Penguins 3, Flyers 1 - Game 4 - 4-21-09
PREGAME
-You are reading live from our office. We do not have our DVR at our disposal tonight so we can't guaranteed nearly as many details or nearly as many as of those grainy, fuzzy photos of our regular definition television. We'll all have to survive.
-We going to start a new routine. We're going to play this CBC playoff montage at the top of every playoff game as long as the Penguins are alive and as long as CBC doesn't yank it off of YouTube:
-Watch that video and you'll be motivated to do anything in life. Block a shot. Change a baby's diaper. Cut grass. Write up an NBA round-up for a newspaper (maybe not that one). That video will get you charged up to do just about any difficult task in life.
-An anonymous EN reader sends us a few photos from Wachovia Center. A Ron Hextall jersey:
-Did Hextall ever wear that style of jersey? We'll confess we aren't totally up to speed on Flyers jerseys.
-Warm ups:
-The Penguins' scratches are Philippe Boucher, Eric Godard and Miroslav Satan.
-Riley Cote and Luca Sbisa are the Flyers' scratches.
-Marc-Andre Fleury and Martin Biron are the starting goaltenders.
-Longtime EN reader Bryan Lowe informed us he is our man on the scene tonight and is sending the photos.
-Reader Michael Goldberg sends along this observation. Does Dan Bylsma look like Pirates manager John Russell?
(Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
(Pittsburgh Pirates)
-Dan Potash informs us we'll actually get the national anthems. If this were an NBC broadcast, we would have a promo for "The Apprentice" or some other mindless garbage.
-Lauren Hart might be the only person we've ever enjoyed seeing in a road-workers' vest Flyers uniform:
FIRST PERIOD
20:00: SIdney Crosby, Evgen Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko start the game on the same line.
18:59: FSN PIttsburgh's signal goes haywire for several seconds.
18:44: Fleury eats up a wrister from the left faceoff circle. Hall Gill gives a shove to Darroll Powe and sticks him on his wallet.
18:31: A Flyer rips a wrister from the right wing and it clinks off the cross bar. A pretty quick start for Philadelphia so far.
17:18: Mike Richards whips a backhander at the cage from a tough angle. Fleury knocks it down and covers.
15:52: Daniel Briere chips a puck from the neutral zone to the Penguins' net. Fleury settles it and covers to freeze play.
15:39: Matt Carle snaps a low wrister from the left wing. Fleury kneels down and scoops it up.
15:11: Ruslan Fedotenko gets a pass at the Flyers' blue line, moves in and strikes a quick slapper. Biron knocks it down and covers.
14:56: Joffrey Lupul moves up the right, winds ups and blasts a slapper that gets deflected out of play.
14:30: Sergei Gonchar snaps off a wrister from the right point. Biron jumps out and snags it with Bill Guerin charging down the slot.
13:35: Eaton tosses a wrister from the right point. Biron makes the save despite having the puck deflect off a teammate's stick and a screen by Matt Cooke. Tyler Kennedy goes after the rebound but gets hauled down by Andrew Alberts. Two minutes. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar are on for hte pow erplay.
13:27: The Flyers' penalty kill generates some offense and draws a penalty of it own. Jeff Carter goes to the net and re-directs a shot on net. Fleury makes the save. Kris Letang gives Carter a shove from behind and sends him crashing into the boards. That's two minutes. We'll have four-on-four for 1:52.
12:33: Coburn blasts a one-timer from the right faceoff circle. Fleury slides over and eats up the shot. Malkin is sent off for hooking. The Flyers will have a four-on-three power play for 58 seconds.
11:34: Albert's penalty is killed. Five-on-three for eight seconds.
11:26: Letang's penalty is killed. Five-on-four for 54 seconds.
10:33: Malkin's penalty is killed. The Penguins looked a overwhelmed there that power play. Fleury really stepped up big there.
10:28: Scott Hartnell sends a saucer pass into the slot on the backhand to Claude Giroux. Giroux moves in and shoots wide. Fleury stops his show with his right foot. Big save.
9:42: Guerin pumps a slapper from the right wing. Biron kicks it out with his right leg.
8:47: Alberts tosses a wrister from the left point. It gets through traffic and whizzes juuust wide of the cage.
