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Penguins get defensive in 4-2 win over Flyers
by Tony on 01/13/09 at 10:17 PM ET
Comments (12)
Michel Therrien has been criticized a helluva lot lately, including by yours truly. But for at least one game, he certainly pulled all the right strings in a huge 4-2 win over the Flyers in Philly.
Therrien employed a 1-2-2 trap that effectively shutdown the Flyers’ high-flying offense, while placing rugged winger Matt Cooke on the first line with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to provide a little protection and to bang some bodies in front of the net.
Both moves worked to a “T”, and neither the Flyers, their fans, nor even their bush-league organist leading the “Crosby sucks” cheers could do anything to stop them.
It was arguably the Penguins’ biggest win of the year, and hopefully will provide a springboard for their upcoming games vs. the Capitals, Ducks and Rangers.
The Pens took the play to the Flyers early on, generating the game’s first five shots on goal. However, it was the Flyers who got the game’s first goal on a fortunate bounce off Marc-Andre Fleury’s stick behind the net that deflected right in front to Mike Knuble, who easily poked it home to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
That was the last strong push the Flyers would have for quite a while, as the Penguins continued to play their trap with excellent results. That paid off late in the first period when Max Talbot initially drove to the net but was stopped. The loose puck went to recent call-up Paul Bissonnette, who threw the puck on net, where Tyler Kennedy backhanded the rebound past Martin Biron to tie the game at one.
The second period started just as good for the Penguins. Crosby started the play with a great backcheck steal from Mike Richards. Crosby then fed Malkin, who fired a laser wrister that hit the crossbar and in the net to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.
They extended their lead to 3-1 after Jordan Staal stole the puck at the Flyers’ blueline and fired a backhanded shot to the top shelf past Biron.
The Pens’ first line made the chances of a Flyers’ comeback that much harder with a goal with only 26 seconds remaining in the second period. Crosby attempted a wraparound shot that Biron stopped, but Cooke was there to bang the rebound home to give the Pens a 4-1 lead.
The Flyers did cut the lead to 4-2 about eight minutes into the third period on a wrister by Joffrey Lupul, but the Penguins stayed disciplined with their defensive play to preserve the win.
As stated, the Penguins now head back home to face Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals tomorrow night.
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Tags: NHL_HOckey, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
Kristin, I was curious, what do Flyers fans chant when not playing Pittsburgh? I mean, not once did i hear anything other than “Crosby sucks” come out of their mouth.
Not much to say on the game, although I will mention this. According to Mark Madden and other’s sources, the Penguins players no longer listen to HCMT. Now if that were true, do you really think that they would have played a defensive trap system most of the night? I mean, someone had to tell them to play that, and I’m guessing it was Therrien.
Once again, Mark Madden is found to be making up random BS for his own ratings.
I still don’t think HCMT is the best guy for the job going forward, but it is nice to see that those “sources” were incorrect, and that Therrien still has some control.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 01/13/09 at 11:51 PM ET
Kevin, we get pretty pumped up to chant Crosby sucks. After all, we only get to do it 3 times during the regular season. This crowd seemed especially primed for it tonight. In general, we’re pretty quiet, unless there are a lot of bad calls, then we chant “ref you suck.” Pretty standard fare I would imagine.
Pens did a really great job of shutting the Flyers down and the fans up!
Posted by kristin on 01/14/09 at 12:50 AM ET
Sorry Pens fans, you cant make fun of the Flyers, they are still way ahead of you in the standings, As for the “Crosby Sucks” chants, its funny because its true.
Posted by James05 on 01/14/09 at 01:16 AM ET
Come on Kristin, you know exactly what that organist is doing…
Look, like I’ve said before, I have absolutely no problem with the fans chanting, in fact I wish Pens fans were a little more vocal like that....
But when the team’s organist is the catalyst for starting the chants, THAT crosses the line, and is completely bush league....
But back to the ice, it was a big win over a hot team, and I’d love to see them give a repeat performance tonight vs. the Caps…
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 01/14/09 at 07:05 AM ET
Sorry Pens fans, you cant make fun of the Flyers, they are still way ahead of you in the standings, As for the “Crosby Sucks” chants, its funny because its true.
Posted by James05 on 01/14/09 at 01:16 AM ET
UMMMMMMMMMMMM OK chief If Crosby sucks, What does that mean about Richards & Carter & the rest of the Philthy Flyers who are WAAAAAAAAAAAY behind Sid & Geno in points ????
12 year Old !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Evilpens on 01/14/09 at 09:02 AM ET
In fairness to James05, when I was 12 I went around saying Gretzky sucked. I’m much more mature now.
Posted by dip from philly on 01/14/09 at 10:26 AM ET
Crosby sure does blow. How’d you like that time he stole the puck from Richards and made a perfect pass to Geno, who burried it?
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 01/14/09 at 11:08 AM ET
Anyone notice the diving call on Hartnell last night? That wasn’t the icing, that was the sprinkles on the icing on the cake.
Posted by JJ from Beantown on 01/14/09 at 04:43 PM ET
Seriously Tony, the organist does that same organ thing a million times every game. I’m not sure how that is bush league. If there was no organist there at all, the crowd would have done the same thing. We may have reverted to “crozzzzzzzz-beeeeee” instead, but there would definitely be a chant of some sort at every opportunity, organist or not.
Posted by kristin on 01/14/09 at 10:03 PM ET
The “Crosby Sucks” part comes after the “Let’s Go Flyers” part. So the organ plays the tune for “Let’s Go Flyers” and instead of clapping (i.e. clap clap clapclapclap) fans say “Crosby Sucks”. Not sure if that made any sense… it is really hard to explain in written form. This might illustrate it better.
Why they think that it is a specific song just for them, I don’t know. Self-centered much? I think they just feel like they are entitled to all the love in the world and the big bad Flyers fans are just out to get them.
(above is from the Flyers message board)
by the way, I noticed that the Steelers chant is pretty much the same as the Flyers.
So it usually goes like this: “Let’s go Flyers, clap clap clap/clap/clap”
for Pittsburgh: “Let’s go Flyers, Crosby sucks”
organist has nothing to do with WORDS!!!
Posted by Bernie from Phila. PA on 02/13/09 at 01:32 PM ET
The organist happens to be one of my best friends andhe hasnt played ANYTHING different in the Penquins series than any other game of the year. Flyers fans say SUCKS to every player in the starting lineup. Its just what they do. Crosby is a great player and other than being a cry baby you should take this chants as respect.... Philly fans bood Pete Rose too until he played for the Phils...so please dont blame the Organist...its NOT him...hes just doing his job. If Michael Irvin wasnt such a loud mouth egotistical player they wouldnt have cheered when he got carried off the field. The Pens and Flyers have a nasty rivalry now...dont blame the oprganist for stuff that isnt his fault. Hes a great guy that is NOT Bush League...hes doing what he has done ALL year...nothing more ...nothing less.
Posted by George Masters from Mount Laurel NJ on 04/24/09 at 09:29 PM ET
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Pens played a great defensive game. It was frustrating to see the Flyers denied access to the offensive zone time and time again.
However, our bush league organist was simply playing “let’s go Flyers”, not egging on the crowd. Flyers fans don’t need any help in chanting “Crosby sucks.”
Good luck with the Caps!
Posted by kristin on 01/13/09 at 11:17 PM ET