|
The Penguins, hockey and more, by the PG's Seth Rorabaugh. |
PREGAME
-Greetings from:

-The wrong side of the State.
-We acted like a mega-lame tourist last night and hit up an institution of this city:

(Pretty average foot by the way. You could get the same thing at Sheetz for less money and less chance of a stab wound.)
-It's a marvelous late Fall day in the Eastern side of the state. It was sunny and in the high 40s most of the day. It afford us to take a look at the sports complex in South Philadelphia.
-Remember Veterans Stadium?

-Here it is!

-A big concrete parking lot!
-Remember The Spectrum?

-A grassy lot!
-Here is the location of the 2012 Winter Classic:

-Michael Jack Schmidt has a statue here:

The CoreStates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center:

-The ice:

-Granted, they're road cone orange, but the banners here are much more visible than the ones at Consol Energy Center:

-The Penguins have apparently signed Kerry Kittles:

-The Flyers are expected to start Ilya Bryzgalov in net. He has only played in four career games against the Penguins but his numbers are impressive. He has a 2-1-1 record with a 1.73 goals against average, a .942 save percentage and one shutout.
-Some sights around the building. Maxime Talbot is already popular here:

-Rod Brind'Amour:

-Sean Couturier Drummondville Voltigeurs:

-A complicated relationship:

-Noted Penguins fan Cy Clark is here with a busload of Penguisn fans in section 117. As usual, Clark has all his personalized jerseys. For Daniel Briere:

-And Bryzgalov:

:
-Jaromir Jagr t-shirt jerseys aren't all that popular:

-Fans walking in:

-Ron Hextall:

-We're pretty sure orange Crocs are a life foul:

-Keith Primeau:

-Pelle Lindbergh:

-Paul Martin:

-Ditto Evgeni Malkin:

-Ditto Sidney Crosby:

-Crosby is as popular as ever here:

-Claude Giroux 2012 Winter Classic:

-Jeremy Roenick:

-John LeClair:

-Bobby Clarke:

-Dave Schultz:

-Jersey Foul of the Night: Wow:

-Given the combination of games tonight, we can let this jersey foul slide:

-Two members of the 2009 Stanley Cup championship team. Bill Guerin and Miroslav Satan:

-Jersey of the Night: Mark Recchi Flyers:

-And if you're wearing a Matt Read jersey, you're a legit fan.
-Warm ups:



-The Penguins' starters are Tyler Kennedy, Chris Kunitz, Jordan Staal, Paul Martn, Matt Niskanen and Marc-Andre Fleury.
-Their scratches are Sidney Crosby, Deryk Engelland and Richard Park.
-The Flyers' starters are Maxime Talbot, James van Riemsdyk, Jakub Voracek, Matt Carle, Andrej Meszaros and Ilya Bryzgalov.
-Their scratches are Jody Shelley, Brayden Schenn and Matt Walker.
FIRST PERIOD
19:03: van Riemsyk leads a rush up the left wing and snaps off a wrister. Niskanen appears to get a stick on puck in the shot and deflects it wide.
17:54: There are a shocking amount of no-shows here roughly two minutes into the game:

