NHL Rivals

This week’s episode of NHL Rivals, which debuts at 11 p.m. ET following Lightning-Blues on NBCSN, features the rivalry between the Capitals and Flyers that has spanned the past 30-plus years. The episode highlights an animosity fostered by intense playoff series, intimidating presences like former Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall and former Capitals forward Dale Hunter, and an encounter in Philadelphia between the two teams this season that made the Wells Fargo Center look more like the Philadelphia Spectrum. Sports Illustrated hockey writer Michael Farber on Capitals-Flyers line brawl this season: “If (the Flyers) were going to get beaten badly on the scoreboard, they were going to leave a mark. Ray Emery skated down to the other end of the ice and left his mark on the back of Braden Holtby’s head.” Doc Emrick on the home-ice advantage of the Philadelphia Spectrum: “The atmosphere inside was carnivorous, and that’s not a bad thing. It helped contribute to what the Flyers were doing.” Hextall on personal rivalry with Hunter: “He was the one guy, the one player in The League, I asked to fight. Goalies didn’t usually do that, but he was the one guy who I asked to fight…a number of times.”

This week’s episode of NHL Rivals features the rivalry between the Bruins and Canadiens, spanning more than 350 regular-season meetings and 33 playoff series. Highlights include what led to the “Brawl in the Hall”, Montreal’s domination of Boston for much of the 20th century, and how Bruins captain Zdeno Chara became public enemy No. 1 in Montreal. Following are excerpts from Bruins-Canadiens NHL Rivals: Sports Illustrated hockey writer Michael Farber on history Bruins-Canadiens rivalry: “Through the prism of Montreal eyes, there’s a Manichean dialectic at work here – Montreal is good, Boston is evil.” Former Canadien and NBC game analyst Brian Engblom on 1979 semifinal: “That series with the Bruins was just knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out, all the time…there was just venom in every shift. Former Bruin and NBC studio analyst Mike Milbury on 1979 semifinal & rivalry: “There was no ‘pick the other guy up after a fight’…this was ‘spit on ‘em while he was down’…for many years, Boston was the weak sister, and Montreal was the mountain to climb.’” Farber on Zdeno Chara’s hit on Max Pacioretty: “Montrealers view the Chara hit on Pacioretty as the dirtiest thing they’ve seen in decades.” CSNNE.com Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty on Chara hit on Pacioretty: “You almost got that sense from the people in Montreal that they wanted to get out the pitchforks and the torches, and march right to the NHL offices – they wanted justice.”