8:33: Fedotenko cranks a slapper from the left point. Biron makes the save but the rebound pops up abover him hits off his head or shoulder and bounces in the crease behind him. Malkin comes charging and knocks Powe into Biron who falls back and covers the rebound.
7:52: Giroux air-mails a wrister from the neutral zone. Fleury snags it and hangs on with Briere roaming near the net.
7:39: Malkin and Ryan Parent race for a puck dumped into the corner in the Flyers' zone. Malkin gives Parent a shove. Parent hangs on to Malkin's arm. Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey are calling a penalty on Malkin and are stunned that Parent is the one who gets two minutes. He's called for holding. Wow. We totally though Malkin deserved an interference call. We're not saying the call on Parent was wrong, but give Malkin two minutes there also.
6:09: With a Flyers defender and Biron fallen in the crease, Jordan Staal's backhander in tight is denied by BIron's left foot. Sykora has a chance at the rebound but just simply can't get it on net.
5:39: Parent's penalty is killed. Not a lot going on there for the Penguins.
4:33: Crosby fires a quick soft wrister from the right wing. Biron stops it. Dupuis is there for the rebound but really doesn't do anything consctructive with it.
3:34: Carle moves the puck up the middle of the ice. Orpik moves him off the puck which trickles into the slot. Carter jumps in and pushes it towards the net. Fleury covers it. The Flyers came into the zone with far too much speed on that play.
3:11: Orpik sticks a shoulder into Powe at the blue line knocking him off the puck.
3:10: Cooke is called for hooking Powe.
2:55: Just as he clears the puck, Rob Scuderi get hammered in teh corner by Richards.
2:27: Jordan Staal moves up the left wing with speed and whips a rising swirst
2:04: Fleury makes two big saves on the Flyers in tight.
1:45: Dupuis tosses a puck at net from the left wing. Biron jumps out to snag it. Maxime Talbot moves towards the net and Biron gives him a shove. Talbot gets back in his grill and gives Biron a shove. Officials step in and separate all the offending parties.
1:10: Cooke's penalty is killed. The Penguins looked a little better there than on the Flyers' previous power plays.
0:20: Gill blocks a wrister by Richards.
0:00: End of period. Flyers 0, Penguins 0.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-Frankly, the Penguins are luck to come away from that period with a scoreless tie. They were outplayed by the Flyers who simply controlled the puck better, entered the offensive zone with more speed and just seemed to have more life to their game. They're power play actually seemed to present a threat from time to time.
-Marc-Andre Fleury had to hold down the fort far too often that period. He's the reason this is still a 0-0 game.
-It seems like Bylsma tried to shake up his line combinations that period. We're not sure what it accomplished exactly.
-The Penguins actually had a 13-12 edge in shots. We'd still the Flyers the advantage of quality scoring chances.
-Staal leads the game with four.
-Richards leads the Flyers with three.
-The Penguins continue to control faceoffs this series. They owned that period, 15-10 (60 percent).
-Crosby was 8-for-10 (80 percent).
-Ross was 3-for-4 (75 percent).
-Gentle Kimmo Timonen lead the game with 10:23 of ice time.
-Gonchar has 9:58 for the Penguins.
-Scuderi and Timonen each lead the game with two blocked shots.
-Bryan checks in with a picture of "God Bless America:"
-Something completely awesome and random we came across the other day: An Optimus Prime iPod dock:
SECOND PERIOD
19:53: Fedotenko comes in offsides and cranks slapper a little too late after the whistle. Biron kicks out the shot. Mike Knuble comes over a threatens to drown Fedotenko's puppy, even if he doesn't have one. We think.
18:48: Cooke looses his cool and takes a retaliation penalty against Carter as they got tangled up at the blue line. Bad penalty. Craig Adams, Jordan Staal, Gill and Scuderi are on for the kill.
18:15: Carle tosses a wrister from the left point. FLeury kneels down and gloves it. Carle's played a pretty good game so far.
17:37: Dupuis makes a nice play and breaks up a cross ice pass in the slot by Simon Gagne. The puck deflects out of play.
17:29: Carter tries to dish a pass to Lupul but Scuderi kneels down and breaks it up. Nice play by Scuderi.
