Figuratively, of course, but if the Pens knot this series at 3-3 this afternoon, the Flyers won’t have what it takes to finish the series back here in the ‘burgh. Why? I think Phil hit on the #1 reason in his last post The Penguins Are Now in the Flyers’ Heads: they are showing tell-tale signs of being a shell-shocked team on the verge of absolute shambles. And that was after our first victory! Pile on Game Five’s 3-2 win, and whatever the Pens do today, and you have three times the heart-break and finger-pointing.
In my mind, there are three things the Pens need to do today to make sure we see a largely ceremonial Game Seven:
1. Defense – Dan Bylsma changed things up and brought the Pens D seven-strong against a Flyers offense that he knows has a lot of fire power. Fortunately for him, the Pens are blessed with even more scoring capability, so the extra defensive presence didn’t detract from the Pens ability to bury the puck. I hate to add this, but it’s already out there… Paul Martin’s absence is being felt in too many positive ways for him to be thinking that he’ll be rushed back to the ice again in this series.
2. Rebound Control – This has always been my greatest criticism of Fleury. His acrobatic saves that all too often leave fat rebounds in the slot that inevitably end up in the back of the net. Even his routine saves sometimes end up that way. MAF was pretty much velcro last game. Couple strong defense with a lack of second opportunities (which also means clean back checking), and the Flyers can’t score on chances they don’t have.
3. Pressure – At certain points in this series it felt like there were two bad guys for every Penguin on the ice. The Flyers were absolutely smothering no matter where the puck was, and it was frustrating to watch. I can’t imagine what it was like to play in. The Pens assumed that role in Game Five, and they need to again. Tenacious forechecking, clean back checking, and smart coverage will win the individual battles that eventually win the game.
I know there are no guarantees. Ever. But as I said before, the Pens are the more complete team of these two, which includes heart and cohesion. If we are good (and a little lucky?) enough to come home for Game Seven, the Flyers don’t stand a chance.
I’m going to laugh & laugh when the Kings win the cup & the Flys are stuck with Bryzgalov for 8 more years.
“shell shocked and Shambles is exactly what your Penguins looked like on Sunday..as for being the more complete team …hehe ..crosby aint the same guy before his Hollywood concussion and never will be …hes a big reason the first three games were dropped ..a still concussed player on the ice pretending hell ever get back to 100%…sad but Crosby is done in the NHL. Damaged goods ..his decision making process has been wiped away …abd malikin ..no threat at all .
I thought the same thing about Tom Brady when he came back from his ACL: “He’ll be just like Palmer. He’s never going to be the same.” Brady has since gone on to destroy defenses and prove me wrong. Just like you I made a hopeful blanket statement about the superstar who burned my team in the past, so I get it. Thanks to the Flyers, though, Sid gets a long off-season that I’d rather he not have to enjoy. I’m not sure if you are saying he was playing at less than 100% during the series or if he came back too soon and got more injured than necessary after his first return. Either way, I think next season we’ll all be treated to the same dominant Sid we know and love, and you love to hate.
Didn’t see much heart from the Penguins today.
The loss hurts — bad. Even worse because it’s to the Flyers, but that’s all part of being a sports fan. I agree with Phil’s comment below. We had a wild season that ended way too soon at the hands of hated rivals. But Holy Hell it was a fun trip! LET’S GO PENS!
Tough loss. Hold your head high Pens fans. It’s still Penguins 3 – Flyers 2
Its funny to hear Pens fans complain about diving and cheap shots as if their team don’t do it as often or more so than the flyers. Really? When the broadcasters are making fun of Letang and Crosby,etc since the beginning of game one, it says something.
In the end, you thought your offense was better than the flyers. And you got out defended. Someone should put a Malkin tape together of all the attempts he had at people’s heads. And then crying and screaming at his own players on the bench.
I just cant wait to hear all the excuses coming out of this one….I can sit back and read em while my boys move on to round TWO. LOL
Hey Mercury, did I say our guys didn’t do any diving or shady stuff? Go ahead and reread the post. I’ll give you a minute. My point was that when the Flyers were feeling pressure, which I admit wasn’t often, they didn’t pull together and overcome. They got lazy and chippy and relied on their top line to deliver. Lucky for you and your team, they did when we couldn’t. I wished Bylsma would have taken a page from Dale Hunter’s book and sat Geno. His play was, in my opinion, some of the sloppiest on the ice. I wish we would have relied more on our depth guys go get in there, clear the orange shirts from in front of their own net, and get some of gritty dirty goals like your boys did.
