Putting up a good fight

The Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers haven’t met in the playoffs in nearly 20 years, but when the teams squared off three times in the 1980s, there was a common theme — a barrage of hostility.

Games were packed with big hits, fights and plenty of penalty minutes. Now, those who facilitated the Broad Street Bullies bravado are long gone in Philadelphia, and the Caps don’t have multiple players who routinely rack up more than 200 minutes in the penalty box anymore, but that doesn’t mean this series — which begins tonight at Verizon Center — can’t feature some old-school fireworks.

“We certainly know about the games we’ve had against them and the rivalry we have,” said Caps pugilist Donald Brashear, who spent parts of four seasons with the Flyers before joining the Caps. “We’re going to keep it going. These are fun games for us to play.”

Added teammate Brooks Laich: “We know it is going to be physical. We expect to get hit, and we’re going to hit back. I think that’s how they play, and it is going to be exciting for [people] to watch. It is going to be physical. It is going to be fast, and fights might break out. It is the playoffs — you never know what is going to happen.”

While the game has changed and fighting is not nearly as prominent as it was the last time these teams met in the playoffs, ramped up physical play is still part of the NHL postseason phenomenon. Teams survive on emotion, and the momentum in each game can sway back and forth on each big hit or fight as much as the goals and great saves.

Both of these teams were constructed with plenty of rugged players suited for that style of hockey. The Caps’ physical play starts with their best player. Alex Ovechkin’s impact doesn’t end with the goals — he is among the league leaders in hits and is just as likely to go through a defender as he is around one.

Ovechkin has plenty of backup. Brashear was brought to Washington in part to deter opposing players from taking liberties on the team’s skilled players, and he remains one of the league’s best fighters. Matt Bradley and John Erskine also are more than willing to fight, and new addition Matt Cooke’s willingness to punish players on the forecheck has been a valuable addition.

“I’m definitely pumped up,” Erskine said. “That’s my style of game — the physical stuff, the fighting — that’s my type of thing. But it is playoff hockey, so it would be easy to get pumped up for any team.”

The Flyers had gotten away from their physical reputation, but the team has shifted back toward its roots by adding Scott Hartnell and Jason Smith and giving more opportunities to homegrown tough guys like Riley Cote and Steve Downie.

Accepting a more aggressive style of play led to several suspensions earlier this season and a reputation for crossing the line.

“I don’t know that it is true, and I don’t mind it,” general manager Paul Holmgren said. “People say that, but I think a lot of it was overblown earlier in the year when we had the suspensions. … We’re certainly not the Broad Street Bullies. I think we are a team that needs to play physical to be effective — much like the Capitals are in that regard.”

While several players said there might actually be less fighting because players are wary of taking a bad penalty, there is recent history between these teams to suggest some work with the fists might be had.

Brashear overpowered Cote in a game at Wachovia Center, while Bradley and Smith also tangled later in the season. The Brashear-Cote encounter was in Caps coach Bruce Boudreau’s first game, and later in that contest Chris Clark took exception to a hit by Hartnell on Boyd Gordon and picked a fight.

Clark forgot about the rule prohibiting players from instigating a fight with a visor on, and since he didn’t take his helmet off he was assessed 19 minutes in penalties.

“We know how they play, and they know how we play unless they have a bunch of surprises in store for us,” Boudreau said. “The prototypical Philadelphia team is an aggressive, in-your-face team. That’s how they’ve been since 1972. They’ve been that way this year and they’ve been successful. I don’t think they are going to turn into a bunch of guys who would win the Lady Byng [Trophy].”

Laich’s only fight of the year was with Mike Richards, and it didn’t go well for either player. Richards landed the most punches, but his nose was cut open by the official who broke up the donnybrook.

Ovechkin even has some history with Richards. In what was his only true attempt at a fight in his three-year career, Ovechkin traded punches with Richards in a preseason game last year.

“I remember it. Actually it was not much of fight,” Ovechkin said. “No, I don’t beat him. I can’t fight. I just start [protecting myself] and say, ’Don’t hit me. Don’t hit me.’ I don’t like fights.”