Flyers at Penguins - Game 1 - 04-11-12

FIRST PERIOD

20:00: At 7:38 p.m., EDT, the 2011 playoffs begin with Staal beating Giroux for a faceoff.

19:23: Kennedy picks up a loose puck in the defensive zone and pushes it up ice. He weaves his way through the neutral zone, cuts off the left wing board and veers to the slot. He whips a wrister on net. Bryzgalov punches it away with his blocker.

18:43: Chris Kunitz jabs Nicklas Grossman into the end boards of the Flyers' zone.

18:28: James Neal hammers Grossman behind the Flyers net.

17:47: Pascal Dupuis drops Marc-Andre Bourdon in the right wing corner of the offensive zone.

17:25: Craig Adams coasts into the offensive zone and leaves a drop pass for Arron Asham in the left circle. Asham pumps a wrister on net. Bryzgalov kicks it away.

16:54: After a strong shift by the Penguins in the offensive zone, the Flyers ice the puck for the second time. The home crown offers a loud ovation.

16:17: The Penguins' strike first.  Letang takes a pass at the left point. He chucks a wrister towards the cage. Grossman is in front and blocks it. Crosby gets positioning on Grossman and is able to flick a backhander through Grossman's legs to the far side by Bryzgalov's glove hand and into the cage. Grossman thumps Crosby to the ice after the fact. Dupuis shoves Grossman away and starts shouting at Crosby. Crosby gives him a playful jab. This place is going nuts. Dupuis and Letang get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song is played. Penguins 1, Flyers 0.

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15:19: Play is halted as Staal and Cooke give some love taps to Timonen near the Penguins' bench. Hartnell tries to engage Orpik at the Penguisn' bench. Orpik refuses to get involved.

14:47: Neal smacks Talbot into the left wign boards of the Flyers' zone.

14:08: Wayne Simmonds goes wide on the right wing and forces a pass to the slot. Deryk Engelland blocks it.

12:43: Jagr carries the puck through the neutral zone and is booed for the first time tonight.

12:11: Tyler Kennedy stepping up. Staal lugs the puck up the ice through the neutral zone two-on-two with Kennedy. From the right circle, Staal draws in two defenders and is able to force a bouncing backhander to the slot. Kennedy is able to get enough wood on the puck and swats it by Bryzgalov's right leg. Kennedy celebrates in the left wing corner. Staal and Letang get assists. Letang made a great outlet pass off a loose puck in the defensive zone.The Flyers call time out to break up the momentum. They did this two weeks ago in the brawl game and came back to win. The "Woo-Hoo!" song and the WWE "KENNEDY!" clip are played. Penguins 2-0.

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11:30: Neal roars into the offensive zone with speed and from the left circle, he snaps off a wrister wide of the cage.

11:16: Kunitz naps off a wrister from the right half wall. Carle gets a piece of it with his stick. The puck skids in on net and is covered by Bryzgalov.

10:24: Giroux settles a puck on the right wing wall of his own zone and snaps off a pass to Jagr at the Penguins' blue line. Jagr gets behind Zbynek Michalek and is off on a breakaway. He shoots low. Fleury appears to get a piece of it to kick sent it wide. Clutch, clutch save.

9:54: Kennedy pounds a slapper from the left circle. Bryzgalov smothers it to freeze play. Cooke is hovering around Bryzgalov for a potential rebound. Hartnell comes barging in to give Cooke some grief. Cooke gives it back in the form of a shove to the face. Hartnell falls over. No call.

9:00: Neal snaps off a wrister from above the left circle. Bryzgalov gets a piece of it and sends the shot over the cage.

8:28: Malkin weaves his way into the offensive zone turning Bourdon inside-out and swats a puck from in front of the blue paint on net. Bryzgalov steers the shot away.

7:49: Brayden Schenn and Cooke races for a puck in the right wing corner of the Penguins' zone. Schenn gets the better of the collision and sticks Cooke on the ice.

7:25: Fleury plays a puck away from an approaching Simmonds. Simmonds appears to trip him. No call.

6:53: Giroux flicks a wrister from the left half wall wide to the far side.

6:18: Sean Couturier and Briere try to jam in a puck on the Penguins' net but no dice.

5:54: Fleury settles a puck shot in from the neutral zone and freezes it. Schenn hovers over Fleury. Ben Lovejoy isn't having any of it and pulls him away from his goaltender.

5:17: Couturier chips a puck by Letang at the Penguins' bench but is dropped to the ice by the Penguins' defenseman.

