Penguins Demolish Flyers Inside And Out, Win 6-1

I said yesterday at this pulpit that the matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers last night was likely to have an energetic feel to it.

One that had the possibility of lifting a team up to an inspiring victory.

I was right.

It just wasn't the Flyers who took advantage of the opportunity to uplift themselves.

Instead, the Penguins rose up to their rivals and throttled the Flyers inside and out to the tune of a 6-1 win at Mellon Arena last night.

They jumped on the Flyers early with an early power play tally by Sidney Crosby, then followed that up by tangling in 3 separate fights over a 16 second span, before squashing any momentum Philadelphia attempted to gain by resorting to Saturday-night wrestling tactics with a goal 16 seconds after the last fight by Bill Guerin for a 2-0 lead.

After Jordan Staal scored shorthanded later in the first period to up their advantage to 3-1, Pittsburgh ran away with things the rest of the game, with Staal adding another tally to go with one by Ruslan Fedotenko and a second shorthanded goal by Evgeni Malkin for the 6-1 result.

Crosby added 2 assists in the game. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 of 27 shots, while the Penguins launched 35 at Philadelphia netminder Brian Boucher. Boucher -- starting in place of Ray Emery who's injured and out 6 weeks -- was playing again on a second-straight night after winning the night before in Boston, and looked overmatched.

Perhaps that's why the Flyers poached their second backup goaltender from another team in the last 4 days, pulling former Carolina Hurricanes' netminder Michael Leighton off waivers almost immediatley after signing former Tampa Bay Lightning goalie John Grahme to a tryout contract.

After the game -- Philadelphia's 11th loss in their last 14 games -- the Flyers not only were bruised on the scoreboard and beat up physically by a team that leads the league in hits, they were questioning themselves inside.

Their new coach, Peter Laviolette, called the defeat "really disturbing".

Their captain, Mike Richards, came right out and said the team wasn't playing with enough heart.

Their fans believe the ship is going down quickly. Here's what one of them on a Flyers' comment board had to say after last night's beating:

"This team is terrible, and really, since their run 2 years ago, which really only happened because of Biron and Umberger, this team has gone completely downhill. Maybe instead of getting rid of guys like Biron, Umberger, Upshall, Lupul, and Knuble, they should have unloaded Richards, Carter, Briere, Gagne, and Hartnell - none of them play with any heart, emotion, or common hockey sense. Where has Briere gone? And can Gagne play more than 10 games a season? This team is nothing more than a punchline."

Another:

"What, it took Richards one of the worst stretches in years and the coach getting fired for him to realize that they don't have any heart? I could've told him that a month ago. Or last year, up 3-0 at home in the playoffs, after Dan Carcillo freaking destroys Maxime Talbot in a fight, they lost. In a clinching game! I've been following and/or watching this team for 27 years, and I'm telling you, Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere are two of the softest players I've ever seen. The toughest skill players the Flyers have are Richards and Giroux. The toughest players, period, are Laperriere and Carcillo. The Flyers are scared to trade Jeff Carter, but I wouldn't be afraid. He's never going to be a guy who wins you games that matter -- his game hasn't changed in five years."

One more:

"Last night's game demonstrated the vast gap between the Pens' talent and heart vs and the Flyers' talent and heart. The Pens skate hard for 60 minutes and when a Pens player is on the ice their legs are moving. The Flyers skate then coast then skate then coast, and too many Flyers are standing around waiting for the puck instead of just skating for the puck. The fact that the Flyers are still "talking" about the need to play and skate hard speaks volumes. Simply put, the Flyers' "star" players aren't used to working hard to win and talent alone doesn't cut it at this level. The coaching change hasn't gotten the players' attention so it's a matter of time before one or more of these highly-paid, under-performers gets traded."

Think Philadelphia is going to give more on Thursday night in the second half of this back-to-back set against The Boys of Winter?

That remains to be seen, but the Penguins would be wise to come out with the same intensity that night and keep their foot on the gas pedal.

Something else they should do is continue to roll with the changes they unveiled to their man-advantage unit.

The power play went 1-for-4 last night and looked really good. They had great puck movement and there were a lot of open lanes for good scoring opportunities. And that happened against a fairly good penalty-killing team, too.

We'll see how the next contest unfolds. I'll recap it Friday.

NOTES:

With a complete complement (say that 5 times fast) of 13 healthy forwards, the need to dress enforcer Eric Godard last night, and Max Talbot's uneven play since returning from off-season shoulder surgery, #25 watched from the press box last night. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in the lineup on Thursday, and perhaps Craig Adams sitting in his place in somewhat of a sitting rotation.