The Philadelphia Flyers will play the PIttsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NHL Playoffs

On Friday, the all-sports rivalry between Pennsylvania’s two major cities will continue when the Philadelphia Flyers meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals in the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Everything is at stake in this series. The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Championship series and take on either the Detroit Red Wings or the Dallas Stars, the two teams playing in the west semifinal.

The Flyers and the Penguins play in the Atlantic Division. The Penguins won the division title and were the second seed in the East, but the Flyers finished fourth and were the sixth seed.

On paper, the Penguins appear to be the better team with Pittsburgh stars like Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin against Flyers stars Derian Hatcher and Danny Briere.

Yet the Flyers won the season series 4-3, which included the last game of the regular season.

That last regular season game had some irony. If the Penguins had won, they would have faced the Flyers in the first-round dropping that team to the seventh seed.

The Penguins didn’t play their whole lineup that game, wanting to avoid that early match up. Some media observers think they wanted to avoid playing the Flyers.

Flyers and Penguins have met in playoffs

The last time the two Keystone teams met in the playoffs was in 2000 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Flyers won the series 4-2 which included a five-overtime classic at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena with the Flyers winning 2-1 in a game that ended around 3 a.m.

The two teams entered the NHL as expansion franchises in the same season, 1967, and both have won two Stanley Cups, the Flyers in 1974 and 1975, and the Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

Pittsburgh believes it has bragging rights over Philadelphia

The Flyers-Penguins rivalry is the hockey version of the rivalry between the two Keystone cities.

The Eagles and Steelers both entered the National Football League in 1933 and during World War II, combined to become the Pennsylvania Steagles because of a player shortage.

The Steelers have a national and world following winning five Super Bowls in 1974, 1975, 1978, 1975 and 2005.

The Eagles haven’t won a championship in the Super Bowl era, but won NFL titles (yes they count) in 1948, 1949 and 1960.

The Frankford Yellow Jackets, the precursor to the Eagles, won the NFL title in 1926, so the city has four football titles combined.

The Philadelphia-Pittsburgh baseball rivalry

There is no question the Pittsburgh Pirates have a richer history than the Philadelphia Phillies. The Pirates won the World Series five times in 1909, 1925, 1960, 1971 and 1979.

The Phillies only World Series trophy came in 1980.

But today’s fans forget that Philadelphia had two major league teams.

The Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954), now in Oakland, won the World Series in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930 giving Philadelphia a total of six baseball titles.

Pittsburgh has no professional basketball

This is the sport that puts Philadelphia over the top since the city had two NBA teams in its history, the Philadelphia Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers.

Late hall-of fame great Wilt Chamberlain, a Philadelphia native, played for both of his home town teams.

The Warriors, now in Oakland as the Golden State Warriors, won two NBA titles in 1947 and 1956. The Warriors moved away in 1962, but the 76ers, who were the Syracuse Nationals, moved to Philly in 1963.

The Sixers won NBA titles in 1967 and 1983.

Pittsburgh briefly had pro basketball in 1970 and 1971 with the Condors of the ABA.

Philadelphia has most titles, but haven’t won in 25 years

The Sixers title in 1983 was the last time any Philly team has won a major championship. Fans believe there is a curse because the city’s skyline rose above William Penn’s statue on top of city hall.

Pittsburgh’s most recent title came three years ago and its fans always claim their market to be City of Champions.

Philadelphia still holds the lead in overall titles, 16 to 12.

It’s up to the Flyers to break the curse of Billy Penn’s hat and give eastern Pa fans some bragging rights.