Faceoff Factor

Flyers Don’t Know Whether To Cry Or Wind Their Watch

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Apr 3, 10:57 AM | Hype this story!

You would think the Philadelphia Flyers would have learned their lesson when playing the Pittsburgh Penguins: don’t give Sidney Crosby any extra attention or he’ll make you pay.

Well, the Flyers were at it again last night, running around, targeting Crosby with late hits and cheapshots, and, not surprisingly, they awoke a monster.

Crosby finished the night with two power play goals and an assist, leading the Penguins to the victory and their first ever Atlantic Division championship.

What’s more, the Penguins scored all four of their goals with the man-advantage.

The Flyers, meanwhile, were left crying to the media that they were shortchanged by the referees and by cheap hits.

But you see, what goes around comes around.

The Penguins were nudged into playing on the edge by the physical Flyers. When the game turned into a penalty parade, it wasn’t the Penguins who initiated, it was the Flyers.

The Penguins simply finished the business.

One such example is Scott Hartnell, who scored the game’s first goal. He let his emotions get the best of him and he ended up taking runs at several players, including Crosby, but ultimately hurt his team with his penalties.

He also was left hurting after two confrontations with Sergei Gonchar in a 30 second sequence during the second period. It started with an open-ice hip check by the oft-passive Gonchar and ended with a bloodied nose courtesy of the Penguins defenseman.

No penalty was called, and Hartnell cried.

But, with Hartnell and his teammates running around most of the game, things were bound to get ugly.

And, while the game lost some of its edge after Hartnell’s third minor penalty of the evening, things remained heated until the final whistle.

Late in the game, Jarkko Ruutu lined up Daniel Briere with a questionable hit, forcing the Flyers forward to the bench in pain.

His post-game comments: “I tried to go inside, and he stuck his leg out there. I didn’t realize it was him coming. Everyone knows he’s one of the dirtiest players in the league. If I would have had time to look and see it was him, I would have protected myself better.”

When you live by the sword, you die by the sword, and the Flyers did just that.

Briere became a target because Crosby had been a target all night.

The hit appeared to be knee-on-knee, and Gonchar hit that left Hartnell bloodied appeared to utilize the butt-end of his stick, but when one team sets a dirty tempo and the other team follows in suit, no crying should be heard.

These teams have at least one more match-up this season, which is scheduled to take place Sunday in Philadelphia.

The game surely will be filled with intensity, as the Flyers’ playoff hopes most-surely will be on the line, and the Penguins could still be in the fight for the Eastern Conference championship.

And with the possibility of these teams meeting up in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both teams could be in for a rough few weeks.

If the Flyers are smart, they’ll stick to playing hockey. If they aren’t, they’ll follow the same template that found them on the losing end of a 4-2 score last night.

Only time – and the scoreboard – will tell.