Sunday afternoon's 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins made the Philadelphia Flyers a perfect 5-0-0 at the Consol Energy Center, a fact Peter Laviolette addressed in the postgame. The secret: delectable ribs.
"We buy ribs from DeeJays in Weirton after the game and have them delivered to the plane," Laviolette said, "And those ribs seem to be doing the trick. It went back to last year, too. Whenever the ribs are ordered, we win. I want to thank DeeJays."
Unfortunately, DeeJays doesn't want to thank Laviolette. Dewey Guida, the owner of the West Virginia restaurant, immediately came under fire from Penguins fans wondering why he was feeding the Flyers' success -- literally. In response, Guida, a diehard Penguins fan, has cut off all rib service to the Flyers.
"No more ribs for them," Guida told the Steubenville Herald-Star. "And I pray, I hope, that the Penguins beat their skates off."
Guida and Laviolette have been friends for years, first getting to know each other when Laviolette was coach of the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers. But the man is running a business, and with his place under a hour out of Pittsburgh, he can't be alienating the local clientele -- some of whom are members of the Penguins themselves -- by aiding and abetting the enemy with his fall off the bone BBQ pork ribs. From the Herald-Star:
"So many Penguins are my friends, I've had so many Stanley cups at my place," Guida said. "So for sure, let everyone know - I am a Penguin fan, not a Flyer fan. What happened was sometime last year, Peter wanted to treat his guys to some ribs, so I said sure. They were playing the Penguins and I brought the ribs up to the plane. Since the Pens moved to the Consol Center they haven't beaten the Flyers and on each occasion, I took ribs up to their plane.
"The last time, actually, was Sunday. He called me Saturday and said they wanted ribs, but to bring more 'cause his guys all want to eat them now. So, my wife and I drove up to the airport, dropped them off and left. After the game, little did I know he would go into the press conference and say the reason they won was our ribs."
And with that disclosure, Laviolette and the Flyers lost rib privileges for the foreseeable future.
Yes, Laviolette has only himself to blame for turning Guida into his own personal soup nazi for ribs. While you can't blame him for having ribs on the brain, especially since he knew they were waiting for him back at the plane, I would hazard a guess that the Flyers coach regrets his actions in the postgame presser far more than the tirade at the bench that cost him ten grand.
For those of you who don't believe in superstitions, let me outline where I think the sudden embargo on ribs may hurt the Flyers nonetheless: the postgame nap. Ribs put you right to sleep.
Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney