The Bullying Rangers Invade The Home Of The Bullies

The New York Rangers are not only the best team in the National Hockey League they're the best bullies.

And guess what?

This afternoon they'll invade Wells Fargo Center, home of the Broad Street Bullies. (Make that former Broad Street Bullies.)

But guess what -- again?

The toughest "bully" on the Broad Street is their coach John (Himself) Tortorella.

This Flyers team has none of the intimidating qualities of Philadelphia's two-time ('74, '75) Stanley Cup champions. The likes of Dave (Hamner) Schultz, Andre (Moose) Dupont, Bob (Hound) Kelly and Ed (The Spear) Van Impe were the intimidator kings.

Torts' current very well coached team is the surprise of Bettman, Inc. Projected to finish eighth -- alias dead last place-- in the Metro Division, the Flyers are playoff bound; and I don't mean "maybe" either.

And the funniest part of all this is if you take a gander at Philly's lineup it makes you think of the 98-pound weaklink at Coney Islander getting sand kicked in his face by Joe Very Meany.

But once the Flyers step on the ice they have this quaint idea about being a lot different than Philadelphia teams that haven't made a playoff appearance since 2020. Torts has taught these guys how to win.

Truth be told the Blueshirt Bullies could very well intimidate these freshly-minted Flyers just the way they bulldozed the Devils on Thursday night in Newark.

Almost 6-9 feet tall, Matt Rempe immediately made like Gargantua and -- without further ado -- conked poor Nate Bastian so hard that some witnesses at The Rock still are eagerly awaiting NHL suspension news which, by the way, we will never hear.

As amateur arbiter Peter Laviolette pointed out "Matt never lifted his arm. Everything was down and nothing (arms) was up."

Then, as if Rempe needed further exoneration, Lavvy added the obvious. "He's just a big man."

And because he has this King Kong thing about him, Rempe,all could very well have struck fear in the all Devils; along with Matt's surly sidekick, Jacob (Jake The Rake) Trouba.

After bloody-faced Bastian returned to the game, Trouba got the feeling that enough was not enough. The Rangers captain hit the embattled Devil so hard -- check this out -- Bastian is now on the injured list.

The litmus test for an intimidating team like the Rangers -- as it was with the old, Champ Flyers -- is whether the opposing team retaliates. That the Rangers one-two (Rempe-Trouba) punch worked to perfection against the Devils was underlined by a disgusted New Jersey reporter.

"None of our guys responded physically. Nobody put the fear of God into the Rangers."

And it won't happen today on Broad Street either.

Not if "The One-Two Punch Kids" -- Rempe and Trouba -- have anything to say about it!