16:53: Hartnell cranks a slapper from the left wing. Fleury is square to the shot and eats it up.
16:47: Cooke's penalty is killed.
16:41: After a steal by Kunitz at the Penguins blue line, Cooke comes out of the penalty box and and chips the puck behind Parent. Kunitz tracks it down and from the left boards he flings a saucer pass over a sliding Timonen. Crosby crashes the crease and slides into the net. The puck hits off the shaft of his stick, then off his elbow and deflects into the net. An official gives a slightly delayed goal sign and fans begin booing. After lengthy video review, the goal is confirmed. Kunitz and Cooke get assists. More booing from the Flyers' fans.Tom Petty's "Even the Losers" is played during the video review. Penguins 1-0.
14:43: Biron covers a puck deflected towards the crease. Powe is called for hooking Malkin, Gonchar, Kunitz, Crosby and Letang are on for the power play.
13:32: A backhander by Carter is denied by Fleury. The Flyers have two shots on this power play while Penguins have none. Absurd.
12:57: Letang tries to work the puck into the offensive zone but Sykora is offsides.
12:49: Powe's penalty is killed. Another waste of two minutes for the Penguins.
12:30: Gagne rips a wrister from the slot. Fleury is in perfect position and snags it.
12:13: Gill chips a puck into the offensive zone down the left wing. Cooke collects and throws a cross-ice pass to Kennedy on the right wing. Kennedy takes the puck on his forehand and moves to the backhand twisting Alberts around. Kennedy lifts a backhander that beats Biron on the stick side. Heck of a play by Kennedy to maneuver in the slot and create that shooting chance. Cooke and Gill get the assists. Penguins 2-0.
12:04: Biron fights off a slapper by Kennedy.
11:25: Fleury denies Briere on a prime chance in the slot.
11:04: Lupul moves to the net with speed and chips a shot at net. Fleury eats it up.
11:01: Off a faceoff, Gill nudges Knuble to the ice with a shoulder check. That's two minutes for interference. Knuble fell a little too easily there but it's a good call.
10:03: Adams clears teh puck and gets blasted by Richards.
9:01: Gill's penalty is killed. Not much going on there for the Flyers.
8:45: Asham is denied in tight by Fleury.
8:30: Hartnell goes to the outside on Gonchar on the right wing, gets behind him and gets tripped up on his way to the net. Hartnell goes crashing into Fleury. Gonchar is sent off for tripping. Cooke, Staal, Eaton and Orpik are on for the kill.
7:43: Richards dumps a puck into the Penguins' zone. Fleury comes out to stop it before it enters the "no-play" zone. Richards gets to the puck first and dishes it to Knuble on the right wing. In the process of grabbing the puck, Richards trips up Fleury. Knuble takes the shot and it hits Fleury in this right hip. Richards is sent off for tripping. A pretty crazy sequence even if it was created by a penalty. We'll have four 1:13.
6:30: Gill's penalty is killed. The Penguins will have a power play for 47 seconds.
5:43: Richards' penalty is killed.
5:13: Fleury is playing out of his mind. Powe cranks a one-timer from the top of the slot. Fleury snags it with a big glove save despite having Knuble and Orpik battling in front of him.
4:23: Asham has another chance in tight but his shot is kicked out by Fleury's left leg.
3:50: Kennedy gets a puck on the right wing, hesitates and tries to shoot from a tough angle. It appears to hit BIron and ricochets out.
2:33: Eaton blocks a wrister by Richards on the left wing.
1:11: Cooke forces a pass to Staal in the slot but it gets broken up.
0:35: A Penguins player whips a puck that juuuust hits off the glass and tips into the stands. That was really close to being a delay of game penalty.
0:20: Fleury fights off a wrister by Lupul from the right wing.
0:17: Tough time to take a penalty. Hartnell is called for hitting Gill too late in the slot. That's interference. A really stupid penalty. Letang, Gonchar, Crosby, Kunitz and Malkin are on for the power play.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Flyers 0.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-The second period started off pretty much like the second where the Flyers had the bulk of the quality chances. But the Penguins, and Fleury, held them off and just eventually took their chances and cashed them in. The Penguins very methodically took control of this game that period.
