The Pittsburgh Penguins have a few outdoor games under their belt, but none as potentially satisfying as this.
Under the bright lights of Heinz Field, the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will renew their historic rivalry for the NHL's Stadium Series on Saturday night, logging another head-to-head battle in what is always a thrilling match-up.
The two Pennsylvanian teams have long been foes in the NHL, but this isn't just a geographic rivalry played up regardless of the players skating for each club. Go back over the past few years, and it's easy to spot the evidence of the two teams' genuine dislike for one another.
That being the case, here are the top three moments showcasing the recent history of the Penguins-Flyers rivalry:
2009: Talbot quiets the crowd
The Penguins and Flyers met in the first round of the '09 playoffs, battling through alternating one-sided tilts to eventually arrive at game six in Philadelphia. The Penguins held a 3-2 series lead - Philly wins and it goes to seven, Pittsburgh wins and it's over.
Four minutes into the second period, Daniel Briere scored to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead, getting the raucous orange-clad fans on their feet. Fresh off a shutout win on the road one game earlier, it was all falling Philadelphia's way.
Then Pittsburgh's Max Talbot threw a wrench into the plans.
The diminutive agitator goaded Philly's Dan Carcillo into a fight. After exchanging a few spirited blows, Talbot was taken to the ice, the two still volleying punches at one another. As the Penguins winger got up and skated to the bench, he put one finger to his lips, shushing the crowd and calling his mates to action.
Talbot's dramatics worked. Pittsburgh exploded for five straight goals to take the victory, ending the series at six games. The Penguins kept rolling all the way to a Stanley Cup championship, with Talbot playing the hero once again in the Cup-winning game.
2011: Jagr rejects Pittsburgh, chooses Flyers
In 2011, former Penguins legend Jaromir Jagr was rumored to be mulling over an NHL return. He'd been out of the league for three seasons after leaving the New York Rangers for the KHL.
Word got out that Jagr was considering a return to Pittsburgh. It was huge. After all the ill will, the second-greatest to ever wear the black and gold was going to reunite with the city that brought him into the league - the one he twice lifted the Cup for. Even better, he'd play alongside the team's new legends in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
But it didn't work out like that. Jagr spurned his old club and chose Philadelphia, inking a one-year, $3.3-million deal with the team - $1.3 million more than Pittsburgh's offer.
Jagr put up 19 goals and 54 points in 73 games for Philly, adding insult to injury by posting four goals and an assist in his team's six games against Pittsburgh.
For the Flyers, that wasn't even the most satisfying part. Jagr helped a then-young Claude Giroux blossom into one of the game's elite pivots, the latter scoring a career-best 93 points in his one season alongside Jagr.
Their chemistry was so great, Jagr went as far as to compare Giroux to another of his former teammates.
"Mario Lemieux," Jagr told NHL.com at the time. "A little Mario Lemieux, a little bit smaller - but he can see it."
Yikes.
2012: A playoff series for the ages
For all the hype that's often drummed up when two rivals meet in the postseason, few teams have lived up to it the way Pittsburgh and Philadelphia did in 2012.
Meeting for the first time since the '09 series, the Pennsylvanian clubs put on one of the most memorable six-game stretches in recent NHL history, giving fans everything from highlight reel offensive battles to captain-versus-captain fisticuffs.
After kicking things off with an overtime win in game one, the Flyers stomped Pittsburgh with two straight eight-goal performances in games two and three, taking the Penguins to the brink of elimination.
The series' third match saw tensions boil over as everyone had been waiting for, with captains Crosby and Giroux dropping the gloves while Kris Letang and Kimmo Timonen squared off. It was mayhem.
With their emotions having gotten the better of them and the series all but lost, Pittsburgh came out of nowhere and posted a 10-3 drubbing in game four to stay alive, with Malkin, Crosby, Letang, and Jordan Staal scoring seven of those tallies.
One of the most iconic moments of the series came in the very first shift of the final game, however. Pittsburgh had managed to grind out two wins to put Philly in the same position the Penguins had been in just a few years prior. Lose and it goes to seven, win and it's all over.
Giroux dispensed with the theatrics quickly, setting the tone by leveling Crosby with a bone-crunching check. It was a breakout moment for Giroux, and enough to spur the Flyers on to a 5-1 victory and a series win.
Giroux's performance was so impressive it prompted then-head coach Peter Laviolette to dub him "the best player in the world."
Look at us now
Needless to say, things have changed since that 2012 match-up.
The Penguins retooled and emerged as one of the league's best squads, capturing the second Stanley Cup of the Crosby era last season. The Flyers, meanwhile, have missed the playoffs in two of the past four years and haven't made it past the first round since.
Pittsburgh took the only meeting between the two teams this season - way back in October - and the Penguins beat their in-state rivals in three of four games last season, Philly's only win coming in the last game of the campaign, with all of Pittsburgh's big guns scratched.
There's never a shortage of fireworks when the two teams meet. Rest assured, the Penguins will be looking to reverse their recent outdoor-game fortunes - their last two appearances consisted of a 5-1 loss to Chicago at Soldier Field and the near end of Crosby's career during the last tilt at Heinz Field.
Time for some redemption in Pittsburgh? The Flyers will be all too willing to stop that from happening, with Philadelphia set on knocking the Penguins down a few pegs and slowing their recent ascent.
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