Pens/Flyers Game 6 Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
Apr 26, 12:23 PM | Hype this story!
Penguins turn it on
Flyers make tee times
Carcillo won the battle
But Max won the war
Offense: A
They played a solid game start to finish. The forecheck was there, and so was the transition. They weren’t rewarded early on as the good Biron showed up. But they kept at it and eventually put four past him, mostly by jamming the crease. In fact, the three quick goals in the second might not have totaled five feet in distance. But when a goalie is hot, that’s what you have to do.
Defense: C
Mixed bag here. They gave up way too many good chances, especially when trying to protect the lead. But they also came through when it counted. Max had a horrendous giveaway that gave Philly the opening goal, then they left Lupul all alone for the second one. They really clamped down in the second period, mostly by playing in the Flyers’ end. But some bad giveaways (I’m looking at you, Hal Gill) gave the Flyers some great looks in the third.
Yeo Play: D+
They didn’t score, but the PP actually looked good. There was lots of movement and shooting. They just couldn’t get it by a lucky Biron.
Penalty Kill: C
They allowed what could have been a backbreaking power play goal by somehow letting Danny Boy Briere get behind the defense.
Goaltending: A-
Fleury came through when it counted. What more can you ask? He didn’t have much chance on the Knuble or Briere goals, but the Lupul one is one he might want back. But once the Pens made it 3-2, then 3-3, then 4-3, he just slammed the door. Bit by bit, he is erasing all the doubts about his ability in the clutch. He made some humongous saves in the third to keep the Pens up, most notably the one on Lupul. Not to overstate things, but he might be the only goalie in the game who can make that particular save. His legs are just so quick. They come out of nowhere.
Overall: A
I don’t care that they didn’t play well for a stretch there. They sent the Flyers to the golf course for the second straight year. That alone gets an A. Nothing was sweeter than seeing all those orange clad morons sitting morosely in their seats after the game. They were all ready to celebrate a victory, and just like that, it was gone. The Pens played a great playoff game start to finish, but were not rewarded early on. But the rewards came when it counted, as they just crashed the crease time after time. That was something they had not done a lot of the two previous games. And it paid off big time.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: A
Hey, Regis McGuire (yes, that is his real first name), THAT’S leadership. Sid took the team on his back and carried them into the second round. He was a beast all day. He had seven shots, and won 61 percent of his draws. He ended up with two goals, including one batted out of the air. You see, Regis, there are different forms of leadership. Example is one. Yapping to your mates on the bench doesn’t always get it done.
Geno: A
He was rather invisible in the first period, but was a monster thereafter. He just dominated with the puck, and ended up with two assists to show for it. He had been relatively invisible the two prior games, but he turned it up a notch in the clincher. He set Gonchar up for the winner with a beautiful drop pass after drawing the defense to him.
Max Talbot: B
I cannot give him an A because of the horrendous giveaway that gave Philly the opening goal. But he sure atoned for it by goading Danny Carcillo into a fight. I sure would love to know what he said to get Carcillo riled. I’m guessing it involved girlfriends in Wicks Barre. Speaking of which…
Danny Carcillo: F
This is why you don’t dress players like this in the playoffs. As Edzo said at the time of the fight, there was no reason whatsoever for him to drop ‘em with Talbot. You just don’t give an opponent you have down any reason to get their spirits up. He did just that, and a few short minutes later, the game was tied. The guy is, and always has been, a loose cannon. And he might well have cost his team a playoff series with his lack of discipline.
Mark Eaton: A
At $2 mil a year, he might be the most underpaid defenseman in the league. Just kidding. But all the talk of him being overpaid is silenced right now. He scored a goal, blocked two shots, and was a +4. He might well have been their best all-around defenseman in the series.
Miro Satan: C
I actually saw him try to hit somebody.
Clean Bathrooms: A
I was so upset when the Flyers went up 2-0 that I quit watching and went to clean my bathroom. I returned at the start of the second period. But since it had worked so well, I did more cleaning between the second and third periods. If this keeps up, I will have the most sparkling bathroom in the country by the end of the playoffs.
The Professor of Goonism: F
My guess is he’ll be looking for a job shortly. His team’s constant lack of discipline just kills them.
John Tortorella: F
Just had to comment on his suspension. How hypocritical is it of him to scratch Sean Avery for a lack of discipline, then in that very game, lose his cool with a fan? I totally agreed with the Avery scratch, but that was just a stupid thing to do by Torts.
*Jeff Carter: F
Hey dude, there’s a milk carton somewhere with your picture on it. Mark Eaton outscored you in this series.
The Great Leader: A
How great is he? He led a team that had no business even making the postseason, a team with lottery-level talent, a team that was scraping the salary cap floor, a team with the worst coach in the NHL, no fan base, no star players, and pee wee type goaltending, into the playoffs. Then he carried them on his back to two wins in a series they had no business being in. You just can’t quantify this type of thing. It goes beyond the numbers. He is simply the greatest leader to grace the earth since, I dunno, forever. My guess is that now that he has some free time, President Obama might be inviting him to the White House to ask his advice. Can world peace be far behind?
