Simmonds and Oleksiak go to war in epic back and forth fight.

The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins have shared one of the most raucous rivalries in the past several seasons and considering it's a battle of 2 rival teams from the same state that should come as very little surprise.

That being said though with both teams having their own set of struggles this season many wondered whether or not the Saturday night rivalry match up between the 2 sides would live up to expectations. Well we did not have to wait long for the match up to deliver, in fact in the opening minutes of the match up the bad blood between these two teams boiled up in a major way, and delivered in a major way on top of that. 

It's hard to tell exactly what happened to set this whole thing off, I'm sure the years of hatred between these two teams may have played some role in things, but Philadelphia Flyers veteran forward Wayne Simmonds appeared to give Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak a little rub in the corner after a clearing attempt, and it seems like that was all it took to set Oleksiak off. The two men exchange a few shoves and perhaps more than a few words before eventually squaring off with one another and dropping the gloves. 

I have to admit I thought this one was going to be over early when Oleksiak landed a massive uppercut to the chin of Simmonds, an uppercut that appeared to buckle the Flyers forward. Simmonds looked to be in a world of trouble but much to his credit he continued to absorb some punishment Oleksiak before he eventually began to mount some offense of his own. Simmonds threw a couple of big right hands that failed to connect but when he switched to the left he found considerably more success. It was then that Simmonds connected with some big shots of his own, knocking off Oleksiak's helmet in the process and largely taking control of the fight.

Both men landed a few more glancing blows after that and the officials split it up with both men looking like they could continue to go. Who do you give this one to?

[pub]