Gameday 74 - Flyers

The Penguins have had a rough year.  "Rough", is putting it gently.  They have lost Geno for the year, and Crosby been out since January.  Sid the Kid is suffering from concussion symptoms, the same problem that forced Lappy into retirement, and what turned our Big E into a shell of his former self.  Crosby and Malkin are not the only two players the Pens have lost.  Jordan Staal, Asham, Orpik, Tangradi, Comrie, Letestu and the entire starting offensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Add to the injuries the pressure to win another Cup with this young core AND the shenanigans of one Matt Cooke, and this Penguins season resembles more of a shit show than a Cup contender.  But here they sit, 5 points below us, still in the thick of it, and currently set to host a first round playoff series.  I've watched the Pens a lot this year.  Expecting them to blow up, but they haven't.  It's even more frustrating than watching the win.  I give their coach, Dan Bylsma, a lot of credit.  He's kept the team focused and their energy high.  Looking at this game on paper, you see the lineups stacked heavily in the Flyers favor, but this Penguins team won't go down without a fight.

Yeah, no joke -- Your winning streak gets snapped at 12 games.  And the Flyers are the ones who did it. It strikes that hockey nerve.  Might piss everyone off a little bit, but that's just business in the NHL.  At least you can break whatever annoying superstition you had during the streak.  Unless your superstition involves licking our balls.  As for the game itself, the Pens didn't play great, and they didn't play terrible.  A few of the wins in the tail end of the streak didn't see the Pens playing terribly hot, either.  Got to hand it to Laviolette. Under his tutelage, the Flyers don't dig themselves into holes anymore, at least not against the Penguins. Usually in a game like this, which Versus kept reminding us was the be-all end-all of professional hockey games, the Flyers would let their animosity toward the Pens get the better of them, and the Pens would cruise. Not anymore.