Flyers-Capitals rivalry

My new good blog read, over at brought up the notion of the Capitals now considering the Flyers one of their rivals. Good quote from Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau as well.

Rivalries in this bloated league are still by and large either based on geographic proximity or division alignment.

The Flyers-Capitals is the example of the former. Technically, the clubs should still be aligned in the same division. Pittsburgh is 305 miles away to the west but in the "Atlantic" while DC is 130 miles down the road but grouped with the "Southeast" although they are closer to all Atlantic division teams than any of their own division.

The genesis of the battles between the clubs started to formulate when the Capitals started to get good in the mid-1980's, when both were placed in the Patrick Division with the Islanders, Rangers, Penguins and Devils. After the Islanders' dynasty fell apart following their loss to Edmonton in the 1984 Finals, the Flyers were in a rebuilding year and Washington, having set a team record with 48 wins and 101 points, was the favorite to win the Patrick and go deep into the playoffs in 1984-85.

What happened was that during the next five years, the Flyers were the major burr in the Caps' collective saddle. Philly won the regular-season division crown from 1984-87 and went a combined 15-4-2 against Washington. Though the Capitals took a fiercely competitive seven-game playoff in 1988, the fourth-place Flyers struck back in 1989 to upset the division-winning Capitals in the first round.

As the Flyers took a downturn in the late 80's and early 90's, both sides traded some memorable contests thanks to the machinations of Dale Hunter, Criag Berube and others (including one year Washington won all four games at the Spectrum).

It looked like the mid-to-late 90's could have re-stoked the competitive fires for both teams as the Patrick evolved into the Atlantic and the number of games per year shrunk from seven to five per season. Unfortunately, the Jim Schoenfeld and Ron Wilson era teams virtually choked the life out of the game, and Flyers-Capitals games in the Capital Centre and the new MCI Center were characterized by the "four-goals-or-less" mantra and were very boring, tight-checking, unappetizing contests.

The only entertainment of those years came the time Rob Pearson decided to taunt Ron Hextall and got a blocker to the head plus Hextall pile-driving him into the ice behind the net.

Any hopes for the rivalry to blossom in the 2000's was wrecked as the Capitals went to the Southeast Division, overhauled their roster then dismantled the club piece by piece until the cancelled season.

Even with the arrival of Ovechkin, Semin, Carter and Richards, something was off the first two years as each club took turns as one of the league's worst. Then, last year the Flyers got good real fast, and so did the Capitals, whose smartest move of all was to return to their old red, blue and white jerseys.

With only four regular-season meetings possible until another realignment occurs, each side has to bring the intensity for any rivalry to develop. Of course, a knock-down, drag-out seven-game playoff series ending in a Game 7 overtime goes a long way towards creating animosity.

The Flyers accomplished just that, sending Washington home on its own ice in that Game 7 overtime thanks to Joffrey Lupul.

This season, the Capitals have taken full advantage of a weak division and relatively unspectacular conference to lead the Southeast and solidify a high playoff seed. They have been a silent steamroller on par with the Boston Bruins...except for December 20 in Philadelphia, when 48 shots was only sufficient for one goal while the Flyers scored seven times on just 28.

Washington will be looking for revenge but they might have an easier time than expected since Philadelphia is coming off a six-game road trip and half the team has some kind of debilitating injury.

Whoever wins and by how much, it's still not an indicator of future success/failure for either team. It's only the first full week of January, people. Let's just enjoy it for what it is...the clash of two young, fearless clubs.