As far as I’m concerned, they shook hands on the ice and I’m doing it here, too. Good luck in Round Two. It’s not going to get any easier, bud.
Wow, can you say sour grapes? Yeah, you loaded a lot of “if’s” in the article, clearly you wanted an out when the Flyers dominated game six. Even if they lost, it would have been nice to take game 7 on The Pens ice while Crosby cried a river. The Pens were never in the heads of the Flyers, not now, not ever. If Crosby wants to say he hates all of the Flyers, I have no issue saying I hate all of the Pens……now go book your tee times boys.
Sour grapes, Joe M.? I thought I was pretty deferential in conceding this one. There’s just no pleasing some sore winners. As for my “if”s, they were hardly an out. There were a lot of things that had to go right, and that kind of perfect storm is uncommon. I’m guessing your experience playing sports ranges as far as Madden and NHL on your X-box, so I won’t get too into the mental aspect of competition, but I will say that I have a grudging respect for the Flyers and am not a deluded homer who thinks a team was “never in the heads [of my team]… not now… not ever…” I feel bad for the guys who think like that. Do you want to sack up and guarantee your boys get their names etched on the Cup? Someone as supremely confident as you would never waver with a silly “if” when you clearly have the most dominant team in the playoffs. Right? I mean, it’s not like anyone was able to ring up 10 goals on the Flyers. By the way, THOSE were sour grapes. Thanks for reading! See you next season…
Wow, the talons came out now didn’t they? Shots at my athletic ability and all……nah, no sour grapes there, maybe an expired raisin? Perhaps? When a Pittsburgh team plays cheap and King Crosby is the leader of the cheapshots, well, you have little choice but to hope that team gets crushed. Stanley Cup 2012 for the Flyers? Probably not. But I can tell you who WON’T be winning it.
Sorry, are you more of a PS3 guy? We’re a blog, not CNN. We gotta have fun — win or lose — and tossing unfounded insults in the comments section is one of the best ways. It’s one of the great joys of being a sports fan.
You’re right about wanting to watch a team full of cheap-shot artists get crushed at some point. That’s why I’ll be watching the next Flyers series. And every other series, too. There is no lack of “cheap shots” in this game we love, but I think there are very few truly cheap shots. Asham punching Schenn while he was down… Ronaldo’s hit on Michalek… Weber smashing Zetterberg’s head against the glass… Backstrom crosschecking Peverley in the face… Okay, so maybe there are more than a few big examples, but that just reinforces my point that the vast majority of stuff we call “cheap” is really just playing the game. I try to watch the Pens as objectively as possible, but now that we’re out I get a completely removed perspective.
Personally I can’t wait to see how these playoffs work out. This is a great time of year. Hell, it’s taking me forever to write this because it’s hard not to watch LA/VAN. Like I said to Mercury, good luck in the next round. And keep those expectations low. It’ll hurt less “if” the Fyers get bounced. Haha…
That is fair enough……I can accept this at face value. The Flyers haven’t won anything since the 70s, so, my attention year after year is to not pound my chest and say how great my team is, I am not dilusional, instead, I focus on who the cheap and classless team is and to knock them out of the playoffs, this year it was clearly the Pens. Mission accomplished. I realize this site takes shots a Philly fans (who doesn’t ) but,my focus every year is to knock out the bad guys, the Flyers have done just that. WELL DONE FLY BOYS!
How’d that wok out for you…
Not well, but I always knew it was a possibility. Hence the “if”s in my post. I’d post this one all over again if I had the chance, because I absolutely believe it’s true. But, sadly, I don’t.
Joey, I agree. The Flyers teams have always been built about as well as a Chinese hockey jersey. Once one thread breaks the entire jersey starts to fall apart. They tried to bring in Talbot to help out the locker room. It’s not working.
Bryzgalov was asked if it was his own team that screened him on Kennedy’s goal Friday. He said “What do you want me to say? If you know, why are you asking?” Instead of taking responsibility these guys would sell their team out in a heartbeat.
If they get down a goal today the fans will start booing them. If they get down two goals the fans will start leaving. It’s the Philadelphia mentality. When you start second guessing on the ice you slowly fall apart.
