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Pennsylvania rivals set to meet in East finals

May 9, 2008 - 1:07 PM Philadelphia at Pittsburgh 7:30 pm EDT Eastern Conference finals

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers are bitter rivals, but the cross-state foes have never met on such a grand stage.

Captain Sidney Crosby and the second-seeded Penguins will host the sixth-seeded Flyers on Friday in Game One of the Eastern Conference finals.

It is the first time the two clubs have played each other this late in the playoffs. Philadelphia has won all three previous playoff appearances with their Atlantic Division rival, the most recent coming in 2000.

Both teams are expecting the best-of-seven series to be brutal.

"Probably right when the puck drops, I think," Penguins left wing Ryan Malone said. "The first shift there, I know the fans in Pittsburgh here will be crazy. We'll all be jacked up, ready to go. You know, the first hit, then after that the rest will be history I think. It's going to be a fun series for everybody."

Philadelphia will have to contain Crosby and Evgeni Malkin - at least better than the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers did - to have a chance to beat Pittsburgh. The young phenoms have combined for eight goals and 28 points over their nine postseason games.

Flyers coach John Stevens, however, knows that the Penguins have good players beyond their two superstars.

"I think it's going to take a really strong team performance from us to try and check them," Stevens said. "Not just one, they've got (Petr) Sykora, Malkin, (Marian) Hossa, Crosby, Ryan Malone is having a great year, Jordan Staal is there. They have many weapons there.

"The thing for me with Pittsburgh is that they've got stars, but they've got a really good team game they play within there. They don't just freelance and play on their own."

Philadelphia has plenty of weapons of its own - R.J. Umberger leads the club with nine playoff goals, while Daniel Briere, Vaclav Prospal and Mike Richards have all reached double-digits in points this postseason.