Fasten those chin straps for Game 3

The flame on the front burner figures to keep turning up.

It did in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, making Game 1 seem in retrospect like barely a spark.

Seconds after Monday night's opening faceoff the Blackhawks' Dave Bolland applied a little shove to the back of Flyers captain Mike Richards.

From there in the first period alone it was pick a partner - Ben Eager and Aaron Asham, Jonathan Toews and Chris Pronger, Tomas Kopecky and Daniel Carcillo, essentially whoever with whomever.

After the Hawks broke a scoreless tie late in the second period, Philadelphia's Jeff Carter body slammed Troy Brouwer in front of the Hawks' net.

So now that the Hawks have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after a 2-1 victory in the United Center, expect all of Philadelphia to be angry when the teams reconvene Wednesday in the Wachovia Center.

Bodies will be banging, bones should be rattling, and heads might even be rolling.

"You have to expect a loud building," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've played in loud buildings in Nashville and San Jose. We're excited about feeling we have to be at our best."

Loud is one thing, menacing is another. The impression always has been that mobs, er, crowds in places like Philly, Boston and New York are at a different level of insanity as Eastern crowds get down and dirty.

Remember, this is Philly: A police lockup was necessary to confine rowdy fans inside the old Veterans Stadium; recently a fan at a Phillies game intentionally vomited on another fan who turned out to be a cop's kid; and security used a Taser to take down a teenager who ran onto the field at another Phils game.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook put it this way last week: "Flyers fans never change. They were rude and crude in the '70s. They're still rude and crude today."

The fans' edge trickles down to the players, making for a physically and emotionally charged atmosphere.

Yes, especially in an already physically and emotionally charged sport like hockey.

"Philly teams are always designed to have grit to them," John Madden said.

The Hawks' center found that out up close when he played the Flyers often while with the New Jersey Devils. He mentioned that it's a tradition handed down from when Bobby Clarke was the heart of the Flyers' championship teams in the 1970s.

"They pick their team, draft guys with an edge," Madden said. "They're scrappy. All the Philadelphia teams I played against played that way. Eric Lindros played like that. They're definitely hard to play against."

With the Philly crowd behind the Flyers this week, and this being the Stanley Cup Finals, temperatures will rise.

NHL rules no longer encourage or condone Flyers teams nicknamed the Broad Street Bullies, but these guys aren't the Broad Street Bunnies either.

Nothing says the Hawks won't be up to the challenge. They have proven their own edge and grit.

"It's going to be a good atmosphere in the Wachovia Center," Eager, a former Flyer, said without a hint of concern.

So strap it on and let 'er rip, because this Hawks-Flyers series figures to get nastier as it progresses.

mimrem@dailyherald.com