Flyers Win 4-2; Pens Lead Series 3-1

Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 15, 10:02 PM | Hype this story!
1 2 3 Tot.
0 0 2 2
 
Tot. 1 2 3
4 3 0 1
 
Series: Penguins (3) – Flyers (1)
 
Summary

The Pittsburgh Penguins once again squandered the chance to close out an opponent, and lost game 4 due to a horrendous first period against the New York Rangers Philadelphia Flyers.  

The Penguins came out flat and the Flyers made them pay, scoring three unanswered goals in the opening period, while the Penguins kept taking unnecessary penalties and continued to play the Flyer’s game after the whistle.  None of the goals were pretty against the Pens, two rebounds that were not cleared by the defense found their way to the twine via Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter, and one deflected shot by Joffrey Lupul off the stick of Hal Gill, who had possibly the worst playoff game of his young Penguin career.

The Flyers simply outplayed the Penguins at every turn and came out with more hustle and determination.  The Penguins seemed to learn nothing from their previous series when it comes to closing out a team and leave themselves wide open to more problems down the road.  Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Marian Hossa were simply invisible tonight (except for the all-too-often bad pass), with the only Penguin who seemed to show up being a heavy-hearted Jordan Staal, who scored the only two goals for Pittsburgh.  The problem with that is that they could not contain the Flyers who did show up, which appeared to be the whole team on this evening; your stars have to play like stars to win in the playoffs, the Flyers did, the Penguins did not.

The game was over when the Penguins were on the verge of a massive comeback in the third, but missed opportunities (including an 0-for on the powerplay), and bad passes left them short, and an empty-netter sealed the deal.

 
Three Stars
# Player Team Pos. Stats
1 Daniel Briere PHI C 1 Goal
2 Joffrey Lupul PHI W 2 Goals
3 Jordan Staal PIT C 2 Goals
 
Stat Line
  Shots Faceoffs Power Plays
  1 2 3 OT Total Won Lost Converted Total
Pittsburgh 13 12 13 - 38 28 32 0 3
Philadelphia 17 9 8 - 34 32 28 2 4
 
Scoring Summary
Per. Time Team Goal Assist Assist
1 08:27
11:48
18:50		 PHI
PHI
PHI		 Joffrey Lupul
Daniel Briere
Jeff Carter		 Hartnell
Jones
Umberger 		Parent
Hartnell
Modry
2 -
3 03:16
14:11
19:27		 PIT
PIT
PHI		 Jordan Staal
Jordan Staal
Joffrey Lupul		 Kennedy
Kennedy
Hartnell		 Talbot
Talbot
 
Penalty Summary
Per.
Team Penalty Time Player
1
 Philadelphia tripping – 2 min 5:57, D. Briere
 Pittsburgh holding – 2 min 9:51, S. Gonchar
 Pittsburgh clipping – 2 min 12:51, K. Letang
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 14:01, S. Gonchar
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 14:01, M. Talbot
 Philadelphia roughing – 2 min 14:01, S. Hartnell
 Philadelphia roughing – 2 min 14:01, M. Richards
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 17:10, B. Orpik
2
 Philadelphia roughing – 2 min 4:42, S. Upshall
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 4:42, P. Sykora
 Philadelphia tripping – 2 min 14:17, J. Carter
 Pittsburgh slashing – 2 min 18:25, P. Sykora
3
 Philadelphia charging – 2 min 19:37, S. Upshall
 Philadelphia holding – 2 min 19:37, D. Hatcher
 Philadelphia fighting – 5 min 19:37, D. Hatcher
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 19:43, R. Malone
 Pittsburgh fighting – 5 min 19:45, R. Malone
 Philadelphia slashing – 2 min 19:45, M. Richards

Comments

  1. DaBich

    May 16, 04:46 AM

    Sad, sad, performance.

  2. Matt Bodenschatz

    May 16, 07:42 AM

    I actually thought they played pretty well (not great) from the second period onward. That they were down 3-0 and ended up giving the Flyers a run for their money indicates this.

    I knew going into this one that the team that scored first would win. A goal by the Flyers would get their fans involved and would give them momentum. A goal by the Penguins would take the fans out of it and would deflate the Flyers.

    My theory proved right, and the Flyers poured it on the first, but the Penguins (mostly) controlled things the rest of the way — they just couldn’t get any legit shots on Biron until Staal’s pair.

    By no means am I happy with this one, but when looking at the whole, it’s difficult to get too mad about the team’s second loss of the playoffs.

    Lets win game 5!

    P.S. The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat’s headline this morning read: “Game 3: Flyers 4, Penguins 2.” Then it followed up with something to the effect of: “Flyers Show Up With Their Backs To The Wall.” That’s the first time I have heard of a team with its back to the wall in a game three. Oh wait, it was game 4 and they just screwed up the other part. Classic.

  3. DaBich

    May 16, 07:57 AM

    Matt ~ LMAO, did they really screw up the headline that bad??? Hilarious.

    The Pens had giveaway after giveaway the entire game. They couldn’t keep the puck in the Flyers’ end. And Biron happened to be on his game.

    I told hubby before the game started we were going to lose. NBC has the game this weekend and they want air time! ;)

  4. Ashley Gallant

    May 16, 07:59 AM

    I did not expect the Pens to win this one at all because the Flyers are a desperate team and they had to save face in front of their fans. They aren’t the Senators (who played horribly for too much of the season to be able to avoid a sweep), and they aren’t the Avalanche (who had injuries to far too many players, not just a couple of defencemen).

    I’m certainly not saying the sky is falling here – far from it. I think that the third period looked promising for the Pens and they almost won the game, despite having a horrible start. A lucky bounce or two and the end result could have been different.

    Bring on game 5 so that we can win this thing in front of our own fans.

    And who knows, maybe this loss could be a ‘blessing’ in the end. After all, long layoffs never seem to do any good for a team heading into the Stanley Cup Finals.

  5. Matt Bodenschatz

    May 16, 08:51 AM

    James Mirtle, a very well respected national hockey writer had this to say:

    “The team in the hole wins a game, brings it to 3-1, well, okay, there’s their last gasp. Given where they’re coming from, the odds are so long that it’s not worth thinking about. Who’s next again?”

    He went on to add:

    “By that logic, the answer’s ‘Detroit,’ with only the date to be determined.

    “The Flyers and Stars need to win another game for my ears to perk up (and take down that poll in the sidebar).

    “As far as I’m concerned, Penguins fans are safe buying the hat.”

    By hat, he means an Eastern Conference Champions hat listed on Yahoo.com’s sports store.

    You can’t win them all.

  6. Ashley Gallant

    May 16, 09:56 AM

    exactly

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