4:30: Off a drop pass from Staal, Cooke lifts a wrister from the left circle. Bourdon squats down to block it.

3:47: Crosby takes a pass in the neutral zone, races through to the offensive zone and snaps off a wrister from the left circle which Andreas Lilja blocks.

3:08: Bourdon chips a puck into the Penguins' zone from the red line but is smacked into the boards in front of the scorers' booth by Kunitz.

2:06: Jagr chugs his way into the offensive zone down the slot and appears to get a step on Michalek. He whips a wrister which Michalek gets a piece of with his stick.

1:43: Giroux tries to play a puck out of the left wing corner of his own zone. Staal smacks him and send him sprawling to the ice.

1:03: Off a steal by Crosby in the offensive zone, Cooke has a scoring opportunity in the left circle but is stripped of the puck by Grossman.

0:36: The Penguins' get lucky. Crosby chips a puck from the right half wall to Sullivan behidn the Flyer'z net. Sullivan just chips it into Bryzgalov's left skate. It hops up in the air. Dupuis crashes in and chops it into the cage. Bryzgalov looks back and grasps at the puck hoping to stop it but it's too late. The "Woo-Hoo!" song triple shifts. Sullivan and Crosby get assists. Penguins 3-0.

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0:15: Matt Read tries to chip a puck from the slot to Talbot in the right circle. Orpik is able to get a stick on it and chips it away.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 3, Flyers 0.

FIRST INTERMISSION

-We're guessing it probably impossible to hope for a better start for the Penguins. That. Was. Impressive.

-The Penguins didn't take long to initiate contact. They were going after the Flyers' defensemen with like they were getting paid by the hit. Grossman and Bourdon probably took the most abuse. The Penguins have dominated the physical play of this game thus far.

-Is it safe to say Sidney Crosby is back yet?

-We're guessing the Flyers wanted a little more out of their $51 million investment in goal. Especially this time of the season.

-Speaking of goaltenders, how clutch was Fleury's save on Jagr?

-Brayden Schenn was probably the Flyers' best forward. He was very engaged int he play physcially and created a few things.

-The Penguins have a 13-6 lead in shots.

-Kunitz and Kennedy each lead the game with three.

-Zbynek Michalek leads the game with 8:22.

-Carle leads the Flyers with 7:57.

-The Flyers have a 10-7 lead in faceoffs (59 percent).

-Giroux is 4 for 6 (67 percent).

-Staal and Crosby are each 2 for 4 (50 percent).

-Kunitz lead the game with two blocked shots.

SECOND PERIOD

19:12: Staal pushes the puck up the right wing one-on-one with Grossman. Grossman muscles him off the puck and steals it.

18:11: Simmonds snaps off a wrister from deep on the right wing. Fleury eats it up.

17:59: Off a faceoff win, Bourdon pounds a slapper from the right point. Dupuis challenges and blocks it out of play.

16:56: Orpik plays a puck int the right wing corner of the Penguins' zone and is hit from behind into the boards by Giroux. Orpik crashes into the boards face first. That was more reckless than dirty. Either way, it's two minutes for boarding. Neal, Malkin, Kunitz, Crosby and Letang take the ice.

16:44: From the left point, Neal slides a pass to Malkin at the right half wall. Malkin hammers a one-timer. Bryzgalov gloves it.

16:06: Neal dances his way through a few stick checks ans snaps off  wrister from the right circle. Bryzgalov gets a piece of it.

15:40: Talbot tries to push the puck up the right wing shorthanded but is knocked off by Letang.

14:56: The Giroux minor is killed. The Penguin did little with that chance.

14:50: Wow. Wow. Wow. Giroux escapes the puck and chases down a puck in the right wing corner. He pulls up and snaps a pass through the slot to Hartnell streaking in. Hartnell jabs a shot on net. Fleury is able to slide ot his right and kicks it out. Just. Clutch.

14:29: Staal pumsp a wrister from the right circle which is blocked by Lilja.

14:02: From the right point Jagr pushes a pass to Giroux in the slot. Giroux whips a shot but his stick breaks and the puck goes wide.

13:38: Off a neutral zone turnover, the Penguins get burnt. Schenn recovers a turnover by the great Joe Vitale and slides a pass from his blue line to Briere at the Penguins blue line. Briere gets behind Orpik, hustles in, fend off  a slash from Orpik and lifts a wrister over the glove hand of Fleury. He does a fist pump in the left wing corner. Just ugly defense by the Penguins. Briere lokoed to be a tad offsides. Schenn gets the only assist. Penguins 3-1.