17:16: Briere has a chance in tight but can't beat Fleury.
16:52: Despite his absence, "CROSBY SUCKS" chants still rain down during a stoppage.
16:18: Kevin Marshall is called for delay of game after flinging the puck out of play. Niskanen, Pascal Dupuis, Kennedy, Staal and Chris Kunitz take the ice. Dupuis works the left point.
15:10: Malkin pokes a re-direct chance from the left of the cage off the near post.
14:19: Shorthanded, Scott Hartnell cycles the puck in the left wing corner of the Penguins' zone against Martin and deals a pass to Giroux in the left circle. Giroux jabs the feed on on net. Fleury fends it off. That kills off the rest of the penalty.
13:22: And the Flyers get an early lead due to some tremendous luck. Briere controls the puck on the left wing and just flings a wrister in the direction of the net. It hits off the leg of Bortuzzo and caroms into Orpik's legs. The puck then takes a funny hop and beats Fleury by his left skate. What a goofy goal. A scrum develops behind the Penguins' net afterwards but nothings comes of it. Wayne Simmonds gets the only assist. Flyers 1-0.
12:54: Jagr has a chance in tight but can't punche it by Fleury's right skate.
10:43: Off a brutal turnover by Martin in the right circle of his own zone, Jakub Voracek smacks a slapper on net. Fleury fends it off. Martin owes Fleury a beer.
9:57: Talbot has a chance on a re-direct in the slot but can't get a clean shot off.
9:33: After icing the puck following a lengthy possession by the Flyers in the offensive zone, Dan Bylsma calls a time out to get his players a breather.
8:32: Off a feed from Cooke, Kennedy snaps off a wrister from the right circle. Bryzgalov gets a piece of it. The rebound trickles through the crease to the left wing corner.
7:19: The Flyers get a chance with the power play as Jagr draws a holding minor from Steve Sullivan. Martin, Orpik, Dupuis and Adams take the ice.
6:08: Staal chases after a puck in the right wing corner of the Flyers' zone and is tripped up by Hartnell with a leg whip. That's two minutes. We'll have four on four for 50 seconds.
5:29: Kennedy coasts up the right wing and chucks a wrister on net. Vitale crashes in and is tripped up. Giroux is the guilty party as he's sent off for hooking. Four on three for 10 seconds. Malkin, Neal, Kennedy, Kunitz take theice take the ice.
5:19: Sullivan returns to the ice. The Penguins will have a five on three for 1:50.
5:11: Despite having a five on three, The Penguins give up a shorthanded chance to Talbot who is robbed on teh doorstep by his friend Fleury. What a save.
4:13: With two Flyers playing without a stick, Malkin cranks a one-timer from the top of the right circle wide.
4:09: Kunitz is called for cross checking. The Flyers fans give their team a standing ovation for killing off the lengthy two-man advantage. Four on four for 40 seconds.
3:29: The Giroux minor is killed. The Flyers will have a five on four for 1:20.
2:57: Kimmo Timonen grips and rips a wrister from the right circle wide to the far side.
2:09: The Kunitz minor is killed.
1:07: Neal snaps off a wrister from the left wing. Bryzgalov eats it up.
0:00: End of period. Flyers 1, Penguins 0.
FIRST INTERMISSION

