The Penguins And Team Toughness
Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins
Oct 8, 11:37 PM | Hype this story!
The news at the end of tonight’s rivalry game between the Flyers and Penguins wasn’t about power-plays, goals, or really anything hockey related at all.
It was about biting.
That’s right. Biting. I’m not throwing an obscure hockey term out there. I’m talking about a sequence of events at the end of the game that put a hole in the Flyers theory of team toughness and prove exactly why they’ve been consistently unable to solve the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As the whistle sounded to end the game, Mike Richards (epic leader that he is) took a run at Marc-Andre Fleury, while Kris Letang got tied up with Scott Hartnell and a scrum ensued.
Letang left for the locker-room immediately, in visible pain, holding his finger and grimacing.
After reviewing the situation, Dan Bylsma called for the ref to bring the entire situation to his attention.
Allegedly, Scott Hartnell bit Kris Letang during the scrum.
And the one second it took to administer that bite embodies everything that is wrong with the Flyers gameplan.
They can’t beat the Penguins. The frustration is growing. So much so that Kris Letang pointed out the obvious on the FSN post-game show.
“We all know they’re about doing stupid things like that at the end of the game.”
Rather than address the issues they had on defense and in goal, the Flyers signed the immobile Tollefson on defense, put an unknown in net, and came right back with the same old Bobby Clarke recipe.
What did it get them?
Tonight, while Malkin was cutting through the defense like a hot knife through butter, while Sidney Crosby was going 21 for 24 on faceoffs, while the Penguins offense was making quick passes and smart decisions, the Flyers were biting people.
So what is team toughness? Is it biting?
No, it’s lambasting the supposed savior of the opponents team. Chris Kunitz, Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, and Bill Guerin all welcomed Chris Pronger to the Eastern Conference by crushing him at every opportunity.
As the flow of five on five play settled down, the Penguins were consistently better at even strength, controlling the puck in the boards with fantastic combination of physical play and skill.
But the Flyers are sticking with the same old recipe. Their jaded view of what hockey really is has done nothing but continually shoot them in the foot year after year.
The Penguins hit hard, skate fast, play with finesse, and win clutch hockey games.
The Flyers?
They bite the opposition.
Might as well stick with what works, right?
Comments
Eric
Oct 8, 11:51 PM
Bravo Jesse Right on the Mark as usual
Pronger looks SLOW AS A GLACIER !!!!
Zack Dawson
Oct 9, 12:58 AM
Pronger tonight…shades of Kevin Hatcher. Slow, supposedly tough, and burned at most opportunities.
DaBich
Oct 9, 06:53 AM
I can’t believe even the Flyers would stoop so low. Friggin loser. What do you suppose the NHL will do about it? Hell, Mike Tyson was banned.
Casey
Oct 9, 08:06 AM
Excellent article!
SprJudd
Oct 9, 08:45 AM
@Dabich – Jarkko Ruutu got a 2-game suspension for biting an opponent last year. I would guess that if the NHL decides to suspend Hartnell, he will probably get a similar number of games. But given that he’s giving coy ‘who, me?’ type answers and chuckling about the whole situation, Colin Campbell may opt to make an example out of him. Though I wouldn’t hold my breath for that – the NHL is the league where you get more harshly disciplined for disparaging your ex-girlfriend’s virtue than you do for trying to end a player’s career with a headshot.
Pens1967
Oct 9, 09:04 AM
Well, move over, Pedro Borbon, you’ve got company in the annuals of great Pgh sports biting history. :)
Don’t forget about the Flyers picking a fight with Craig Adams, of all people, after the Pens first goal.
SprJudd
Oct 9, 09:13 AM
@Pens1967 – Is it any real surprise? Ian Laperierre has long been considered one of the dirtiest (if not the dirtiest) players in the NHL. I was hardly stunned when I saw he went after a Penguin player…I just figured it would’ve been one of the top 6. Kudos to Craig Adams for not skating away from it or allowing Mike Rupp or Eric Godard to handle it. Had he done that, it might’ve been Sid or Geno they went after next time.
Brad
Oct 9, 09:14 AM
Richards runs Fleury & clearly goes to his left at the last second and elbows him in the head. Letang goes after Richards & Hartnell jumps him from behind & then bites him. Perhaps the NHL should start a “Hockey is for Everyone” program within the Flyers organization and actually teach them the game.
Dabich
Oct 9, 10:28 AM
Sprjudd, I had forgotten about Ruutu’s biting incident last season, thanks for reminding me. Surely the league will do SOMETHING? This makes the whole league a laughing stock.
Dabich
Oct 9, 10:29 AM
isn’t Lapierre (sp) the one who butt-ended Sid with the his stick in the mid-section and nothing was called several seasons ago?
Pens1967
Oct 9, 10:35 AM
What about Asham(?) mugging Malkin along the boards against the benches and trying to throw him over the boards all while Malkin isn’t even trying to resist. Then Malkin comes out of it with 2 penalties!
Nate
Oct 9, 10:50 AM
The Flyers are and always have been a joke.
Matt Bodenschatz
Oct 9, 11:03 AM
@Dabich, that’s Maxim Lapierre, not Ian Lapierriere.
c
Oct 9, 12:19 PM
I’ve always said that Hartnell bites. Now he’s gone out and proved it!
Danny
Oct 9, 12:48 PM
This does absolutely nothing for the game. Actions like this make all of us who love this game look like neanderthals . I’m ashamed and saddened buy the actions of Mr. Fartsmell and hope the NHL at least sits him for a few. Now, on to Toronto…
Dabich
Oct 9, 01:48 PM
Thanks Matt, I got them confused.
LOL @ C!
Ray aka WildcatRay
Oct 9, 06:26 PM
What you all are forgetting is that the Flyers are owned the Snyders who…
...wait for it…
...own Comcast! Yes, the very same Comcast that owns Versus!
Need I say more?
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