![\"Cup](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ptr-cupofjoehockey-032726-001-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCup of Joe: Starkey on sports in 400 words or less <\/p>\n
The game was pretty much over \u2014 Game 5 of the 2000 Eastern Conference quarterfinals \u2014 when Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Luke Richardson intentionally fired a puck into the chest of Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner, or so the Penguins thought.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All NH-hell broke loose.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could have killed him,\u201d Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Penguins coach Herb Brooks snapped, kind of like everybody does when the Penguins and Flyers play for big stakes.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s Flyers-Penguins.<\/p>\n
Anyway, let\u2019s just say Brooks didn\u2019t appreciate Richardson\u2019s move.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wonder if he\u2019s a direct descendant of the coward who murdered Jesse James,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cI\u2019m sure if you go back, he\u2019s in the family tree somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign me up for Penguins-Flyers in the first round, please. It didn\u2019t seem possible until Rick Tocchet\u2019s Flyers heated up recently, but the two are now slotted second (Penguins) and third in the Metro Division as of Monday morning.<\/p>\n
If history holds, that series would provide its unique brand of blistering cross-state hate.<\/p>\n
When I think Penguins-Flyers, these are among the many images and storylines that spring to mind \u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Evgeni Malkin, still raging from a Mike Richards hit, skating in on a breakaway and blasting a point-blank slap shot past Martin Biron<\/a> in Game 1 of a 2008 series.<\/p>\n \u2022 Sidney Crosby positively torturing the Flyers over the years, despite (or perhaps in part because of) the vulgar abuse Flyers fans heap upon him.<\/p>\n \u2022 Crosby, after getting his front teeth broken by Flyers defense Derian Hatcher, beating the Flyers on a breakaway in his rookie season.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Flyers forcing the Penguins to lose their minds in a 2012 playoff series, and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette labelling Claude Giroux \u201cthe best player in the world\u201d afterward.<\/p>\n \u2022 Keith Primeau in the fifth overtime.<\/p>\n \u2022 Jaromir Jagr miraculously batting in a puck from his stomach against <\/a>Hextall<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 The sight of Jagr in a Flyers jersey.<\/p>\n \u2022 The sight of Hextall in the Penguins GM booth.<\/p>\n