-Again, Fleury is simply outstanding. He's stealing goals from the FLyers. After a less than stellar effort in Game 3, he's rebounded big-time tonight. He's playing like a franchise goaltender.
-The power play is just frustrating to watch.
-That said, the Penguins' penalty killers are playing pretty well.
-The Flyers have a 27-19 lead in shots.
-Staal still leads the game with four shots.
-Lupul, Carter, Hartnell and Richards each lead the Flyers with three.
-A really underrated part of this series is the Penguins' command of the faceoff circle. They have a 29-17 lead tonight (63 percent).
-Crosby is 13-for-17 (76 percent).
-Ross is 3-for-5 (60 percent).
-Timonen leads the game with 19:07 of ice time.
-Gonchar leads the Penguins with 18:32.
-Scuderi and Timonen each lead the game with three shots.
-Scott Hartnell should be benched. That penalty he took late was really stupid. The Penguins will have a power play for 1:43 on clean ice to start the period. He has a world of talent, but he's too wild.
-As a few commentors have mentioned down below, a feed of the CBC's broadcast of this game is available from the network's Web site.
-Reader Brandon Cochenour is at the Devils-Hurricanes game tonight and spotted this jersey foul:
-The Carolina hat makes it a foul.
-The Wachovia Center sounded awfully quiet that period.
-Completely awesome, random reader-submitted find: Matt Shaffer found this Soundwave iPod:
THIRD PERIOD
19:23: Kunitz saucers another pass from the left wing into the slot for Crosby. Crosby chips it on net but clunks it off the cross bar. He had a sure goal there.
18:47: Steigerwald mentions that Guerin has gone to the Penguins' bench in discomfort.
18:17: Hartenell's penalty is killed.
17:55: Powe rips a wrister that's off the mark.
17:22: Fleury punches out a wrister by Carter from the right wing.
15:20: Steigerwald and Errey yell into their microphones for all the fans at Mellon Arena. Because apparently they don't have speakers up at the arena.
14:49: Eaton trips up Claude GIroux at the Penguins' blue line. Big two minutes here.
14:44:Staal whips the puck down ice off a faceoff in his own zone.
14:34: Steigerwald refers to Staal as a "horse that can skate." We would pay quite a bit of money to see someone even attempt to put skates on an actual horse.
14:21: Richards dishes a pass to Knuble in tight. Fleury makes a huge point-blank save on Knuble.
14:17: Fleury kicks out a one-timer by Richards from the right wing. Big save.
12:55: From the left of the net, Carter forces a puck into Fleury. It pops back out. Carter whacks it up into the air. It hits off the left post. Fleury covers the puck. Matt Carle charges into the net and basically tries to push Fleury in along with the puck. Gill yanks Carle off his goaltender and those two get into a shoving match. An official immediately waves off the goal.
12:47: Just as Eaton's penalty expires, Fleury eats up a shot by Timonen from the left point.
12:36: Fleury just isn't giving up a goal tonight. Lupul chops a wrister at the net. Fleury fights it off. Powe jumps on top of Fleury who is laying on the ice. How's that not a penalty? Fleury's helmet falls off and play is blown dead.
12:11: Scuderi dumps Carcillo along the left wing.
11:44: Kennedy is called for holding up Ryan Parent behind the Flyers' net. Staal, Adams, Orpik and GOnchar are on for the
11:16: Fleury's insane right now. Timonen rockets a slapper from the top of the slot. It misses the cage and hits off the backboards and ricochets to the right of the cage. Daniel Briere is there for the seemingly easy goal, but Fleury is able to fall backwards and twists his body around to get a piece of i of the puck with his left wrist and hugs the puck against the post with his glove and blocker. He just refuses to give up a goal.
11:07: Gagne is denied in the slot by Fleury. Another big save.
10:24: Cooke gets away with a high stick on Carle.
10:20: Staal whips a wrister from the left wing. Biron gloves it with Cooke charging in. Biron tries to distribute the puck but play is blown down.
9:43: Kennedy's penalty expires. The Flyers have to frustrated.
8:27: Carcillo gets a one-timer chance in the
8:16: Richards tries to jam a puck in one backhander. Fleury keeps it out with his right leg. The rebound kicks out to the slot where Carcillo jumps on it and puches it over a Fleury on the glove side. He couldn't keep the Flyers out of the net forever. "Bro Hymn" from Pennywise is dusted off. Richards and Jones get assists. The last eight minutes of this game will be really intense. Penguins 2-1.
