Gameday Poop: Game 3 – Penguins vs. Flyers – One Game at a Time

Does anyone remember back in January when the Penguins lost six in a row and all you heard was about how the Penguins were done for the season?  Right after that the Penguins won 8 games in a row.  The Penguins also hold the longest winning streak in the NHL this year.  They are a streaky team.  One win turns this whole series around.

One game at a time.  You hear the players say that phrase all the time.  We’re going to take it one game at a time and see what happens.  The Penguins need a win today.  If the Pens get down 3-0 in the series against the Flyers, they would pretty have an insurmountable lead.  Being down 2-1 in a series just doesn’t sound that bad at all.

Yesterday we discussed to no end what the Penguins need to do here at PenguinPoop and it would seem that most of us have came to the conclusion that the Flyers coach Laviolette has figured out a way to counter the Penguins all out offense. We’ve also come to the conclusion that a more defensive approach may be in order.  Here is a little history lesson from PenguinPoop writer Rick Buker about the only other time in Penguins history they lost the first two playoff games at home:   Can the Penguins Beat the Flyers?   Here is some additional reading:  If the Penguins are going to win Bylsma must pull in the reins

Penalty Shots:
Teams that are down 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs have won the series 16% of the time.  That is 16% more than a few so called Penguins fans are giving them.

The Penguins have won 8 of their last 11 games in Philadelphia.  In this series there truly is a home ice disadvantage.

Matt Niskanen said he will play hurt if it will help the team.

Captain Crosby proved the other night once again that he is a great captain.  With the Penguins first power play struggling with both him and Malkin on it.  The Penguins went back to what had worked all season, the powerplay without Crosby on it.  When they scored a goal Crosby was one of the first who jumped up on the bench to cheer.  Does anyone remember Ovechkin sulking when he was sat in a must win situation for the Caps?

I always like to take down names of the naysayer radio/TV hosts this time of year so I can rub it in later.  The best was when the Penguins won the cup in 2009 and the Penguins came back from the 2-0 deficit twice.

With all the scoring the first two games, NBC is expecting their ratings to go through the roof today.

Here at PenguinPoop back in 2009 we had a good luck charm.  It was a Penguin that pooped on the other teams logo’s.  We used it all the way through the playoffs and they won every series.  Why we haven’t used it since I couldn’t tell you, maybe we thought with our team winning the Cup we were above that.  I keep getting all kinds of emails from people who remember it asking for it’s return and the luck it brings.  So here it is.  Go Pens!

After the Penguins win today this guy will be back on the homepage!

Game time is 3PM and can be seen in HD-3D at the Wells Fargo Center Center or regular HD on NBC and in the church parking lot next ot the Consol.

* The “Gameday Poop” is provided to give you enough information to sound intelligent while talking about hockey for 10 minutes. Anything after that and your on your own.