 |
| Image courtesy of AP |
The Wells Fargo Center was electric today in anticipation
of the Flyers first home game of the playoffs. Up 2-0 in the series, the Flyers
were looking to push the Penguins to the brink of elimination.
They delivered.
The Flyers, with the help of three multi-goal games for
the Flyers from Daniel Briere, Matt Read and Max Talbot, downed the Penguins 8-4
to take a commanding 3-0 series lead, as “You Can’t Beat Us” chants echoed
throughout the arena from Flyers fans.
“I thought the first two games in Pittsburgh were crazy,”
said Briere. “This one was even wilder.”
In a series where goaltending has been almost
non-existent, nothing changed. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled
after giving up six goals in the first two periods, but backup Brent Johnson
didn’t fare much better, giving up a goal just 27 seconds into the third, and
giving up two on just six shots.
Ilya Bryzgalov gave up four goals in the game, two to
James Neal and two to Jordan Staal. It’s clear that he can’t keep on giving up
as many goals as he has this series. It doesn’t seem like it’ll have an effect
on this series, but, going forward, he clearly needs to play better.
Pittsburgh, like they did in the first two games, struck
first four minutes into the game. But unlike the first two games, the Flyers
struck back quickly and often, jumping to a 3-1 lead. The Pens cut it to one,
but it lasted 30 seconds, as Read scored his second goal of the day to make it
a 4-2 game. Pittsburgh cut the lead to one twice more, but the Flyers ended the
game with three straight and the Penguins had no answer.
“Nobody’s in here pointing fingers,” said Sidney Crosby. “The
fact of the matter is we’ve made mistakes that have hurt us.”
The intensity was at a tipping point, illustrated by the
158 combined penalty minutes. Both Kris Letang and Kimmo Timonen were hit with
Game Misconducts with 7:58 to go in the first period, ending their day early
and Arron Asham got a match penalty two minutes later after cheap-shotting
rookie Brayden Schenn, who got in a hard hit on Paul Martin. But the highlight
of the first was the team’s two stars, Pittsburgh’s Crosby and Philadelphia’s Claude
Giroux, going at it. Briere had one word to describe the scene: “entertaining”.
The second period was tame comparatively, but the third
saw more tempers flare. The final five minutes seemed like an eternity, as the
game was delayed due to fighting between the two teams. Deryk Engellend, Craig
Adams and Neal were given misconducts for the Pens while Wayne Simmonds and Zac
Rinaldo hit the showers early for Philly.
Rookies have been a strong point for the Flyers all
season long, and this series has showed just how good they are. Schenn was the
star in Game 1, Sean Couturier had a hat trick in game 2 and now Matt Read
finished today’s game with two goals.
“These guys knew their role all season long and were a
big part of our team, so they just keep on doing it and [they’re] a big part of
our success right now,” remarked Talbot.
Many thought that this series would be the best of the
first round, predicting it to go six or seven games. The Flyers are proving
everybody wrong, showing just how much more they want this series than
Pittsburgh. They’ve come back in all three games and now Flyers fans are yelling
to take out the brooms. The team has a chance to sweep the Penguins on Wednesday
night and they’re hoping to do just that.
“We don’t want to let them hang around and get some confidence,”
said Briere. “Our goal is to finish them right away.”
Those sentiments are being echoed by every Flyers fan in
the world, Danny.
No comments:
Post a Comment