The temperature at the opening faceoff was 36 degrees Fahrenheit but blustery crosswinds made it feel much colder. With the winds kicking up, the teams switched sides at the start of the third period (with the long change for the first 10 minutes, ala the second period) and then switched back at the 10-minute mark.

Entering the previous Stadium Series game, the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins boasted a 37-14-18 record entering the Stadium Series and were eventually on their way to their second straight Cup. The Flyers, in a 2-5-1 tailspin entering the game, were 28-25-7.

The 2019 Stadium Series game at Lincoln Financial Field will be the fourth outdoor game in Flyers' history (two Winter Classics, two Stadium Series), the second to be held in Philadelphia, and the second between the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Two years ago, the teams clashed in the 2017 Stadium Series at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, with a Flyers comeback bid falling shot in a 4-2 loss.

Asked recently what they remember from the 2017 game against the Penguins, most of the Flyers players who are still on the team recalled relatively few specifics -- this is hardly uncommon for players because the details fade quickly due the sheer volume of games they play. What they do recall clearly is that their team lost what felt to be a winnable game.

"I just remember that it was a pretty [lousy] feeling. We felt like we had more to give and we didn't play our best game," Simmonds said.

Two years later, both teams are fighting to get into the playoffs with the stretch drive looming. The Flyers are currently 28-25-7 -- the same record they had at the time of the game two years ago, with one more to play beforehand in Montreal -- but are moving in a much more positive direction than they were two years ago.

Two years ago, the bottom dropped out for Philly after a 10-game winning streak, and the team was reeling by the time the Stadium Series rolled around. This time, even with a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, the Flyers are 13-3-1 over their last 17 games. Oddly enough, the Flyers overall best recent 60-minute effort was actually a 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Feb. 11; a game that Philly controlled for most of the 60 minutes but in which Murray played one of his best games of the season.

For the Flyers, an ideal scenario would be a win in Montreal on Thursday, a Penguins loss in regulation to San Jose the same night, and then a Stadium Series victory over Pittsburgh (preferably in regulation) come Saturday night at Lincoln Financial Field. That combination would be the equivalent of an eight-point swing in the standings and vault the Flyers back within four points of Pittsburgh (currently in third place in the Metro). Conversely, Flyers losses in Montreal and the Stadium Series could render the post-trade deadline stretch drive a moot point for Philly.

The "one-day-at-a-time" cliche looms large for the Flyers right now, as it has for the last six weeks.

"Let's be honest, we need all the points we can get. We don't have a lot of margin for error, so every game is vital, especially those four-point games [within the Metro Division and within the conference]. Yeah, Pittsburgh has been our rival over the years. But we just have to worry about our own business and the next game we have. What happened against Pittsburgh two years ago and the playoffs last year doesn't mean anything now. What matters for us is next game and then the game after that," Voracek said on Feb.15.

Over the last few years, there has not been as much intensity to most Flyers-Penguins games as there was in the late-2000s to mid-2010s, when high-scoring affairs were common, large-scale chippiness and multiple fights per game were commonplace and, in one instance, even the respective coaches (former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and ex-Penguins coach Dan Bylsma) screamed at each other while standing up on their respective benches. Things have calmed down for the most part the last few seasons, although that has been more to Pittsburgh's benefit than Philly's.

While no one should expect a return to the all-out wars and sky-high emotions of the clashes between the teams from 2012 stretch drive and playoff series through the 2014-15 seasons, things heated up again to some degree the last time the Penguins were in town on Feb. 11. The game was a bit more physical than standard mid-season fare. The heat cranked up late in the third period when the often hotheaded Malkin took a deliberate one-handed swing with his stick aimed at the head of Flyers' forward Michael Raffl in immediate relation for Raffl popping him just below the back of his helmet with a gloves-on punch a split second earlier. Fortunately, both for Raffl and for Malkin, the stick only grazed Raffl and did not do any damage.

Malkin, who had just returned to the Pittsburgh lineup from an injury-related received a match penalty and a one-game suspension from the NHL (the 32-year-old's first career suspension, although far from his first NHL career incident involving reckless stick-swinging or other dangerous infractions such as slew-footing that were potentially suspension-worthy but were allowed to slide). Afterwards, he was less than remorseful and openly stated he did it with intent. He then noted that the swing did no damage.

"It's a high stick, but it's not like I broke his face," Malkin said postgame. "I know it's dirty, but I missed."

Malkin predicted that he would not be suspended for the incident. After the suspension came down, the veteran said he understood why he had to sit out one additional game but disagreed with it.

"I didn't touch his face. I touched his shoulder. I think he dove," Malkin said. "I missed five games because I had a problem with my neck. He hit me behind my neck. Of course I'm a little bit upset."

Unsurprisingly, Flyers interim head coach Scott Gordon rejected Malkin's version of the events.

"Well, it wasn't a high stick. It was a baseball swing. Just because you don't connect doesn't mean it wasn't vicious. It's a tough call. There was intent to swing hard and he did. It didn't connect. I don't think you reward a player [with lesser supplementary discipline] because he didn't connect," Gordon said.

The Malkin/Raffl incident from the previous game is a mere subplot to the Stadium Series. The Flyers cannot afford -- and insist they will not -- be focused on retribution. They have a hockey game they need to win, and will need to play a sharp, disciplined game to do so.

However, come Saturday night, expect plenty of Flyers chirping directed at Malkin and attempts to get him off his game. Malkin recently dropped the gloves with veteran Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos but that was under different circumstances and he is not typically one to do so. More commonly, however, Malkin (and longtime Penguins defenseman and Flyers nemesis Kris Letang) is considerably easier to goad into doing something foolish than fellow Penguins superstar Crosby.

However, it is still Crosby who is the more hated Penguins player to the Philadelphia crowds, stemming all the way back to incidents from his 2005-06 rookie season and periodic flare-ups thereafter, especially in the 2012 playoff series when the animosity was hitting its zenith. Good luck convincing the orange-and-black faithful that Crosby is anything other than a bratty crybaby over and above being arguably the best hockey player of his generation.

It was also Crosby, after a period of several seasons in which the Penguins regularly lost to the Flyers because Philly had gotten in their heads, who made a conscious effort to "stick to hockey" when playing Philly and urged his teammates to follow suit. Pittsburgh ended up benefiting from the de-escalation of tensions, because their rosters had more high-end talent and depth than Philly's. That tide may be finally turning now, albeit gradually and incrementally.

The Penguins' window of being a perennial championship contender, while certainly not yet slammed shut, appears to be starting to close as they come back closer to the pack and other teams gain on them. The Flyers are among the teams in the East who have narrowed the gap significantly. In Philly's case, they not only emerging NHL-level young talent that has played important roles in the second-half surge thus far but a deep farm system underneath it. Pittsburgh has a nearly barren cupboard from annually trading their first-round picks and, often, second-rounders as well. That bill hasn't come due yet on the Penguins, but it likely will in the near future.

In the here and now, the Penguins are still the superior team to Philly and are favored to win whenever the teams clash head-to-head. This is based on the Penguins sitting

a comfortable eight above the Flyers in the standings this season, their two recent Cup rings and the likes of Crosby and Malkin still being elite players in the NHL in their early 30s. None of this is truly disputable until such a time that the Flyers prove otherwise.

However, a Flyers win at the Stadium Series would a preliminary statement of sorts; a night that could be looked back upon down the road as a turning point to the next chapter of the interstate rivalry. In the immediate future, which is all that really matters at the moment, the 2019 Stadium Series game first and foremost means two points that the Flyers desperately need and need more than the Penguins do.