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Flyers force Game Six in Philly; No reason to panic
by Tony on 04/24/09 at 12:46 PM ET
Comments (5)
There was nothing spectacular about it. Wasn’t overly physical. Neither of the teams’ stars lit up the scoreboard.
But the Flyers withstood the opening barrage by the Penguins, where they outshot the Flyers 15-5, albeit without scoring.
Most importantly, Flyers’ goalie Marty Biron was solid. With the exception of one good toe save on an Evgeni Malkin one-timer, Biron had a very workmanlike performance. The Penguins didn’t flood the crease at all like they had been doing, which I’m sure Biron appreciated.
Throw in three goals from “non-stars”, and you’ve got a 3-0 Flyers win in front of a surprisingly quiet Igloo crowd.
Lots of storylines to run with now that they’re headed back to the Wachovia Center.
- Marc-Andre Fleury, although I can’t say he played “bad”, gave up the initial goal of the game to Arron Asham of all people. Nice slapper, to be sure, but c’mon MAF, you’re better than that. That goal was a HUGE booster for the Flyers, especially after getting dominated on the ice during the first period.
- Hey, another game gone, another lousy game for the powerplay. The Mike Yeo-led powerplay units are steaming along at a 13.8% clip, going 4 for 29. Yes, Philly does have good penalty killing units. But the Pens’ terrible execution is really getting frustrating to watch.
- In light of the horrendous PP, thank goodness for the Pens’ penalty killing. The PK units have killed off 88.9%, going 24 for 27. I’d hate to see what this series looks like if the PK units were merely average.
- The Satan-for-Sykora, for one game at least, looked to be a wash. Satan had a decent scoring chance or two, but for the most part, you could’ve had them swap jerseys and not have noticed anything different.
- The same can’t be said for the Boucher-for-Letang swap. Boucher had a couple of decent hits and a couple shots on net, but he had a couple of harrowing defensive lapses that almost cost the Pens a goal or two, besides going -2. Letang needs to be back in the lineup.
- Has anyone seen Sergei Gonchar this series ??
- I would like it stated for the record, I do not like this line shuffling that IHCDB is all of a sudden doing so much. Did he give FHCMT a call recently or something ??
After all that, you’d think it was the Pens that are down 3 games to 2. Well, it’s not. The Pens are one more good road game away from putting the Flyers away for good. They need to use the same formula as they did in Game Four, Only this time, it’d be smart if they didn’t rely on MAF to stand on his head. It might also be smart to get their forecheck re-established. Outside of the third line, that has been absent a good chunk of the recent few games.
We’ll see how well the Penguins rebound after their disappointing loss on Thursday night. The joint will be jumping in Philly for sure, but the Pens have seen and heard all of that many times before. Let’s see if they can send those fans unhappy one more time.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
Ya know, I thought so…. Of course, the Versus feed didn’t mention that, but it sure looked like a rising fastball…
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 04/24/09 at 01:09 PM ET
Yeah, on CBC their second replay showed close-ups on Asham’s stick, then Scuderi’s came into view, and the puck hit it.
The announcers didn’t notice, and not until between periods did Ron McLean mention it hit Scuderi.
Posted by nrbreitkreuz on 04/24/09 at 01:33 PM ET
What is amazing is that the Flyers have really been in such a strong position to win these games despite the fact that Richards, Gagne and Carter (not to mention Hartnell, and Lupul) have been really, really quiet, with the exception of Richards flying around trying to throw the exact type of hits the Flyers were crying about two games ago. Crosby is KILLING Richards at the face off circle. If those guys get it going it could be bad news for the Pens. (Also, Carter not on the top powerplay unit?? Are you kidding me? ) Did you notice how on I think three plays close together in the second, with good rushes wide and trailers in shooting position, the Pens misplayed the puck? The most glaring one was with Kunitz, Crosby trailing in a potential 2 on 1. They had their chances last night, but you have to give the Flyers credit for 2 good periods.
Posted by dip from philly on 04/24/09 at 02:45 PM ET
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Philly is the one team that really scares me in the East. I think they are bettter than Pittsburgh but they always manage to screw up somehow. This series will go seven and the Pens will probably win in OT….
Posted by kevin from boston on 04/24/09 at 12:49 PM ET