Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Preview of 1st Round?

Today's matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will be the second of three games over a three-week period. Familiarity breeds contempt, and these turnpike rivals certainly don't like each other.

With four games left for both teams, and their positions in the Eastern Conference almost wrapped up, the only thing at stake now is home ice. For the Flyers, mid-week home games against the Rangers and Sabres are sandwiched by the two forays into the Steel City's Consol Energy Center.

The last playoff meeting between the two teams saw a tough six-game series in 2009 won by the Pens on their way to the Stanley Cup. The interstate battle included several close games before Pittsburgh closed out the series with a 5-3 win.

The following year, it was Philly's turn to represent Pennsylvania in the Stanley Cup Finals before they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks on Patrick Kane's overtime winner in Game 6.

Last year's second-round loss gave the Flyers the indignity (or honor) of losing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, as the Bruins took them out in a four-game sweep.

This year's team will head to the postseason on a bit of a wobbly keel as starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is currently nursing a broken foot. His countryman and "number one cop on the force" Sergei Bobrovsky has dusted himself off and will see most of the action in the next week while Bryz rests his busted wheel.

Jay Onrait of Canadian Sportscentre will certainly get a workout yelling Bobrovsky's name for the next week as the Russian Bobcat gets to be the man in net.

Philadelphia has owned the series this year and made themselves at home in the Pens' barn, winning all four matchups there since the building opened. It's a shame that such an intense battle will take place so early in the playoffs, but Flyer fans would like to see the Penguins in the rear view sooner rather than later.