Flyers-Pens

The Flyers are underway in their round 1 playoff series against their cross state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. You might be able to argue the point that we here at Southbroad have been purposely neglecting this post because just in case you haven't been watching the series its been, in a 2 words, not good.

In game 1 the Flyers completely failed to match the intensity of Penguins from the opening drop. The Flyers got out shot, out skated, out hit, and straight up out played. One problem that the Flyers have had so far and specifically in game 1 is their inability to stay out of the penalty box. The Flyers took 12 penalties and put the Penguins on the powerplay 8 times. When all was said and done in game 1 the Flyers fell to the Penguins 4-1 hoping to get the split in game 2.

With some scrappy action coming at the end of game 1 this resulted in the suspension of forward Dan Carcillo and the fining of head coach John Stevens. The Flyers seemed to be motivated by this, matching the intensity of the Penguins in game 2. The Flyers struck first in the first period by, who seems to be enemy no.1 in Pittsburgh, Scott Hartnell. The Penguins evened the score on an odd man rush goal by Bill Guerin on a nice pass from Evgeni Malkin.

The Flyers scored early in the 3rd, Darroll Powe recieved a beautiful pass from Claude Giroux and snapped a screamer stick side on Marc Andre-Flurry. 

In game 2 the Flyers were able to stay out of the penalty box...for 55 minutes. Refs were definitely "lettin' 'em play" in game 2... for 55 minutes. The Flyers had a 2-1 lead late in 3rd (worth mentioning, if not for a great save on Jeff Carter the score would have been 3-1.) when a ticky tack hooking call was made of Jeff Carter. The Flyers, unfortunately, were not able to live to tell about it. The Penguins knotted the game at 2-2 with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd period.

Overtime started at a furious pace with the Pens and Flyers exchanging shots and rushes. Then the refs took the game into their hands. Mike Knuble was tagged with a questionable cross-checking call. The penalty was called when Knuble was set in front of the net trying to clear space, slightly extended his arms and apparently knocked over the 6'2 220 pound Brooks Orpik, who delivered 14 hits during the game. As if the Knuble penalty wasn't enough for the Flyers a bad rookie mistake was made by Claude Giroux when he got called for a slash. The 2 man advantage would prove deadly, as the crafty veteran Bill Guerin top shelved the game winner on Marty Biron. Just like that the Flyers fell into a 2-0 deficit on the series with a 3-2 loss.      

Going into game 3 the Flyers have somethings to be concerned about. Obviously their incapability of staying out of the box especially in crucial situations. Another area of concern is generating offense. The Flyers seem to be playing defense a lot, credit the Pittsburgh defense for stifling the Flyers offense but the Flyers need more sustained offense. The Flyers got out shot 33-27 in game 1 and 49-40 in game 2. Which leads me to my final concern. To say the Marty Biron has not been good might be a little harsh so what I will say is that Biron is not playing as good as the Flyers need him to be. 

Game 3 will be Sunday afternoon on NBC at 3 p.m. Hopefully being in their own beds' will help the Flyers dig out of the heck of a hole they've got their selves into.