his hand or arm and looking as if he was urgently injured.

After the game, Letang said that Hartnell bit him.

When asked about the play, Hartnell wouldn't say whether he did or didn't. He just said that "a lot of things happen at the bottom of the pile".

Translation?

He did it.

Hartnell doing something like that shouldn't surprise me, because he's that kind of player, but biting?

Let's hope the league isn't seeing a trend here, because there was a biting incident last year involving former Penguin' Jarkko Ruutu -- then of the Senators -- and a Buffalo Sabres player.

With that story taking the stage in the aftermath of last night's game, lost was the fact that the Penguins bounced back from their whitewashing at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes the night before to score 5 on Flyers' netminder Ray Emery.

Emery let up 5 goals to Washington earlier this week. With our Flightless Birds tallying 5 last night, I wonder what the critics in Philadelphia are saying about his play?

If he doesn't learn to stop the puck against sharpshooting teams like us and the Capitals, the Flyers are going to have trouble this season.

Emery even let one of his own teammates score on him last night.

Okay, holding that one to Emery isn't entirely fair. Who expects his own player to essentially shoot a puck on him?

Last night that was Flyers' defenseman Braydon Coburn, who tried to clear the puck from the boards and go behind the net with it, only to realize he needs to go to the eye doctor and improve his aim because he put the puck right on Emery, where it promptly went off him and in.

That incident aside, the Penguins looked better overall last night. Not perfect, but better.

They got first period goals from Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

Staal's goal looked a lot like the shorthanded marker he scored in game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals last year against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Flyers pulled even in the 2nd period on a second goal by Daniel Briere before Bill Guerin beat Emery on a breakaway and Alex Goligoski got credit for the goal Coburn put by Emery since he was the last one to touch the puck.

The Penguins let the Flyers back in the game on a 5-on-3 goal against by Jeff Carter to make the score 4-3 before the 2nd period ended.

In the final frame, Tyler Kennedy finished a nice play for the Penguins to make the score 5-3. Craig Adams forced a turnover in the Flyers' end on a nice hit, and Matt Cooke promptly fed the puck to Kennedy for a one-timer. Kennedy drove right to the net after the turnover and was rewarded for it.

Carter scored to make things interesting with about 40 seconds to go, but that was it.

One thing the Penguins MUST do a better job of is avoiding penalties.

They were whistled for 7 infractions last night and it's really putting a strain on their penalty killing unit.

They have to be more disciplined or it's going to start hurting them.

Fleury stopped 30 of 34 Flyer shots, while the Penguins only managed 25 on Emery. That, too, is not Dan Bylsma hockey. They need to skate and move their feet more.

With the victory, the Penguins tied the Flyers in the Atlantic Division by upping their record to 3-1. They next play Saturday night in Toronto for a HNIC broadcast against the Maple Leafs, who have struggled out of the gate this year. The Penguins have to be ready for their best effort.

More over the weekend.