The fact that the Flyers are 7-1-1 in their last 9 games against Pittsburgh and 5-0 in the Consol Energy Center should be a bit alarming for those of us who live and die by the blacka and gold team on skates. It appears almost certain that the Penguins and Flyers will meet in the first round of Lord Stanley's annual tournament for the right to drink from his coveted silver chalice, and those numbers are not promising. All that remains to be seen is who has home ice, though it hardly appears that home ice has been an advantage for Pittsburgh against the Flyers, who just beat Pittsburgh again at home 6-4. This loss leaves the Flyers just 1 point behind Pittsburgh, with three games left for both teams, one of which is against each other to end the season. I will start with the end, since that is what everybody is talking about, and there is enough hate going around from both ends of the state to start WW III. From where I sit, most of what occurred from both sides is playoff style hockey from two heated rivals, playing in a game that may as well have been a playoff contest, with possibly 8 more coming. The play that precipitated the ugliness from the Penguins perspective is the cross check by the bench by Braydon Schenn on Crosby during the play in which Sullivan had actually scored. Bylsma felt as if it were a cheap hit and that Schenn had targetted the Penguins captain. Truthfully, Crosby had given Schenn a shot on his way past him to the bench, but the cross check from Schenn was pretty blatant. Then, after a faceoff late in the game, Joe Vitale crushed Daniel Briere in the neutral zone with a very clean, but very violent hit. I have a couple of comments here. First, if Zac Rinaldo had hit Neal like that, our players would have reacted in much the same that the Flyers players did, so I do not blame the Flyers for reacting as they did on the ice. It is important to note that Briere had given Vitale or Adams a quick spear off the faceoff, and Vitale made him pay the price, and the Flyers took exception. So much so that Peter Laviolette shattered Max Talbot's stick on the glass, and in the ensuring scrum almost came to blows with Penguins assistant Tony Granato. Players squared off on the ice, and many penalties were given out. I still don't have a big problem with anything that has occurred thus far, it is part of the game, like it or not. It is a fast, physical, violent, emotional game, and emotions ran high. I give props to many of the players on the ice. I have no issue with the Flyers getting physical and standing up for Briere, and give Wayne Simmonds props for having the balls to take on Deryk Engelland, especially with his recent run in with a puck to the face. I also love Asham for attempting to get Schenn to pay for his cheap shot, and I missed whomover engaged Vitale, but all of that is pretty standard. Granato and Laviolette were ejected, and each had stood up with passion for his respective team. Unlike many Pens fans, I have no real issue with Hartnell getting into it with the Malkamania either. It was fun to watch, and nobody was hurt. Where it got kind of classless to me was in the post game interviews. Players from both sides were pretty non-chalant about the situation, calling it playoff hockey. But Laviolette, a man I had grown to admire a bit, was cheap and classless postgame when he called the move by Bylsma gutless to put his 4th line out there, down by 3 goals with two minutes or so left, after a rookie took a bit of a shot at an oft injured captain. Really Lavvy? As if you would not have done the same or more? Again, though I recongize the fact that the Penguins would have reacted the same to a hit on Neal by Rinaldo like the Vitale hit, it was clean, and in fact Briere had taken a cheap shot moments before the hit. Bylsma put out a physical unit, late in a game that had been decided, but no cheap shot was taken. Hey Lavvy, calling a man in the context of pro hockey gutless is a pretty derogatory comment, and when done by a guy such as yourself, who would have done AT LEAST the very same thing in the same situation is actually kind of sackless and classless in its own rite. I can only hope that you choke on those words in a couple of weeks brother. Okay, now that that is over, the game summary.
First Period
The game started fast again for the Penguins, when Steve Sullivan scored his 16th goal of the season, off of a knuckleball shot to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. He was assisted by Crosby (25) and Dupuis (31). The assist gave Dupuis a 14 game point scoring streak, adding to his NHL best. Then not much later at the 4:58 mark when James Neal scored his 39th goal of the year, assisted by Evgeni Malkin (55) and Chris Kunitz (32). It was a great feed by Malkin from below the goal line to Neal in front of the net. It was 2-0 Pens, and all looked good. Then the Flyers call a timeout, as they were being outshot 9-2. Apparently the time out worked. From there Giroux scored to make it 2-1 with Hartnell parked right in the crease. The period ended with Pittsburgh up 2-1.
Second Period
The comeback started early when Max Talbot tipped a shot past Fleury to tie it up 2-2. Then a minute ten later, Wayne Simmonds completes a tic tac toe play to score a power play goal and stake the Flyers to a 3-2 lead. After that at 6:37 number one start Jakub Voracek extended the lead to 4-2. Finally, at 13:15 Marc Andre Bourdon makes it 5-2 Flyers, and the route was on.
Third Period
Most of the period went by before there was any scoring, when finally Steve Sullivan scored his 17th goal of the year, assisted by Dupuis (32) and Michalek (10). It was now 5-3. After that, the ugly scrum occurred after a big hit by Joe Vitale on Daniel Briere. Then Voracek scored his second goal of the game into an empty net, and it was 6-3 Flyers. Chris Kunitz scored a late power play goal for his 24th of the year, assisted by Malkin (56) and Crosby (26). The final score would be 6-4 Flyers.
Summary
First, the positive. Pascal Dupuis extended his NHL leading scoring streak to 14 games today. Duper has been red hot! Geno had 2 assists, giving him 104 points and a 12 point cushion on Stamkos for the Art Ross Trophy, with only 3 games left for Stamkos. Sullivan had 2 goals, and continues to show some chemistry with Crosby. That about completes the positives for me. Now, the areas of concern. First, the special teams were suspect again. The once money PK, has now given up power play goals in 3 of the past 4 games, all of which were losses. The five forward power play looks like a mess to me, despite the late goal. An aggressive PK team like Philadelphia will get some real opportunities for back breaking shorties against this PP unit. Marc Andre Fleury after an amazing run has been mediocre at best in his past three outings. A mediocre Fleury means the Penguins will be golfing by the end of April. I sure hope he gets his edge back, NOW. The defensive zone coverage continues to be very weak, and the blueliners are giving the opposition too much time and space to work with. The Penguins are being beaten to loose pucks and cannot seem to clear their zone. The defense seems too soft right now to clear the net. Michalek and Martin continue to disappoint as a supposed pair of shutdown defensemen. In general, the Penguins continue to make that extra fancy play instead of getting pucks deep and winning the battle to retrieve them. None of the above is a recipe for a long playoff run. Three more games to get that shit right boys.
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