Flyers kick Penguins to the curb

Pennsylvania now belongs to the Flyers. 

There was certainly reason to be nervous after how Games 4 and 5 went but the Flyers quickly put any thoughts of a possible Penguins series win to bed by jumping out to an early lead in Game 6 and never looking back.  In the series that had a little bit of everything, Game 6 was fairly normal as the Flyers dominated from start to finish, winning 5-1 to send the Penguins packing.

Claude Giroux set the early tone for the Flyers, first crushing Sidney Crosby then picking up a goal 32 seconds into the game.  Giroux later added a pair of assists and continues his emergence into the upper echelon of hockey players.  In a series that featured Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, supposedly two of the top 5 players in the world, Claude Giroux was often the best player on the ice.

The series was also a coming out party for Sean Couturier, who not only had a hat trick in Game 2 but also made it his personal mission to shut down Malkin.  While Malkin had a fair amount of points, Couturier shut him down at critical moments and continually got under his skin.  It will be a lot of fun watching the 19 year old Couturier own Malkin for years to come.

With the Penguins pushed aside, the Flyers now wait for their next opponent.  Who they will play is still pretty up in the air depending on the outcomes of the Rangers/Senators and Bruins/Capitals series.  With the Flyers already having beaten the supposed Cup favorite, a deep playoff run certainly seems like a strong possibility.

Flyers continue to own classless Penguins, take 3-0 series lead

It's pretty clear at this point that the Flyers are in the Penguins heads.  After two thrilling comeback victories in Games 1 and 2, the Flyers completely embarrassed the Penguins in Game 3, dominating the ice in a 8-4 win.  The Flyers are now just one win away from sweeping the supposed Cup favorites out of the playoffs.

The Penguins showed a real lack of class in the game, melting down and turning to cheap hits when they couldn't keep up with the Flyers on the scoreboard.  From Sidney Crosby poking a glove aside to Arron Asham cheap-shotting Sean Couturier for no reason to James Neal taking shots on Flyers stars to Craig Adams pulling Scott Hartnell's hair, the Penguins made a mockery out of the game and turned in an ugly performance for the ages.  Expect at least Asham and Adams to get suspended and Neal to get a serious look at losing a game.

Nothing is over until the Flyers win that 4th game but it has been obvious which team is more poised, determined and willing to do the work necessary to make a deep playoff run.  This Flyers team is filled with young, hungry players that have no fear and won't back down from anyone.  No matter what happens in the next few games of this series and beyond, this is one incredibly exciting hockey team.  We'll see if they can keep it up against a team that actually plays defense.  For now, I'm relishing every minute against the team that "can't beat us!"

Flyers keep the good times rolling with win over Penguins

It's certainly a good last few days for Philly sports fans. First, the Eagles beat the Cowboys on Sunday Night, then the Cliff Lee extravaganza on Monday night, and now, on Tuesday, the Flyers beat the Penguins 3-2 to give them the most points of any team in the NHL. Add a Sixers win on Tuesday to the mix and you have an incredible stretch of Philly sports goodness.

Scoring goals for the Flyers in this one were Claude Giroux, Nikolay Zherdev (who scored a beautiful goal) and Scott Hartnell, who scored the game winner for the Flyers on a deflection.

To make the win even sweeter, the Flyers also snapped the Penguins 12 game winning streak. The Pens hadn't lost a game in regulation since November 10th.

Sure, there have been some negatives for the Flyers this season, like their anemic power play, but you can't ask for them to be in a better position than they are right now, atop the entire NHL. With the number of guys they have that can score goals, the Flyers shouldn't run into those huge lulls in scoring that have plagued them in recent years.

Your move, Eagles. Keep the good times rolling with a win over the Giants this weekend.
(AP PHOTO)

Flyers continue to own CONSOL Energy Center

Talk about a home away from home.

The Flyers are making themselves feel right at home at the Penguins new building, winning for the second time this season at the CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night. While both wins ended with the same 3-2 score, the season opening game and the game tonight started off on completely different notes.

From the drop of the puck, this one was ugly as the two rivals went after each other right away, with Mike Richards and Matt Cooke fighting just 6 seconds into the game. Things only escalated from there, as Jody Shelley and Deryk Engelland also dropped the gloves 17 seconds later and the two teams met for another scrum just a minute and a half into the game. All told, there were 9 penalties for 30 minutes in the first 2:35 of the game.

Things settled down from there as there were just a few scattered penalties by each team from that point forward. With all the penalties early on, the Penguins had several long stretches of power play time, but the Flyers shut them down, finishing the game a perfect 6 for 6 on the penalty kill.

The player of the game for the Flyers was Claude Giroux, who continued his breakout season by scoring two goals, one of them a shorthanded tally, his third of the season. With 6 goals in 10 games this season, the 22 year old Giroux is making himself quite a highlight reel and is on pace for nearly 50 goals this season.

The other Flyers goal was scored on a deflection by Dan Carcillo, who played in place of Nikolay Zherdev, who was a surprise scratch. Zherdev had recently been demoted to the 4th line in practice for his poor defensive play and Peter Laviolette seems to be sending a message to the young, enigmatic winger. Let's hope Zherdev responds and doesn't go into a funk like he did with the Blue Jackets a few years back.

While they are still trying to find a consistent mix, the win over the Penguins was the Flyers second straight and it did push them to the top of the Atlantic Division standings. The game against the very beatable Islanders tomorrow should tell us a lot about whether this team has turned a corner or whether they are going to be complacent once again against a team they should be able to handle.
(AP PHOTO)

Bobrovsky stymies Penguins as Flyers win season opener

I think Flyers fans will quickly get used to this Sergei Bobrovksy guy in net. In his NHL debut, the 22 year old rookie Bobrovsky turned aside 29 of 31 shots to help the Flyers beat the Penguins, 3-2, in their season opener. Sounds like we could have a new starting goalie in Philadelphia.

Bobrovsky played his best early on in the game, stopping all 15 shots he saw in the first period as the Flyers defense struggled to get control of the puck in their own end. As the game wore on, the Flyers defense clamped down a little more and Bobrovsky looked human, allowing 2 goals on 7 third period shots. In all, it was a quite a debut for Bobrovsky, who flashed his quick reflexes and looked nothing like a rookie playing his first NHL game against a strong offensive team like the Penguins.

As for the offense, after a rough first period, Danny Briere led off the scoring with a power play goal in the second and was followed up by goals from Blair Betts and Claude Giroux, who flashed some nifty stick-work to score a shorthanded goal in the third.

On top of all that, the Flyers also left their mark on the new Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, scoring the first goal and notching the first win in the new building. With the win, the Flyers also are on pace to go 82-0 in the season, which sounds just about right!
(AP PHOTO)