-The Penguins are lucky to only be down by a goal after that period. They were horrible. They were tentative and sloppy. The Flyers were aggressive but just couldn't capitalize on too many of their chances.
-The Penguins' five on three is just brutal. They had two players without a stick and couldn't even pose a threat.
-Talbot looked good. He had some jump to his game.
-Jagr looked like typical Jagr. He was very calculating with how he moved on the ice.
-The Flyers are dominating shots, 15-8.
-Briere and Carle each lead the game with three shots.
-Neal, Kennedy and Malkin each lead the Penguins with two.
-Faceoffs are tied, 11-11 (50 percent).
-Talbot is 4 for 6 (67 percent).
-Craig Adams is 3 for 4 (75 percent).
-Talbot and Andrej Meszaros each lead the game with three blocked shots.
-Carle leads the game with 9:57 of ice time.
-Martin leads the Penguins with 9:36.
-During a stoppage, a video of Ron Hextall chasing Rob Brown was shown for motivation. Because it's not like Hextall gave up a goal on the play or anything:
SECOND PERIOD
18:10: Malkin leads a rush into the offensive zone. From the slot, he distributes a pass to Neal in the right circle. Neal chops a one-timer. Bryzgalov slides to his left and kicks it out. That line needs to generate more chances like that.
17:10: Zac Rinaldo smacks Simon Despres in the left wing corner of the Penguins' zone.
16:37: Adams chops a backhander from the left circle into the crease. Bryzgalov eats it up. Steve MacIntyre barges in and gives the business to Harry Zolnierczyk.
16:23: Marshall is nabbed for holding the stick of MacIntyre. Because there's a player you need to commit that penalty against. Martin, Malkin, Neal, Sullivan and Kunitz take the ice.
14:49: Carle chips a puck down ice to clear it.
14:23: The Marshall minor is killed. The Penguins are simply not a threat with their power play right now.
13:13: Vitale is called for holding Jagr in the right wing corner of the Penguins' zone. Orpik, Staal, Martin and Dupuis take the ice.
11:18: The Penguins lose their structure on the penalty kill and the Flyers strike. Giroux controls the puck in the left circle and snaps off a pass to Voracek in the right circle. Voracek controls the puck, draws Fleury out of his crease and deals it to the other side of the slot for Wayne Simmonds who sweeps it into an empty net. The Penguins' defenders were all over the place on that play. Voracek and Giroux get assists. Flyers 2-0.
8:45: Off a faceoff, Sullivan is called for hooking Coburn. Coburn pretty much hugged Sullivan's stick and fell on his butt. That's two minutes. Dupuis, Staal, Orpik and Martin take the ice.
7:46: Cooke digs out a puck on the left wing of the offensive zone and whips a wrister at the cage. Bryzgalov fends it off.
6:55: Despres intercepts a pass in the defensive zone and flings it down ice. That kills off the rest of the penalty.
6:28: And this just gets uglier. Meszaros flies into the offensive zone with speed blowing by a few defenders including Orpik at the blue line, and backhands a pass from the right of the crease to the back doorstep. Hartnell is there and punches it by the right skate of a helpless Fleury. Fleury was left out to dry there. Meszaros gets the only assist. Flyers 3-0.
5:58: Rinaldo is called for interference against Bortuzzo following a scrum at the Flyers' blue line. Martin, Malkin, Kunitz and Sullivan take the ice.
5:50: And teh Penguins strike right away. Niskanen controls the puck at the top of the slot and fakes a slapper. He pulls it down and taps a little pass to Malkin in the left circle. Malkin deals cross ice pass to Neal in the opposite circle. Neal grips and rips a wrister by the glove hand of Bryzgalov. What passing. Malkin and Niskanen get assists. Flyers 3-1.
4:35: Malkin hacks out the skates of Briere in front of the Penguins' bench. The Penguins nee a kill here badly. Adams, Orpik, Dupuis and Martin take the ice.
2:46: Van Riemsdyk guns a one-timer from the top of the slot wide of the cage
2:35: Malkin's minor was killed.
2:13: Kunitz takes a drop pass in the right circle and snaps off awrister whcih clunks off the post.
1:18: Off a faceoff in the neutral zone, Kennedy and Giroux drop the gloves. We're sure the Flyers want Zolnierczyk fighting. They throw off their gear an lock up right away. Kennedy lands an early right which staggers Zolnierczyk. Zolnierczyk recovers and his basically body slammed by Kennedy. Both players head to the locker room. Give that one to Kennedy.
0:57: Hartnell gets in behind the Penguins defense and attacks the net. He tries to go with a forehand shot but loses the puck to a poke check from Fleury. Ther's a scrum in the crease. Niskanen hits Hartnell from behind into the cage. That's two mintues for cross checking.
0:30: Fleury robs Giroux in tight.
0:00: End of period. Flyers 3-1.
SECOND INTERMISSION

