NHL Rivals

Flyers and Capitals (1x11)

: 05, 2014

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.”