Saturday, January 13, 2007

Penguins 5, Flyers 3

The Pens looked like they might lose a squeaker to the Flyers today. Fortunately, Derian Hatcher had other ideas. Mr. Hatcher was nice enough to let the puck get by him, and then was simply too slow to have any hope of helping against a two-on-one. Malkin came in on the right side and threw a nice pass across to Staal, who stretched out and punched it behind Nittymaki. Staal is tall, so he didn't have to do the diving effort that Crosby pulled off the other night.

I was really impressed with the way the team kept battling. I know they've dominated the Flyers this year (now 6-0-0), but with the way the Flyers made the most of their chances, I was worried about the Pens folding. They kept their heads up and found a way to win the game.

I'm going to do a separate post about the broadcast, simply because I don't think I've ever heard quite so many dumb things said in such a short time span. I have to go back to the Tivo recording and see how many quotes I can pull out.

The Pens looked like the had the game in control early in the second period. They took a 3-1 lead with less than 5 minutes left in the second, but the Flyers responded with two goals before the end of the period to tie the score. It stayed that was until Staal's goal and Malkin iced things with an empty net goal.

The referees were also quite bad today, I thought. At the end of the second, Alexi Zhitnik hits Crosby about two full strides after Crosby got rid of the puck (meaning, way too late), got him up high in the face. Crosby took exception and stood up for himself and somehow wound up with a double minor (Zhitnik only took a single minor).

Oh, and the last thing - I really don't like Peter Forsberg. He's a great player, but he plays like a grumpy old man. His hit on Ryan Malone was cheap. You don't need to go near the head area unless you're trying to hurt someone, and that's exactly what Forsberg did. Let's hope that Floppa manages to get himself hurt yet again so everyone can talk all they want about how great he is, but he never gets a chance to prove it on the ice.

Next up: vs the Islanders on Tuesday at the Igloo. The Pens will play three games in five days leading up to the All Star break.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm really surprised that this game was so close. the pens were all over them at the beginning, & came away with, what, 1 goal in the first period?
i'm looking forward to the post about the broadcast. it was just sad.

Anonymous said...

My thoughts exactly on the broadcast. Ferraro is a douche, Doc Emrick is a moron, don't know what to say about Edzo though.