Bryan Rust

After a weekend sweep in Buffalo, the Flyers were gearing up to face one of the best in the world and get a test from a team right there in the playoff race. But on Tuesday morning, Sidney Crosby was ruled out for Tuesday upon his placement on the NHL's COVID list. Now, the Flyers will face the rest of the Penguins without their captain, as this three-game series begins on Tuesday night. 

Hockey is back. The NHL drops the puck on the 2020-21 season at last on Wednesday evening, and the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins are once again welcoming you back. The season opener from Wells Fargo Center is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.

The Flyers get a rivalry matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, quite the way to make their return to the ice for the first time in nearly five months. Game time is 4 p.m.

For the next few weeks, we’ll take a look back on several playoff series in Flyers history, both won and lost by the Flyers, and review them to see some of the turning points within the series and how the result could have been different. We begin with the Flyers last playoff series back in 2018 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sidney Crosby fired home the game-winning goal just 55 seconds into overtime to hand the Flyers a 4-3 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

The Flyers secured a 3-0 win 10 days ago against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and now will open up the second-half push to the playoffs by meeting the Penguins again, this time on the road.

The next chapter in the Battle of Pennsylvania has a lot at stake for both sides. The Penguins are challenging for the division lead, just four points behind the Capitals, while the Flyers look to go into the All-Star break and bye week on a high note.

In two straight games, the Flyers have not been close to competitive and played atrocious defense, certainly alarming signs with more divisional games still to come.

The Penguins completed a season sweep on the Flyers with a 5-4 overtime decision on Sunday afternoon, as the Flyers continued to slowly but surely move closer to a playoff spot, albeit with more performance issues creeping in.