Now that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are locked in as the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, let's just take a moment and let the awesomeness of this first-rounder sink in.
The Malkamania brawl. The Laviolette tantrum. The intrastate rivalry. What the Penguins fans will do to the Rocky statue, and what the Flyers fans will do to the Mario statue. (Seriously, the city of Pittsburgh might need 24/7 sniper coverage.) Max Talbot in the playoffs against the Penguins; and, of course, the same goes for Jaromir Jagr:
This isn't the first time Jagr will face the Penguins in the postseason while wearing another uniform.
In 2008, he was on a New York Rangers team that was eliminated in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, scoring seven points (3 goals, 4 assists). That was the series in which Jagr barked at Sidney Crosby about embellishing penalties, which really didn't help dispel all that "Crosby's a diver" stuff during his formative years.
But that was Jagr as a Ranger, with a few years lost in the Washington wilderness as a buffer between that and his Penguins years. This is Jagr as a Flyer, with a chance to help take out what he called "the best team in the league" in the first round, after the contentious rivalry between the squads this season.
In five games against the Penguins, Jagr has three goals and an assist, skating to a minus-1. All the he said/he said about his courtship by the Penguins, and the aftermath of his decision to sign in Philly, has been hashed and rehashed during the regular season. It's subsidiary now to the more important story, which is on the ice: The Flyers signed Jagr to help them win a Stanley Cup, and he has a chance to prevent the Penguins from doing so themselves.
There's a lot of sexy in his Penguins/Flyers series. As those ladies in the firefighter ad will tell you, it doesn't get much sexier than Jagr.