{"id":555473,"date":"2026-04-18T19:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555473\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:33:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:33:33","slug":"rivalry-renewed-the-always-wild-penguins-vs-flyers-playoff-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555473\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivalry Renewed: The Always Wild Penguins vs. Flyers Playoff History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday begins what will be Round Eight of the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> and Flyers post-season tussles. This is the first time they have clashed in the playoffs since 2018, but it could be the start of a new chapter in this heated rivalry, as both teams are on the rise. While everyone counts down the seconds until puck drop, let\u2019s prepare you for the series by looking back at the storied history of this cross-state rivalry.<\/p>\n

This rivalry began in 1967 when both teams entered the league as part of the\u00a0\u201cExpansion\u00a0Six.\u201d <\/p>\n

The teams met for the first time on Oct. 19,\u00a01967,\u00a0in\u00a0Philadelphia,\u00a0where the Flyers prevailed 1-0.\u00a0Losing was a recurring theme\u00a0for the flightless birds when they traveled East.\u00a0The Penguins actually\u00a0went\u00a015 consecutive seasons without winning in\u00a0Philadelphia.\u00a0Between January 20,\u00a01974,\u00a0and February 2,\u00a01989,\u00a0the Penguins compiled an almost unfathomable record of 0-39-3\u00a0in\u00a0their trips to the old Philadelphia Spectrum.<\/p>\n

Led by Mario Lemieux<\/a>, the Penguins turned things around in the late 1980s, and the rivalry intensified. The two teams met in the 1989 Patrick Division Final in a series that\u00a0went\u00a0seven games.\u00a0In Game 5 of the\u00a0series,\u00a0Lemieux scored five goals and recorded an astounding eight points in a 10-7 win.\u00a0Despite Lemieux\u2019s heroics, the lasting memory of this game was\u00a0Flyers\u00a0goaltender, and former Penguins GM, Ron Hextall <\/a>angrily chasing Penguins forward Rob Brown around the ice after he had scored the Penguins\u2019 ninth goal.\u00a0Game 5 was\u00a0Pittsburgh\u2019s last victory in the\u00a0series;\u00a0however, as\u00a0Flyers\u00a0back-up goaltender, and future Penguin, Ken\u00a0Wregget\u00a0stole the series with a stellar performance in Game 7 at\u00a0Pittsburgh.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Penguins and Flyers met in the playoffs again in 2000, which produced this tidbit from Late Penguins head coach Herb Brooks speaking about Flyers defenseman Luke Richardson after he shot a puck from close range at Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner, while he wrestled with Flyers forward Keith Jones, \u201cI\u2019d go back in his family tree.\u00a0Maybe he\u2019s\u00a0a direct descendant of the guy that shot Jesse James in the back. You know, the coward that shot Jesse James in the back. It must be in his family tree.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That same series\u00a0also\u00a0produced one of the most memorable\u00a0playoff games in NHL\u00a0history. On May 25, 2000 (the game began on May 24) Keith Primeau scored in the fifth overtime to tie\u00a0the series at two. The defeat was so crushing that the Penguins never won another game in the series.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Penguins fell on\u00a0hard times\u00a0after the 2000-01 season, and the rivalry died a bit as the Flyers\u00a0remained\u00a0a power in the Eastern Conference, but when Sidney Crosby<\/a> arrived in 2005, the hatred renewed. On Nov. 16,\u00a02005,\u00a0Philadelphia defenseman and\u00a0apparent\u00a0part-time dentist, Derian Hatcher went to work on the rookie Crosby\u2019s teeth, breaking three of them with his stick.<\/p>\n

The fans of Philly thought Crosby was diving, and head coach Ken Hitchcock accused him accordingly (though it was hard to ignore Crosby\u2019s missing teeth)\u00a0and every trip back to Philadelphia since has produced relentless booing and less than \u201cplayful\u201d banter from the crowd.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rookie got the last laugh that night as he scored the game-winner in overtime with just under a minute left and has been getting the last laugh ever since. He is the NHL\u2019s all-time leader in points and goals against the Flyers, amassing 60 goals and 79 assists (139 points) in 93 regular-season games. He has also added 15 goals and 21 assists (36 points) in 23 postseason games against them.<\/p>\n

In Crosby\u2019s second season, the Penguins defeated the Flyers in all eight meetings, a record that will probably never be broken since there are only three or four matchups per season. Despite the Flyers losing all eight games, the Flyers were improving in parallel with the Penguins, and the rivalry reached white-hot levels in 2008 and 2009. <\/p>\n

In 2008, the Penguins beat the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals (4-1) and the Penguins prevailed again in the\u00a02009 Eastern\u00a0Conference\u00a0Semifinals (4-2), on their way to winning the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

The 2009 series was the famous Max Talbot vs. Daniel\u00a0Carcillo\u00a0fight in which Talbot shushed the Flyers\u00a0crowd\u00a0and the Penguins\u00a0then rallied\u00a0from a 3-0 deficit to clinch the series with a 5-3 win.<\/p>\n

Of course, there was\u00a0also the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. During that bizarre and fight-filled\u00a0series in which the potential Penguins dynasty seemed to unravel,\u00a0the teams combined for 56 goals in the six-game series, including 10 by the Penguins in Game 4 at Philadelphia. However, the Flyers\u00a0eventually\u00a0won the\u00a0series four games to two.<\/p>\n

The last time these two teams clashed in the playoffs was in Round 1 of the 2018 playoffs, a series the Penguins won in six games before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals in the second round.<\/p>\n

In fact, that was the last time the Penguins and Crosby won a playoff series. <\/p>\n

While the Flyers hold the historical post-season series advantage 4-3, the Penguins have won three out of the last four playoff meetings. However, this series is a bit different from some of those heavyweight battles of the past. Both teams are returning to the playoffs after extended droughts. For the Penguins, it is their first playoff appearance since the 2022 postseason, and for the Flyers, it is their first since the 2020 playoffs. <\/p>\n

When these teams meet, a few wild moments always follow, and you can bet that it will only add to the lore of what has been one of the NHL\u2019s best rivalries since it began nearly 60 years ago.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: 2026 stanley cup playoffs<\/a> Jaromir Jagr<\/a> Mario Lemeuix<\/a> Max Talbot<\/a> Philadelphia flyers<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> Sidney Crosby<\/a> Vince Comunale<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized:NHL Playoffs<\/a> Penguins Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday begins what will be Round Eight of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Flyers post-season tussles. This is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[20557,1468,5,3355,61824,15230,4,1467,56,5205,100,768,55599],"class_list":{"0":"post-555473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-flyers","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-jaromir-jagr","12":"tag-mario-lemeuix","13":"tag-max-talbot","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","17":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","18":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","19":"tag-sidney-crosby","20":"tag-vince-comunale"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116427384708837768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}