8:04: Lupul pushes a puck into the crease. Fleury covers it and gets a snow shower from an onrushing Flyer.
7:06: Staal forces a pass to Cooke in the slot but that's broken up.
6:03: Fedotenko rushes down the right wing and rockets a wrister that misses the mark. It hits off the backboards and comes out to the right of the cage. Dupuis and Fedotenko are there for the rebound but Biron holds it out.
5:49: Orpik got clipped in the face at the neutral zone by Knuble. No call.
5:35: Fedotenko pushes the puck up the right wing and whips a backhander at the cage. Biron covers it up to freeze play.
5:11: Guerin chops a loose puck that flutters over the net.
4:31: Talbot collides with Biron at the net.
3:42: Kunitz gets behind the Flyers defense and is off on a bit of breakaway. Kunitz shoots but Braydon Coburn reaches over him and blocks his shot.
3:33: BIron makes another big save in tight on Malkin. Biron's played a big game as well.
3:21: Hartnell whips a wrister from the left wing that Fleury tips out of play with his stick.
2:43: A shot by Timonen from the right point hits a body in front.
2:09: After a few sloppy plays by Eaton and Gonchar, Gonchar chips the puck up off the boards and down ice. Carle touches up for icing.
1:43: Carter goes wide on Orpik on the right wing and slides a puck through the crease behind Fleury. That's a goal if a teammate crashes the net.
1:08: John Stevens calls a time out to organize a night everyone can come over to watch "Fletch." We think:
1:05: Biron's is pulled for an extra attacker.
0:51: Hartnell turns over the puck in the corner. Adams ends up with it in the slot and dishes it to Talbot on the left wing. Talbot zips it down ice at the cage for one of us:
Adams gets the only assist. Penguins 3-1.
0:49: BIron is pulled again.
0:45: With a stoppage, Biron returns to the net.
0:00: End of game. Penguins 3, Flyers 1975.
POSTGAME
-Wow. Was that just intense? The last eight minutes of that game just defined playoff hockey. The battles along the boards and for faceoffs. The scrambles around the net. That was a fantastic ending to that game.
-Fleury was just amazing. He stepped up and won that game. Simple as that. He was easily the best player of the game. That's one of the best goaltending performances we can ever remember by a Penguins' net minder.
-We loved what the Penguins' third line of Staal, Cooke and Kennedy offered tonight. This was a game they were best suited for. They set up scoring chances, won defensive battles and got physical along the boards. They were easily the line combination this game.
-Give the Flyers credit. They played a hard honest game for the most part and threw everything they could at Fleury. They simply couldn't beat him outside of the Carcillo goal.
-The Penguins' penalty killers had a big game blanking the Flyers on eight chances.
-Martin Biron did actually play a solid game. He just couldn't match the amazing effort by Fleury. And there's not crime in that.
-The Flyers ended up with a 46-26 lead in shots.
-Carter, Richards and Staal lead the game with five shots each.
-The only Flyers skater who failed to record a shot was Jared Ross.
-The Flyers rebounded a bit in faceoffs as the Penguins ended up with a 43-39 advantage (52 percent).
-Crosby was 20-for-32 in faceoffs (63 percent). Thirty-two faceoffs for one player? Geez.
-Ross was 4-for-6 (67 percent).
-Timonen lead the game with 27:43 of ice time.
-Gonchar paced the Penguins with 26:34.
-Scuderi led the game with five blocked shots.
-Timonen led the Flyers with three.
-Statistical oddity of the night: Evgeni Malkin had no shots on net. He finished with no points.
-Sidney Crosby moved past Mark Recchi into seventh place on the team's all-time scoring list. Each player has 38 points, but Crosby has 11 goals while Recchi has 10.
-Fleury's 45 saves were the second-highest in his playoff career. He had 55 in the 4-3 triple overtime thriller in Game 5 of last season's Stanley Cup final.
-Cooke had two points in the playoff game for the first time since he chipped in two goals while with the Canucks in a 3-2 overtime loss, April 19, 2004.
-Talbot's last playoff goal: