Anyway, on to the game. After all of the hype about the nasty crowd, the crowd was pretty tame. The boos for Talbot and JJ were there, but not to the fever pitch advertised. The game got off to a promising start for the Penguins as Jordan Staal cashed in on his 15th goal of the season at the 19:16 mark off of a great feed from behind the net from Tyler Kennedy who earned his 14th assist of the season. 1-0 Penguins. However, Kimo Timmonen tied the game on a power play goal at 10:04 of the period off a great feed from Giroux and Simmonds. Game on. During that period the Pens and Flyers both played a fast up tempo game that looked like it could live up to all of the hype. That would change in period two, as the Flyers really began to dominate play, winning the puck battles and exposing the Penguins poor gap control defensively. At the 13:57 mark Jaromir Jagr ripped a backhander past Fleury to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. As much as I hate to say it, a beautiful play by 68, who was the best player on the ice last night. At 13:49. Matt Read beat Matt Niskanen to a Courtierer rebound to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead. The Penguins looked almost timid at times during this period. The third period started in a similar manner, but just when you thought the Pens would sleep walk through the rest of the game, Tyler Kennedy scored his 5th goal of the season blasting a rocket over the shoulder of Bobrovsky at 6:29 of the period from Malkin (28), and Simon Despres (3). The assist extended Malkin's scoring streak to 9 games (6G and 13A). And now we had a game! Not much later, the Flyers took a bench penalty and the turkey was on the table! But, as it had all night long, the Penguins power play fizzled with the game on the line, and Max Talbot sealed the deal with 24 seconds left to seal the deal for Philly at 4-2. It was a strange game for me to evaluate to be honest. On one hand, I really thought that for the latter part of the final two periods the Flyers were dominant despite the Pens outshooting them 26-23 for the game. It just felt like Philadelphia was playing with swagger, winning puck battles and getting better chances. Their team was evident all night, and the top line of Giroux, Hartnell and Jagr looked dangerous every time it was on the ice. The Penguins seemed to be intent on making pretty plays instead of getting the puck on the net and getting their noses dirty digging out rebounds. The Flyers top line played very well and you could see how dangerous a player Giroux is. I thought that Geno played a disappointing game overall, as did our top line in general, but you will have that at times. The negative view of the game is that the Penguins are now 0-2 against the Flyers and 0-3 against the Rangers and Flyers, their top two rivals in the Atlantic Division. The power play was a liability, and the Penguins looked almost flat despite the hype and magnitude of the game. The Penguins did not take advantage of the absence of Pronger to attack the Flyers net. Marc Andre Fleury made a few ten bell saves or this game could have been a blow out. The Flyers earned this game by outworking the Penguins and taking advantage of their opportunities. The positive view of this game is that despite all of the above, the Penguins could have won this game pretty readily. Jagr made the best back check play of life lifting Neal's stick just before he poked home a goal midway through the third period, and Joe Vitale hit a crossbar as well in that period. Both plays could have changed the outcome of the game. The Penguins are also still missing not only Crosby, but Letang, Martin and Engelland from the blue line, which is half of their starting 6 and still made this a game. I think that Letang's speed in particular on that top pairing makes a big difference in this game, as does Engo's toughness. But in the end, all of that is part of the game, and the Flyers took advantage of their chances, and killed a late power play to secure the victory, and that is the name of the game. On another note, Tyler Kennedy seems to be finding his stride, and was the most noticeable Penguins player on the ice. Orpik and Niskanen struggled last night. I was surprisingly happy about the tribute to Talbot and the crowd reaction to it. I also loved the lack of Jagr tribute! The crowd, for all of the pregame hype was very vanilla though. In short, put this one in the rear view mirror, focus on the Devils on Saturday, and let's get back on the winning track.
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