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.”
On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, the Pittsburgh Penguins as the fourth seed in the east played host to the fifth seed Philadelphia Flyers in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals NHL playoff series.
This keystone state match-up was highly anticipated among all hockey fans and media because of the well-documented rivalry between the two teams, as well as the talent each team possesses, including league leading scorers throughout the regular season Evgeni Malkin and Claude Giroux, on their respectable rosters.
The first period would not see any special teams as no penalties were called. There would be scoring though.
With a little bit luck and a lot of belief, the Philadelphia Flyers clawed their way back from 3-0 down to take Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After being dominated through much of the game, it took a borderline call and bit of puck luck to get the Flyers back within one halfway through the third. Danny Briere lived up to his reputation of clutch post season performer as he got his club on the board at 6:22 of the second, followed by a wrist shot from the right hashmark at 9:17 of the third that found its way past two Pittsburgh defenders and Marc-Andre Fluery. Brayden Schenn leveled the game at 12:23 of the third by deflecting a slap-pass from Scott Hartnell. Jakub Voracek completed the comeback less than three minutes into overtime, cleaning up a misplayed rebound in front of Fluery.
The prospect of a first-round Flyers-Penguins playoff matchup keeps getting better by the day.
Just two days after the division rivals met in a heated battle that resulted in the ejection of both coaches and a total of 52 penalty minutes being doled out between the two teams, Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach Craig Berube added fuel to the fire by calling Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin “two of the dirtiest players on their hockey team.”
In the wake of the intense, playoff-like battle that ensued in Sunday’s contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell injected a little levity into the game with his best Hulk Hogan imitation.
This brief comedic respite came just after a little brouhaha that resulted in the ejection of both coaches and a total of 52 penalty minutes being doled out between the two teams.
The Pens and Flyers will meet again on Saturday and assuming the standings stay the same—which we can only hope—these two crosstown rivals will meet in the first round of the playoffs.
On Monday April 2 Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette was fined $10,000 for his outbreak preceding Joe Vitale’s hit on Danny Briere late in the third period last Sunday.
Joe Vitale’s questionably clean hit triggered a line brawl, sending not only the players in chaos but coaches as well. As the players dropped gloves, Laviolette’s temper rose as he began to shout rashly at Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. Amidst the players violence Laviolette became aggressive himself – breaking a stick against the boards.
The Penguins took the early lead with Steve Sullivan and Evgeni Malkin managing to get two past Sergei Bobrovsky. Philadelphia defensemen Nicklas Grossman collided with Joe Vitale and left the game with a lower body injury. Claude Giroux brought some life back to the game for Philadelphia late in the first with a slap shot from the point that found it’s way though the pads of Marc-Andre Fleury.
It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as his first return of the season—a memorable four-point performance against the New York Islanders back on Nov. 21—but Sindey Crosby’s presence was nevertheless felt last night at Madison Square Garden.
But then again, Crosby’s return to the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup Thursday night attracted an average audience of 547,000 viewers on TSN2. That makes it the second-highest audience ever on TSN’s secondary feed. Overall, more than 2.2 million Canadians tuned in to watchthe Pens’ 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
The race for supremacy in the Eastern Conference just got a whole lot more interesting.
That’s because the Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Sidney Crosby will be in the lineup on Thursday when the Pens head to New York to take on the Rangers.
Crosby, who has missed 61 games this season and 102 games over the last two seasons, explained how he feels better than he did before making his return with two goals and four points against the Islanders on Nov. 21—his first game in more than 10 months
Mario Lemieux will forever be immortalized in the hearts and minds of Pittsburgh Penguins fans for all he has done for the organization and the city.
On Wednesday, his immortality took on a tangible, larger-than-life form.
A bronze statue standing just over 10 feet tall that depicts Lemieux splitting through two defensemen to score a breakaway goal in a Dec. 20, 1988 game against the Islanders was unveiled Wednesday at Consol Energy Center.
“I saw pictures while they were building it,” Lemieux said of the 4,700-pound statue called Le Magnifique, or The Magnificent. “It’s pretty impressive to see it up close.”
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.
With a little bit luck and a lot of belief, the Philadelphia 