12:31: Simmonds makes a strong play off  cycle from behidn the Penguins' net and slides a pass to Vorcek streaking down the slot. Voracek pucnesh the feed on net. Fleury knocks it dead and covers. Tough save.

10:35: A replay shows Briere offsides by a few feet:

-If he's not 5-foot-1, he's probably onsides.

10:16: Letang settles a puck at the right point and chucks wrister towards the cage. It hits a cluster of bodies in front. Crosby setles it and flicks it on net. Bryzgalov eats it up.

9:54: Zac Rinaldo is up to his old tricks as he cross checks Neal in front of the Flyers' bench. Malkin, Neal, Crosby, Letang and Kunitz take the ice.

9:18: From the goal line on the right wing, Neal forces a pass to the slot. Coburn blocks it but ends up deflecting it on his own net. Bryzgalov holds it out.

8:59: Malkin sneaks a pass from the right wing across the slot to Crosby in right circle. Crosby chops a one-timer which Grossman appears to partially block.

8:40: Malkin slides a pass from above the left circle to Kunitz above the right circle. Kunitz swipes an off balance one-timer to the far side. Bryzgalov kicks it out.

8:23: The Penguins are getting shots this power play. Staal streaks up the right wing and lifts a backhander wide of the cage.

7:54: The Rinaldo minor is killed. The Penguins generated a few chances there.

7:29: Hartnell absolutely dumps Michalek with a strong forecheck in the left wing corner of  the Penguins' zone.

6:49: Coburn pumps a slapper from the right point. Fleury kicks it away despite traffic.

6:38: Attendance is announced as 18,565. It is the team's 252nd consecutive sellout.

5:20: Kennedy picks up a loose puck, hustles up the left wing boards, gains the offensive, busts out a Denis Savardian spin-o-rama against Carle and whips a backhander on net. Bryzgalov fights it off.

4:10: Bourdon drives a one-timer from the left point. Dupuis punches it away.

4:03: Off a give and go with Sullivan, Dupuis drives a slapper from the left circle. Bryzgalov kicks it out.

3:52: Engelland drives slapper form the left point. Lilja blocks it.

3:11: Eric Wellwood tries to force his way up the left wing boards but is dropped to the ice by Asham in front of the Flyers' bench.

2:56: Adams leads a rush up the right wing on a two-on-one with Asham against Timonen. He taps a pass to Asham in the left circle. Asham drives a one-timer wide to the far side.

2:10: Off a dropp ass from Kennedy, Staal drives a slapper from the left circle. Bryzgalov punches it out.

0:35: Crosby weaves his way tino tht eoffensive zone and pumps a slapper over the cage.

0:25: Simmonds has a wrister from the left point blocked out of play by Michalek.

0:00.2: As teh clock winds down Adams gets in one last hit. Schenn braces for the collision in the right wing corner and drops Adams. They start at each other and exchange shoves. Adams trying to get that hit was the hockey equivalent of squeezing the last dollop of toothpaste out of the tube.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 3, Flyers 1.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-Things settled down quite a bit that period, but it was still pretty darn intense. The hitting didn't let up.

-Bryzgalov looked a lot better that period. He wasn't fighting the puck. He was kicking out good rebounds. He looked like a franchise goaltender.

-The Penguins' defense allowed more than a few decent chances to the Flyers' there. Thankfully for them, the Fleury bailed them out a few times.

-The Penguins' power play hasn't looked all that great over the course of two chances.

-It hard to imagine the Penguins getting any breaks with regards to penalties the rest of the way.

-The Penguins control shots, 23-13.

-Letang leads the game with 18:03 of ice time.

-Coburn leads the Flyers with 16:49.

-The Flyers have a 20-19 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

-Giroux is 7 for 12 (58 percent).

-Staal and Crosby are each 5 for 9 (56 perecent).

-Lilja and Bourdon each lead the game with three blocked shots.

-Michalek and Letang each lead the Penguins with two.

THIRD PERIOD

19:42: Hartnell steals a puck off Staal on the left wing boards of the Penguins' zone and lifts a wrister on net. Fleury eats it up.

19:11: Schenn chops a loose puck from the top of the slot. It hits a skate in front and deflcects to the left wing boards. Kennedy goes diving head first to poke it to the neutral zone. Wow.

18:25: Giroux snaps off a wrister from teh left wing boards. Hartnell appeas to re-directs it on net. Fleury fights it off.

18:11: Crosby gets held up in the neutral zone by Jagr. That's two minutes for interference. The Flyers protest, but no dice. Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, Neal and Letang take the ice.

