The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers have traded bodychecks for three games now, giving them enough time to develop an abhorrence of each other.
That loathing increased yesterday, a little more than 14 hours after Game 3 ended and more than 24 hours before tonight's Game 4 at the Air Canada Centre.
Toronto won Game 3 on Wednesday 4-1, cutting the Flyers' lead in the Eastern Conference semi-final to 2-1.
The Leafs were asked to respond to charges made by Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock and some of his players that the Leafs play with more brashness at home.
The Flyers pointed to Alexander Mogilny, a perimeter player in the first two games at Philadelphia. On Wednesday, he uncharacteristically threw a bodycheck at Flyers defenceman Marcus Ragnarsson in the first period and nailed Danny Markov with a borderline hit in the third period. Mogilny said Markov tripped over a stick, which made the hit look worse than it was.
Toronto forward Nik Antropov said part of the Leafs' game plan was to pound the Flyers' defence because it has six Europeans and they would not be used to the pounding.
"It's ridiculous," said Flyers defenceman Kim Johnsson, a Swede who will play in the series for the first time tonight after breaking his right hand in the finale of the Flyers' series with the New Jersey Devils on April 17.
"We have been here for a while and we know what to expect." Hitchcock said. "What [Antropov]is banking on is that they [the defencemen]are not used to the physical play. I hope he keeps banking on that."
Also bubbling to the surface was the playing history of Flyers general manager Bob Clarke, who took out Valeri Kharlamov with a slash in the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia.
"He must have taught them something," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said, referring to the Flyers' defencemen.
"That was a pretty good chop by their guy [Ragnarsson on Mogilny in the third period]"
Ragnarsson was retaliating not only for Mogilny's hit on Markov, but for the knee-on-knee check Mogilny gave to Ragnarsson in the first period Wednesday.
"We're going to go after their guys just like they go after our guys," Hitchcock said.
Markov laughed off Antropov's comments about the Flyers' lack of toughness on the blueline.
"We have a tough enough defence," Markov said. "[Antropov]can say whatever he wants to say. We expected this before the series. Whatever he says, I don't care."
Markov also accused Mogilny of delivering a dirty hit.
"I always play hard," Markov said. "But one thing I don't like is the dirty hits. I never hit people dirty. If there is something wrong with my hit, I get a penalty."
Mogilny wasn't buying that accusation. He also disputed the notion that the Leafs are more willing to get physical because they are playing at home.
"You know, let them say whatever they say," Mogilny said. "That's how they've been talking all the time. If they want to change the momentum that way, fine.
"We know it's an important game for us [tonight]and hopefully we continue what we started [Wednesday]night. It's exciting, it's playoff hockey out there. They're a big team, they like to hit. We got plenty of people hitting, too. You can't intimidate anybody in this game. Doesn't matter if you lay somebody out, you get up and go back at it again."
The Leafs' aggression was aided by the Flyers' difficulty moving the puck in their end. This allowed the Leafs to establish a fore-check and lay some big hits.
As a result, Hitchcock will make a few adjustments for tonight. He has juggled his lines in an effort to get four balanced units. Hitchcock said he believes the series will only become more physical and he wants to roll four lines so the Flyers don't get worn down. Quinn was able to use four lines effectively in Game 3.
"If the refs are going to let us go after each other, which I think is tremendous, it's going to be a four-line series," Hitchcock said.
In practice yesterday, the Flyers had Jeremy Roenick back at centre between John LeClair and Mark Recchi. Alex Zhamnov was in the middle of Simon Gagné and Tony Amonte, while centre Michal Handzus played alongside Radovan Somik and Branko Radivojevic, and captain Keith Primeau will centre Donald Brashear and Sami Kapanen, who filled in for Johnsson in his absence on defence.
For the Leafs, Quinn could have Mikael Renberg back from his troublesome hamstring injury. But veteran Joe Nieuwendyk is doubtful to return after missing the past two games because of back spasms.