Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
#2: Washington Capitals Vs. Philadelphia Flyers
This matchup will happen twice on NBCSN (January 27th at the Verizon Center and March 30th in Philly) and once on NBC (Sunday February 7th at the Verizon Center). The reason this is so high on the list isn’t because the Flyers are good (because they aren’t). It’s because the Washington Capitals and Flyers absolutely HATE each other.
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Last season, the Caps struggled mightily against the Flyers. The Flyers didn’t make the playoffs, but they did win three out of their four games against the Caps. The Flyers actually did quite well against good teams in 2014-2015. They just stunk against the bad teams.
The Flyers haven’t really improved at all this off-season unless you count addition by subtraction (which I do). They traded virtually worthless goon Zac Rinaldo to the Boston Bruins for a third round pick. Any time you can dump a goon onto someone else for a third round pick, that’s an excellent trade. They also traded declining defenseman Nicklas Grossman and the contract of Chris Pronger to the Arizona Coyotes. They had to take Sam Gagner back from Arizona, but I think he could be a change of scenery guy. They also added Michal Neuvirth as a backup plan for Steve Mason. Neuvirth is much better than Ray Emery.
All three games of this match up should be good because no matter how bad one of the two teams are, they always seem to play each other close.
Next: #1: Black And Gold Affair