Was That The Same Hockey Team? Penguins Dominate Flyers, Win 4-2; Ready for Capitals Rematch

The Penguins have been the victim of a lot of criticism in the last 2 months, and deservedly so.

They are worthy of just as much praise after last night's 4-2 win against the Atlantic-Division leading Philadelphia Flyers.

The Penguins played a complete game, were smart defensively, competed for -- and won -- many loose puck battles, got solid goaltending, and had their top guns and secondary players produce offensively.

I wasn't sure it was the same hockey team I have been watching for most of the last 8 weeks.

They were really good in every phase. They were particularly good with their defensive play -- no doubt a by-product of Penguins coach Michel Therrein having the team change their system somewhat.

The Penguins played a 1-2-2 last night. It's technically a delayed forecheck, although calling it a forecheck is misleading. Rather than send the first guy into the defensive zone, he meets the opposition around their blueline as they are trying to come out of their end with the puck. Right behind him are the other two forwards. Basically, it's a neutral zone trap, complete with elements where the defenseman will pinch up on occasion, all designed to force the opponent to either turn the puck over in the neutral zone or dump the puck in.

The Flyers were clearly caught off guard by the change in the Penguins system. Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and company had a hard time getting through that and generating any kind of consistent offense. The Penguins won't get style points for playing that way, but hey -- they need wins any way they can get them, and if playing a more defensive trap is what helps them, I'm all for it.

The Flyers opened up the scoring on a fluke goal after a dump in bounced off Penguins' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury's stick out in front of the goal for a cheap freebie for Flyer forward Mike Knuble.

On most nights during the last 20 games or so, that would have sunk the Penguins. Their confidence would have immediately gone in the tank and they would likely have limped out of the building on the hard end of a 5-1 loss.

Not this night, however.

Pittsburgh tied the score later in the period when Tyler Kennedy buried a rebound by Flyers' goalie Martin Biron. Evgeni Malkin scored in the 2nd period on a nice shot from the high slot that rang off the pipe and in behind Biron, and center Jordan Staal made it 3-1 not long after with a nice individual effort, deking Biron down and tossing a backhand under the crossbar.

In the last minute of the period, the Penguins upped their lead to 4-1 when Sidney Crosby took a Brooks Orpik rebound behind the net with an attempted wraparound and left the garbage for LW Matt Cooke to clean up.

Cooke, by the way, was promoted to the Crosby line last night. They were joined by Malkin and all 3 had a solid evening. Crosby had 2 helpers and Cooke looked really solid out there creating space for the big guys. He even set up Crosby for an empty net that Crosby fanned on because he didn't seem to be expecting it.

Phillipe Boucher and Mark Eaton were healthy scratches for the Penguins. Hal Gill and Alex Goligoski were back in the lineup, and I wouldn't expect that to be any different tonight when the Penguins return home for their 2nd grudge match in 2 days against the Washington Capitals. Paul Bissonette was also in the lineup for the Penguins last night.

More on that game in a minute.

Without overstaing it -- and without being able to look into the future -- the fact of the matter is that the Penguins win last night could end up being the turning point in their season. Of course, a lot of that depends on how they do tonight, but they were so solid against a team that hadn't lost in 2 months at home. Moreover, they were in several positions to blow the game like they have so often the last quarter of the season --- after the first fluke goal, and even after having a 4-1 lead going into the third period. But they didn't. The fact is they handed the Flyers their lunch and I don't think it's any accident it came in a game against a fierce division rival. The same could happen tonight. If the Penguins are able to prevail over Washington, it really would give them a lot of confidence, and could put them on a nice run.

I'm sure everyone remembers the first game the Penguins played against Washington earlier this year. I wouldn't have forgotten it even if I wasn't there but, unfortunately, I witnessed it. The Penguins raced out to a 3-0 lead, only to blow it and lose 4-3 in a game where Capitals star forward Alexander Ovechkin took runs at Malkin all night long. In the month that followed that game, Capitals center (I won't call him a star) Alexander Semin said there was "nothing special" about Crosby.

I expect tonight's game to be an emotional, physical affair and -- like last night's game -- that could be exactly what the Penguins need. I trust they will do a better job of protecting Malkin this evening. They better. Cooke's presence on his line will help, as will having Bissonette and Godard in the lineup.

It's been hard to get excited for Penguin games lately, but it's hard not to be locked-and-loaded for this one.

Recap tomorrow.