When Sidney Crosby ripped a one-timer past Ilya Bryzgalov just 15 seconds into Game 2, a nauseating sense of deja vu undoubtedly fell over the Philadelphia Flyers‘ bench.
Yet just like Game 1, the Flyers showed what an incredibly resilient hockey club they really are, overcoming multiple-goal deficits en route to an impressive 8-5 victory Friday night.
“When you’re able to come back in a game like that, again, I think it speaks volumes about the character in the room,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Fighting back like that is not easy, and the players were just so resilient that it’s unbelievable, really.”
The Broad Street Bullies never wavered in their perseverance, even when they were down 3-1 at the end of the first period. However, thanks to hat tricks from 19-year-old rookie Sean Couturier and sniper Claude Giroux, the Flyers were able to escape Pittsburgh with a 2-0 series lead.
Couturier, the first star of the game, became the first teenager to score a hat trick in a playoff game since Ted Kennedy did it in 1945.
Giroux, who earned his trick with an empty-netter in the waning seconds of the game, finished with an incredible six points, a new franchise record.
Oh, and even though the box score may indicate otherwise, in between all of the scoring, Bryzgalov made several key Herculean saves.
If there is one piece of advice for the Penguins, it’s to try to score in the third period: the Flyers have outscored the Pens 7-1 in the third period and overtime in these two games.
But then again, Pittsburgh may have already dug themselves into a hole that will be impossible to get out of: Philadelphia is 17-0 after winning the first two games of a playoff series.
{ 0 comments… add one now }