17:40: Crosby snap off a wrister from the left circle. Bryzgalov fights it off.

16:37: Staal lifts a wrister from the slot wide of the cage.

16:30: Letang chips a wrister fromt he left point. Coburn s blocks it but fans on the clearing attempt. It slides right to Sullivan in the slot. Sullivan whips an immediate wrister on net. Bryzgalov eats it up. Coburn owes Bryzgalov a beer or tiger vodka or whatever he drinks.

16:11: The Jagr minor is killed. The Penguins are wasting some big chances here.

15:48: Staal pushes the puck up the left wign and lofts a wrister to the far side. It beats Bryzgalov on the glove hand and clinks off the far post. Argh.

15:40: Jagr swats a loose puck on net from the left circle. Fleury eats it up.

14:52: Letang is working with Orpik.

14:05: Hartnell pushs the puck up the left wing and from the left of the crease, he chips a little feed to slot. Lilja backhands it on net. Fleury fights it off.

13:29: Crosby tries to chip and chase a puck by Grossman in the right circle but Grossman holds him up. No call.

12:40: Cooke controls a puck in the left circle and snaps off a pass. Timonen blocks it and deflects it on net. Bryzgalov gets jammed up but holds it out. Phew.

12:15: Briere takes a pass on the right wing and hustles in on the attack but play is blown dead when the officials get the offsides call this time.

11:31: Michalek chases down a puck behind the net. Jagr forces him into a bad turnover. Giroux is there and tries to

11:15: Hartnell slams Michalek into the boards behind the Penguins' net.

11:07: Clutch. Clutch. Clutch. Groux takes a pass in the slot, gets a little space and whips a wrister on net. Fleury snags it with a fancy glove save. Fans respond with "FLERRR-EEEE!" chants.

10:43: Not so fast. Briere strikes again. He picks up a puck in in the right wing corner, cicyles around and whips a wrister to the far sidel Crosby is right in front of Fleury and screens him. The puck blows by Fleury's glove hand. Some rotten luck there. Schenn gets the only assist. Crosby could make a case for one. The last 10 mintues are going to be intense. Penguins 3-2.

9:19: Briere forces his way down the slot by Michalek and lifts a backhander on net. The shot is wide. Briere chases after teh rebound behidn the cage and BLAM! He's run over by Orpik. Orpik is called for interference. Kind of a make-up call there. Cooke, Martin, Michalek and Staal take the ice for a huge penalty kill.

9:01: Shorthanded, Staal pushes the puck two-on-two with Cooke up ice. They criss-cross in the offensive zone. Staal goes wide to the left wing and feeds  pass to Cooke in the left circle. Cooke jabs a shot wide to the far side.

8:13: Giroux settles a puck above the left circle and booms  slapper which hits a body inf ront.

7:59: Timonen chops a slapper from the right point. it hits something in front and deflects away.

7:37: Tie game. Hartnell takes a pass at the right half wall. He drives a shot/pass to Schenn in the left circle. Schenn is able to poke the puck by Fleury's blocker. What a play. What timing. The Penguins' special teams have let them down here. Hartnell and Jagr get assists. Flyers 3, Penguins 3.

4:35: A lot of tenative hockey going on now. Couturier takes a pass at the red line in front of the benches. Instead of pushing it up ice, he chips it down to the offensive zone to get a line change.

4:15: Kunitz snaps off  wrister from above the left circle. Bryzgalov punches it down and covers to freeze play.

3:21: Cooke tries to chip a chase a puck off the right wing but is held up by Timonen. He sort of slashes Timonen and drops him. No call.

3:03: Kennedy has a wrister from the slot blocked by Carle.

2:35: Lilja takes a pass from Briere and lifts a wrister from the top of the slot. Fleury appears to get a piec eo ift iwth his glove.

2:04: Sullivan backhand chops a loose puck from the left wing corner towards the cage. Crosby appears to deflect it wide.

0:59: Neal has a wrister from the right poitn blocked by Grossman.

0:31: Off a turnover by Letang, Jagr snaps off a wrister from the left wing boards. It hits a body inf ront.

0:00: End of period. Flyers 3, Penguins 3.

POSTGAME

-Can you call this a collapse. It is premature to do so? A three-goal lead in the playoff should be secure, right?

-The special teams have been a failure for the Penguins. Three mostly inert power plays and one failed penalty kill.

-Daniel Briere is a playoff performer. Period.

-Michalek has had a rough night.

-Give Bryzgalov credit. He has as much to do with this comeback as anyone else.

