If the Flyers don't win another game this season, and fade away as a disappointing season, at least they will have Sunday's game against the Penguins to hang their hat on.
The Flyers completed a season sweep of the Penguins with wins on Wednesday and Sunday, both by a score of 4-1. Sunday's game, the last version of the Battle of Pennsylvania in the 2014-15 season, was essentially the Flyers version of the playoffs.
Playing the spoiler role, the Flyers could be the primary reason the Penguins miss the playoffs, if their recent collapse continues in the final three games of the season.
A big part of the win was Steve Mason. It sounds like a broken record. But this may have been Mason's shining moment. He made 21 saves on 22 shots in the first period. He didn't allow a goal in the final two periods as Pittsburgh peppered the Flyers goalie with 25 more shots.
"The first period we realized it was a playoff game," head coach Craig Berube said. "We recovered from it but our goalie kept us in it for sure and played great. We realized the intensity of the game and what it meant for them. They were a hungry team today. I thought we battled though, hung in there and found a way to win."
"That's the most shots I've faced in one period in a long time," Mason said. "It gets you into it. I was feeling good going into the second period. Give the guys a lot of credit. Right to the last minute they were blocking shots and sacrificing themselves.
"It was an intense game, playoff-type atmosphere. They were doing everything they could to get under our skin. It gets you more motivated when you have people coming at you."
The emotion of the game was still present as always, though not quite to the tune of fisticuffs – like the last meeting between the two teams in Philadelphia. Still, with the physical play and the spirited crowd, the playoff feel was there.
Five days ago, when these two teams met in Pittsburgh, one team's fate was sealed. The Flyers will not make the playoffs, something that had been known for weeks. But the Penguins are suddenly in a dangerous position that could earn them the distinction of joining the Flyers in an early offseason.
"Being here one year, you realize we don't like the Penguins. It's good to beat them twice in one week," Ryan White said. "They had a few guys chirping after the game saying we were going to be done in a week. They had a couple stumbles this week and it was nice to put another nail in their coffin."
"That stuff always happens on the ice," Berube said. "That's what happens when you don't make the playoffs. I'm sure our players were upset about it and wanted to do something about it."
Once again, despite the heavy shot advantage for the Penguins in the first period, the Flyers played an inspired game against Penguins. If only the whole season could be played against the team in Black and Gold from the other side of the Keystone State.
It is a question that keeps coming up though: what is it about Pittsburgh?
"A Penguin game is easy to get up for," White said. "We don't have to talk about it."
"It's Pittsburgh. We don't need more motivation," Claude Giroux said. "It's always a good game and it was fun to play this game."
The Flyers winning streak against Pittsburgh is now up to eight straight games. If nothing else, the four wins against the Penguins this year highlight a wasted season.
And the icing on the cake could be the Penguins missing the playoffs.
"They came hard at us," Mason said. "They had something to play for and we were happy to take it away from them."
"It's always emotional, a lot of scrums, a lot of hits," Jake Voracek said. "Those games are fun to play. We came out on the winning end which feels great."
Missing the playoffs this season, for a team that had essentially the same makeup as last season, is disappointing. But it is games like the four against Pittsburgh, where many players have made an impact, that could be a stepping stone for next season.
"We're a young team, we're still learning," Giroux said. "This year we learned the hard way how to play. It's important for us the last few games to keep playing hard and playing as a team and play together and get the chemistry so we can build that next year."
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