The Weather Forecast: A
Forecast today for Philly: sunny and 92. Perfect golf weather. Hope they got their clubs shined up ahead of time.
Chuck Gormley: F
Probably never heard of him, right? Well, he’s another hack Flyer shill writer. And he proved his credentials yesterday. He was responsible for naming the three stars, and he actually had the nerve to name Ruslan Fedotenko second star, and leave Sid off the list entirely. He did it just to appease the Crosby-hating Flyer fans. That type of homerism is simply despicable. Oh well, Chuck, enjoy your summer.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game
Brad Watson was one of the refs. Need more be said? They missed a blatant high stick on Max. Then Geno clearly got cross checked with no call, only to be called himself seconds later when it clearly was not a cross check. But seriously, why even pay refs for a game like this? It was let ‘em play day, but even that wasn’t enough to get the Flyers into the next round.
Free Candy
Only one
Free Cookie
Three.
Kunikaze
He wins the title with four.
Monk Moment
Fleury’s amazing kick save on Lupul that kept the Pens up by one.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
Chris
Apr 26, 03:00 PM
The difference in Orpik’s play at home and on the road is disturbing. If they want to go all the way, the Pens will need him to play on the road like he does at home.
Ray
Apr 26, 08:40 PM
Regarding the officiating, I believe on average, most officials are trying to call games fairly and equitably. Where the differences come from are in the officials’ approach.
In trying to be as fair and even handed as they can, officials may opt to “let the teams play”. In taking this approach, the officials will tend to not call penalties aside from what I call the injury penalties—high sticking, hitting from behind into the boards, hitting after an icing call, etc. This is OK if both teams are playing in, for the most part, a legal fashion.
Also, good officials will verbally warn players if they are engaging in penalizable offenses. The officials will give the players a little leeway, but if a warned player does not stop what he is doing, the official will then call the penalty. In essence, the official “gets mad” at the player for ignoring his warning.
I’m OK with this approach so long as it is done in a fair and equitable manner.
However, I wonder about the Pens-Flyers Game 5 last Thursday. I do not believe the Flyers were called for anything other than the injury-type penalties I mentioned above. Conversely, the Pens penalties against could be interpreted as questionable, at best.
But, what would the motivation behind this be? Well, if the Pens had won on Thursday, who would the NHL have to show on NBC on Saturday? (Hint: No other game was scheduled at the same time that I am aware of.) I think it is not out of the realm of possibility that the League may have “suggested” to the officials to be sure to call the game in a fashion such that the officiating would not cause the Flyers to lose Game 5.
ihateflyersfans
Apr 27, 12:34 AM
@Ray … you sound like a flyers fan with that conspiracy theory. try and avoid stooping to their level
carcillo's annual golf tournament
Apr 27, 11:38 AM
I just think it’s ironic that talbot and carcillo were at the center of controversy earlier in the series during game 1. Talbot gets high marks in my book with not only a very brave decision to get involved with a brusier, but to pick his timing and target so perfectly and with precision. Carcillo skated to the bench looking like the goon from the movie Mighty Ducks. I was waiting for him to take off his shirt and begin shadow boxing the glass from inside the box. Talbot’s “shhh” gesture was such great foreshadowing on how the rest of that game was going to be played. It almost seemed like he knew exactly how his team was going to respond to what he just did. LOVED IT!!!
Philly is a joke. I will never get sick of seeing those fans disappointed with their heads buried in their hands. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving group of losers.
DaBich
Apr 27, 12:37 PM
carcillo’s annualgolftournament…well said! I friggin detest Philly fans.
Mike, good grades all around.
Ray
Apr 27, 05:42 PM
@ihateflyersfans,
Speculating about league motivations to have a game to show on national broadcast TV. Surely you must be a young pup. I recall the Pens-Islanders playoff series that our own Tom Fitzgerald won in Game 7 OT in 1993. That series had very poor officiating. So poor in many people’s estimation that it kept an inferior Islanders team in it until they won. (This was the series when Mario had his back flare up the day of Game 1 forcing him to miss it.)
My view was that the league did not want a New York team to go quietly in just 4 or 5 games. The New York TV market was too large to not have as many games as possible to garner ad revenues from. Thus, they were “happy” that the officials for the most part let a lot of clutching and grabbing go unpersonalized.
However, I can recall I believe Game 5. It was called so tightly that possibly more playing time was spent with at least one player in the sin bin vs. time playing 5 on 5. After hearing a lot of public criticism of that game—which I also think was on national TV—the next one had virtually no penalties called and the Islanders took full advantage of it to win and set up the Game 7 decider.
Something we all need to keep in mind is that the league wants to be at least as popular as its most direct competitor, the NBA. However, I think they have to pay NBC to show their games. Given that, it is not out of the question to think Bettman and Co. would attempt to orchestrate games to get a preferred outcome, i.e., Pens-Flyers Game 6 on NBC.
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