NHL Wednesday: Penguins, Flyers renew rivalry

At first glance it certainly doesn’t look good. Olver catches Tarasenko unawares and seemed to lead with his shoulder or elbow right into Tarasenko’s head. The rookie immediately went limp and fell to the ice. This screengrab from Adrian Dater of the Denver Post shows just how dazed Tarasenko was after the play:

The play seemed to last forever. Sticks were poking at everything that moved, Penguins were dropping to their knees to block shots and it’s amazing they didn’t start playing Yakety Sax in Consol Energy Center.

All five Penguins were in the crease except, inexplicably, for goalie Tomas Vokoun:

But he’s so lovable! (A little more objectivity from Miller would be nice.)

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When these two teams met on the opening day of the season, the Penguins won the special teams battle by killing off all five of the Flyers’ power plays and scoring on two of their three man-advantages. Entering Wednesday night, the Flyers have killed off 21 consecutive penalties over the span of their last six games. Will the club continue to build off this performance? Or will they repeat their performance from opening day?

Get ready for it, because the matchup between Crosby and Giroux is going to be overhyped for the rest of forever. Luckily, both players are awesome so it should live up to the billing on most nights.

There are only three games on tap in the NHL on Wednesday night, with a double-header on NBC Sports Network for their “Rivalry Wednesday” promotion.

Here’s a full look at the schedule and tonight’s starting goaltenders:

Puck is set to drop at 10 p.m. ET with national coverage on NBC Sports Network.

Since that 3-1 Penguins victory on Jan. 19 the two teams have seemingly headed in opposite directions, as the Flyers have stumbled their way to a 7-9-1 record while struggling with goal scoring and consistency in net. The Flyers have fought back after a tough start to the season, however, and are now 5-3-1 in their past nine games.

The Flyers and Penguins present one of the more intense rivalries in the NHL, with last season’s postseason series one of the most exciting in recent memory. With the Flyers looking to build off Monday’s big victory, this could be one of heck of an early-season matchup.