-Things actually managed to get worse for the Penguins that period, but they were able to salvage a little momentum with Neal's goal and the Kennedy fight.
-Fleury is doing everything he can to keep this game in reach for his team. He desrves a few beers after this.
-The most surprising aspect of this game has been the Penguins' lack of discipline. They've taken a lot of silly penalties.
-The Penguins' lack of depth on defense tonight is really showing up. Tons of mistakes on the blue line by the veterans and rookies.
-Bryzgalov has hardly had to work at all tonight.
-The Flyers have a 22-13 lead in shots.
-Neal leads the game with four.
-Hartnell, Simmonds, Carle, Briere and Jagr each lead the Flyers with three.
-Martin leads the game with 19:15 of ice time.
-Carle leads the Flyers with 17:39.
-The Penguins actually have a 29-20 lead in faceoffs (59 percent).
-Adams is 6 for 8 (75 percent).
-Briere is 9 for 17 (53 percent).
-Talbot, Meszaros and Despres each lead the game with three blocked shots.
-During a shootout contest in the intermission, the youth player who won the contest was interviewed by the in-game host. The host asked him if he like to imitate Briere's celebration. The kid responded matter of factly, "No, I like to copy the Penguins." Nothing but boos. Wow.
THIRD PERIOD
20:00: The Flyers will have 1:03 of power-play time on fresh ice. Adams, Dupuis, Orpik and Martin take the ice.
19:40: Adams has a shorthanded scoring chance early just wide of the cage.
18:57: The Niskanen minor is killed.
16:15: Jagr tries his patented move of cutting in off the right wing towards the slot. Before he can even really get going, Staal back check and pokes the puck off his stick.
13:42: Off a little cycling in the right wing corner, Cooke chucks two wristers at the cage from the left circle. Bryzgalov fends them both off.
13:19: Attendance is announced as 19,936.
11:48: Off a drop pass from Malkin, Adams chops a slapper from the right circle.
11:39: And that vaunted Adams-Malkin-Asham connection strikes. After a one-timer Asham from the top of the slot deflects wide, Bobby Orrpik is in deep in the right wing corner to recover. He taps a backhander to Malkin in the right circle. Malkin snaps it off and the puck squeaks through the gear of Bryzgalov. Orpik and Asham get assists. Flyers 3-2.
10:50: Sensing some danger, the fans here start a "LET GO FLYERS!" chant.
8:29: Neal tags Jagr with a solid hit at the red line in front of the penalty boxes.
7:51: Meszaros steps up at his blue line and smacks Vitale with a nice hit in front of the Flyers' bench.
6:27: After a icing call, Peter Laviolette calls time out to get his team a breather.
5:58: Neal circles off the right wing boards to the slot and releases a wrister wide of the cage.
5:22: Staal lifts a wrister from above the right circle. Bryzgalov bodies it away with his left shoulder.
5:03: Niskanen chops a one-timer from the top of the slot. It hits a stick and re-directs on net. Bryzgalov punches it out.
4:26: Jagr goes to work behind the net and in the corners eating the puck and killing time as Niskanen tries to body him off the puck. Great work by Jagr.
3:00: HUGE save by Fleury. Off a feed from the left wing by Jagr, Hartnell chops a one-timer from the top of the slot. Fleury has to stretch to his left and kick it out with a skate.
1:55: Staal tries to run through the Flyers defense but loses the puck. Kennedy is all over it and hacks it wide of the cage.
1:34: Off a feed from Kunitz, Niskanen whips a wrister at the cage. Bryzgalov freezes the puck. Fleury is pulled for an extra attacker.
0:40: Jagr airmails a wrister from center ice at the empty cage. His shot is high.
0:21: Malkin guns a slapper from the right half wall. Bryzgalov eats it up.
0:14: Giroux has a a sure empty net goal but the Flyers are called offsides.
0:04: Malkin makes a last ditch effor with a rush of the left wing. His wrister from the left circle is fought off and directed out of play by Bryzgalov.
0:02: Neal whiffs on a last second shot.
0:00: End of game. Flyers 3, Penguisn 2.
POSTGAME

-That was nearly a carbon copy of Monday's loss to the Bruins. The Penguins simply didn't have the manpower to compete with a hot team. The Flyers were mostly healthy up front and just forced the Penguins' beleaguered blue line into several mistakes.
-If not for Marc-Andre Fleury, this could have been a lot worse. He stole a few goals tonight.
-To their credit, the Penguins turned on the heat in the final 20 minutes. They kept play in the offensive zone quite a bit and peppered the Flyers' goal with several chances. The only problem is that the game usually has three periods.
-The Penguins power play is just brutal right now. They had had another lengthy five on three, with two Flyers defenders losing their sticks and couldnt' mount a threat. Granted, the lack of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang hurts that area, but that's still no excuse.
-Evgeni Malkin and James Neal did connect on a goal tonight on the five on four power play late in the second period, but in terms of five on five play, they have been a non-entity the last week or so. It might be time to break up the their line with Steve Sullivan for a game or two.
-Brooks Orpik and Paul Martin did not have sharp games. They seem like they're maybe a little worn out from all the extra minutes.
-Ilya Bryzgalov was hardly tested in the first two periods but made some tough saves late when he had to.
-Jaromir Jagr was hardly a factor in the game. The Penguins managed to bottle him up fairly well.
-Jagr joked after the game that he was able to make Penguisn fans happy for once by missing the empty net goal at the end of the game.
-Maxime Talbot said Fleury gave him a "Woo!" when he made a first period save.
-The Flyers had a 29-27 lead in shots.
-Neal, Malkin and Jagr each led the game with five shots.
-Martin led the game with 29:00 of ice time.
-Matt Carle led the Flyers with 26:27.
-The Penguins had a 38-33 lead in faceoffs (54 percent).
-Daniel Briere was 12 for 22 (55 percent).
-Adams was 8 for 11 (73 percent).
-Simon Despres led the game with four blocked shots.
-Talbot, Andrej Meszaros and Kimmo Timonen each led the game with three blocked shots.
-Orpik moved into a tie with Ron Francis (533) for 10th-most games played in franchise history.
-Highlights:

| < Prev | Next > |
|---|