Any time Philadelphia and Pittsburgh meet, things are going to get interesting. When they play a home and home, fireworks should be expected. Throw in the fact that the Flyers are rapidly slumping to the bottom of the Eastern Conference while the hated Pens are right on track for another successful season, and things can get downright nasty.
Tuesday night, things didn’t take long to heat up. When Sidney Crosby scored the games first goal less than five minutes in, the rambunctious Flyers did what they do best – drop the gloves. Unfortunately for them, despite the Penguins’ penchant for goal scoring and winning, they have a couple of bruisers of their own, and the fans at Mellon Arena got to see three fights in a matter of 16 seconds. Arron Asham and Mike Rupp got things going with a pretty even bout, followed by heavyweights Eric Godard and Riley Cote. After Godard bested Cote, the Flyers apparently hadn’t had enough, and got a more favorable contest when Danny Carcillo squared off with Craig Adams. After that many fights, one would assume the Flyers would be ready to make a game of it.
Crosby struck again, however, setting up Bill Guerin’s goal just over 6 minutes into the period and less than 3 minutes after the brawling. Carcillo would score the Flyers’ lone goal of the game about 5 minutes later on a powerplay, but it was all Pittsburgh after that.
Thankfully, the Flyers played a bit better in their own barn on Thursday, but ended up on the short end of a shootout, as Crosby and Kris Letang both scored in the tiebreaker. After Tuesday’s 6-1 beating, Philly came out flying (no pun intended), scoring the first goal less than 2 minutes into the game and outshooting the Pens 33-30 on the night. Pittsburgh’s powerplay turned out to be a little bit too much for the Flyers and Brian Boucher, as Guerin got his second goal in as many games on a first period powerplay, while Crosby scored his 21st goal of the season with the man advantage late in the 2nd.
Marc-Andre Fleury continued his stellar play, stifling the Flyers at every turn, making a number of big saves throughout the game, including two breakaways from James van Riemsdyk and Arron Asham. Fleury is now 9-1-1 in his last 11 games, while the Penguins have now won 4 in a row. Philly, on the other hand, has lost 12 of their last 15 games and don’t seem to have any answers. Despite the firing of former coach John Stevens two weeks ago, the Flyers have continued to play like one of the worst teams in the league.
