PENGUINS HEAD TO PHILLY UP 2-0

The Breakdown:

The Penguins were looking to extend their series lead to 2 games, while the Flyers hoped to close out the 2 game home stand in Pittsburgh with a split decision. It was a game that featured a ton of hitting, some questionable calls, and superb goaltending. If you missed this game, shame on you.



The Pittsburgh Penguins needed more than 60 minutes to pull out a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game #2 on Friday.

The Penguins trailed twice in the game, first being in the first period when Scott Hartnell scored on the power play with the helpers going to Matthew Carle and Braydon Coburn at 13:26. The Penguins would tie it up in the second period when Bill Guerin scored, assisting was Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby at 16:38.

Early in the third period Darroll Powe wristed a shot past goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, with Giroux and Coburn getting the assists at 2:09. The Flyers had a chance to make it a two goal game when Fleury robbed Jeff Carter from what looked like a for sure goal. That would be the momentum changer as a big late third-period power play goal by Evgeni Malkin to tie the game 2-2 at 16:23 in the third with the assists going to Kristopher Letang and Sergei Gonchar.

In overtime, the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on a power play opportunity when Hal Gill was sent off for cross checking at 15:26. This would prove costly as over a minute later Mike Knuble was called for a cross check on Brooks Orpik. Thirty seconds later, Claude Giroux was penalized for slashing. On the 5 on 3, Bill Guerin scored his second goal of the night when Gonchar faked a slap shot and found him open at the side of the net. Guerin then hesitated for a split second, forcing Marty Biron to second guess pinching the side of the net. He made the veteran net-minder believe he was going to try the cross crease pass. At that very instant, Guerin went five-hole with the shot. The overtime winner would give the Penguins a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series heading back to Philadelphia on Sunday.

My take on the first two games:

It is well known that Philadelphia was the most penalized team in the league. Game #1 proved that as they took twelve penalties giving one of the most dangerous teams with the man advantage a ton of chances to do some major damage. Luckily for the Flyers, the Penguins only managed to score once on the power play. In Game #2, I was surprised that Philadelphia only took three penalties through 60 minutes – a bit of an improved. Unfortunately, the last penalty they took proved costly as Malkin scored to tie the game up 2-2. If it weren’t for this powerplay, the Flyers could very well have found themselves in a tied series today instead of down by a couplet. In overtime, Philly was back to their usual selves. Three penalties in a row again became Philly’s Achilles’ heel. Pittsburgh is playing with much more grit this post-season, and the scary part is this team is only getting started. If Kunitz, Sykora, Talbot, and Staal can start to produce then this team could very well be in it for the long run this post-season. The post lock out game is about the special teams now and with the power play unit Pittsburgh has it will be hard to kill off every penalty that Philly takes. If Philly can stop Crosby and Malkin they might have a chance to get back into the series but the depth of the Pens has the potential to carry them throughout this series.

With the series now heading back to Philadelphia, the chances of Philly coming out strong and playing tough Sunday are very good; but if they come out and take a ton of penalties then Pittsburgh will quickly take full advantage of the power plays and win game #3, giving them the chance to close out the series in 4. Philadelphia has to find a way to stay out of the box and stop the stars from Pittsburgh in order to get back into the series. We will see what unravels as Game #3 shifts to Philadelphia. “The Battle of Pennsylvania” continues Sunday at 3:00pm on CBC.

Brad Maunder