-Some offense from Kunitz-Malkin-Neal would be key.

-The Penguins have a 28-24 lead in shots.

-The Flyers had a 11-5 lead in shots in the third period.

-Neal leads the game with six.

-Briere leads the Flyers with four.

-Letang leads the game with 26:45 of ice time.

-Carle leads the Flyers with 26:01.

-The Penguins have a 31-28 edge in faceoffs (53 percent).

-Malkin is 11 for 18 (61 percent).

-Giroux is 10 for 16 (63 percent).

-Lilja leads the game with four blocked shots.

-Letang leads the Penguins with three.

-Bourdon has left the game due to an "upper-body" injury.

OVERTIME

19:44: Carle chops a shot from the left point. Fleury kicks it to the right circle. Hartnell is there and whacks the shot wide. Orpik appeared to get a piece of that.

18:15: Giroux has a wrister from the left circle blocked by Malkin.

17:37: Game. Comeback complete. Carle jumps on a loose puck at the left half wal. He swats it on net. Letang partially blocks it and allows it to slide loose in front of blue paint. It slides to Jakub Voracek to the righ tof the crease. Voracek swats it into the open net. Carles gets an assist. End of game. Flyers 4, Penguins 3.

POSTGAME

-What a collapse. There's no other way to describe what happened tonight. It was a pure and simple collapse.

-The Penguins had EVERYTHING going their way after the first period. They were winning the physical battles. They were getting the bulk of quality scoring chances. And they were getting lucky bounces. There was no reason for any of that to change. But it certainly did over the course of the next 40-plus minutes.

-It started in roughtly three minutes into the second period when the Penguins failed to do anything with an early power play with Claude Giroux in the penalty box. They had a chance to really bury the Flyers at that point with one of their best penalty killers in the box for two minutes. And they did little to threaten the Flyers with that chance. Philadelphia fed off that penalty kill and slowly chipped away at the Penguins' lead.

-While we're on the subject, the Penguins' special teams were an abject failure tonight. They had three chances. And out side of a spurt with the second power play, they did little to press the issue offensively. Conversley, the Flyers got one power-play chance and tied the game with it.

-The Penguins' defense started well, but pretty much imploded on itself as the game wore on. The Flyers' second line of Daniel Briere, Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds simply did a great job of getting to loose pucks, forcing turnovers and creating scoring chances. The Penguins' blue line was just attrocious against that trio.

-The Penguins coaching staff pretty much ran Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek into the ice tonight. The bottom pairing of Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy played 10:47 and 9:23 respectively. This is almost a carbon copy of what happened last postseason when Matt Niskanen and Lovejoy averaged just under 13 and 11 minutes respectively. And that was when the top four was playing much better collectively. The Penguins are going to wear down the top four with that kind of work load, especially against the physical Flyers.

-The first goal by Briere was blatantly offisdes, but as Dan Bylsma pointed out after teh game, it wasn't the reason they lost.

-Briere is a heck of a player in the clutch huh?

-The Chris Kunitz-Evgeni Malkin-James Neal line was pretty much a non-factor offenively. That said, the Scott Hartnell-Claude Giroux-Jaromir Jagr line was a non-factor as well in terms of five-on-five play.

-The Flyers are going to have to use some other defensemen by the time this series is over. The one thing the Penguins did consistently tonight was forecheck and beat on the Flyers' blue line. Marc-Andre Bourdon left the game with an "upper-body" injury.

-Andreas Lilja had a tremendous game. He was strong in his own zone. He blocked a lot of shots and even created a few offensive chances.

-Ilya Bryzgalov really showed some guts after a rough start. He  put his team in a position to win this game from the second period on.

-Fleury was pretty good tonight. Anyone questioning him tonight doesn't have a television

-If Staal buries that shot to the far side in stead of putting it off the post four minutes into the third period, this is a different game.

-Jagr had a good perspective on things saying: "It was a huge come back. But you have to win four times to move to the next round. It's just the first game."

-So did Briere on his team's comeback from a 3-0 deficit: "It's the playoffs. It's not going to keep happening. We got away with it tonight."

-The Penguins led in shots, 28-26.

-Neal led the game with six.

-Briere led the Flyers with four.

-Letang led the game with 28:18 of ice time.

-Matt Carle led the Flyers with 27:13.

-The Flyers had a 33-31 edge in faceoffs (52 percent).

-Giroux was 11 for 17 (65 percent).

-Malkin was 11 for 20 (55 percent).

-Lilja led the game with four blocked shots.

-Orpik and Letang each led the game with three.

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights: