The Caps Don't Like Philly Much

With the Flyers in D.C. for the first time tonight since they ended the Capitals' season last April, apparently Philadelphia and its fans certainly made quite an impression on the young team and their coach.

They really don't care for their rivals up I-95.

Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn took this away from Wachovia Center in last year's playoff series, according to the Washington Post:

"People weren't moving" for the police escort, Morrisonn said. "They were mooning us, throwing stuff at us, beer bottles, whatever they had in their hands. It's to be expected from Philly fans. Didn't they boo Santa Claus?"

Of course, while the Flyers and their fans aren't beloved among many of their opponents - just ask Sidney Crosby - the Caps got a heavy dose of Philadelphia last season by playing 11 games against them, and a 7-1 loss in the team's first meeting at Wachovia Center this year didn't help the team's love for the team. Even the normally affable coach Bruce Boudreau wasn't mincing words before tonight's battle with Philly.

"I don't know how much they like us, but we don't like them," Boudreau said. "I think the animosity [at the end of last month's game] was more frustration on our part. We thought we had played a pretty good game, but yet we were down 7-1. There were a lot of boiling points. They wanted to pile it on as much as possible. They were probably bummed out that their tough guy got beat up twice, so they started coming after our guys."

For their part, the Flyers didn't seem to be taking the pregame bait, as coach John Stevens told the Post he didn't want to get into a war of words with his counterpart.

You know what, you guys can take this Boudreau stuff and you guys can take it somewhere else. I'm not getting drawn into any tit-for-tat stuff. I mean, I don't know where this is going. Bruce, he coaches the Washington Capitals. I don't care what he says. I've got my team to get ready here. This is obviously an important game, it's a hard game, and I don't care what he said, to be honest with you. He can say what he wants. Our team plays the way we play; we're a stand-up, honest hockey team. And he can save that stuff for the media outside of me, because I don't really care to hear it.

Of course, it's a bit different for the Flyers, with Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division, the successor to the Patrick Division of the 1980s, of which the Caps were taken out of the equation when the Southeast Divison was formed. The teams hadn't hooked up for a playoff series for 19 years, but the young Caps' core got a bitter taste of the rivalry in April. Thanks to that, the Caps shoved the Flyers on the hated list ahead of the Penguins (whom many players think the rivalry is more of a media creation), the new division rival Hurricanes, and the Rangers.

Either way,with a full house expected, it should make for an interesting game tonight in Washington, as the Caps try to exact a small measure of revenge for the last game the two teams played at Verizon Center.