You know nothing about the Philly fan base and its clear. They boo yes, but not when down 1 and they sure as hell don’t leave when down 2. If this series proved anything Phil it is the simple fact that the Flyers can come back rather easily aginst your Pens, but, don’t let the facts ruin a good story. Might as well refer to when the fans thew snowballs at Santa in the 60’s…..your team got beaten rather easily and the Flyers fans are some of the most loyal in the NHL, so, you are best to write about something you know, like which golf course in Pittsburgh The Pens will be frequenting in the next few days
JoeM, Philly was voted worst fans by GQ magazine and many other National sport places. Not just once, many times. We didn’t invent this at PenguinPoop. I truly had no idea it went back to the 60’s. Congrats on the win.
Well, I am sure that GQ pole was well investigated and not trumped up at all to try and sell a magazine. And I am sure that other NHL fans never boo, they just sit on their hands when being beat 8 to 3 and hope for the best.
LMAO…. GQ ….oh that is too too rich …silly cindy fans , GQ …lol…
It’s not just GQ, also ESPN and many others. Try Google-ing it, you’ll love it. The best NHL fans according to Forbes is the Pittsburgh Penguins fans. Are you seeing a trend here? Surely you can see how it would be hard for us to not just laugh off the comments. I do want to thank you guys for helping me make my point.
Phil, I love how they’ll dismiss GQ as simple entertainment, but will reference NBC and other commentators’ thoughts on the Pens as if they’re writing the hockey gospels. It’s all entertainment. All any of them want — from GQ to Mike Milbury — is to get our attention and keep us talking, watching and buying. They get big fat checks for that. Personally, I think Caps fans are far worse than Flyers fans, but that’s a whole different comment string.
Hey Joey. I think your keys are spot on. But even if the Penguins win today I don’t see them breezing through a Game 7. Nor do I think the Pens are in the Flyers’ heads as much as everyone seems to think.
While overall I thought we played very well in Game 5, the Flyers owned the last 13 minutes. It took one of the most exceptional goaltending performances I’ve ever seen from Fleury—especially during the penalty to Kennedy—to keep Philly from tying the game.
No, the Flyers know they were a lucky bounce away from sending the game to overtime. And don’t forget … these guys came back from an 0-3 deficit two years ago against Boston, so there’s no quit in them. The Pens are going to have to earn it every step of the way … as it should be.
There’s another key I’d like to add to your list: DON’T TAKE DUMB PENALTIES. The Flyers have just eviscerated our penalty killing (11 power-play goals, 52% success rate). This especially applies to Malkin, who seems compelled to retaliate every time someone jostles him.
While we’re at it, Geno needs to avoid making drop passes at the Philly blue line. He tends to do this when he’s not scoring. There’s no surer way to hand the Flyers odd-man breaks, which we can ill-afford to do.
My guess is Philly’s going to come out loaded for bear today. Our Pens are going to have to be equal parts disciplined, determined and deadly (the 3 D’s). But if we stick to our game and keep our focus I think we can win and send the series back to the ‘Burgh.
LET’S GO PENS!!!!
Rick – I could not agree more about the dumb penalties aspect. It seemed like every lesson that they learned for Game 4 was completely forgotten in Game 5. They continued to get caught retaliating every time they were punched, pushed and prodded by one Flyer after another(I’m looking at you Wayne Simmonds). All of the discipline and non-violent resistance they practiced in Game 4, which seemed to have them on the Power Play for almost the entire game quickly reverted back to exactly what they did in Games 1 – 3. If they somehow can not manage to get back to what they did in Game 4, I fear that lethal Flyer Power Play may eventually do us in.
Malkin said “I’ll be a little bit better about my penalties.” I sure hope so!
Great points, guys. I totally agree about staying out of penalty box, Rick, but in this series we know it’s going to happen at least a few times. Better D, rebound control, and pressure would also tighten up our penalty kills.
As for the mental aspect of a Game Seven, I think we win there, too. Flyers responded to actual pressure in Game Six by diving, trying to draw penalties by instigating (successfully), and putting all the pressure on their top line to score while the others were charged with stopping the bleeding. I didn’t see Game Five, but I’ve seen highlights and heard coverage and it sounds like they reverted to similar tactics in that game, too. That doesn’t seem like a hockey team who has confidence in itself. They may not rolll over and die, but they sure won’t be playing the kind of disciplined hockey they need to to win.
Yeah thanks Cooke for taking the Inter. penalty that pretty much cost us the game
Clearly you are a smart hockey fan. Kudos!
BRING IT HOME FOR #7
LET’S GO PEN’S!!!!!!!!!