Friday, May 16, 2008

Put the brooms away

Before I post Diego's post here, I (Big Snack) would personally like to thank PNA reader and friend Lance for shaving his playoff beard and making us lose last night. "But dude, I have a job interview" is not an acceptable excuse and may God have mercy on your soul. Sorry, it had to be said.

(Pic from d.yimg.com)

The Flyers got the job done...

Although the Flyers have looked inconsistent at best during these Eastern Conference Finals, they finally put together a complete effort last night, defeating the Penguins 4-2. The Flyers played their brand of hockey, slowing down the pace with lots of pushing and shoving after the play, and also working the puck low in the offensive zone while creating traffic in front of Fleury.

The zebras didn’t help us, calling the Penguins for 5 penalties in the first period that the Flyers utilized by scoring on 2 power plays. The Flyers also scored on a slap shot from Lupol, which deflected off defender Hal Gill’s stick into the net. Give the Flyers credit, though, they finally stopped talking about what they had to do to win, and actually did it. If the Flyers would have put this type of effort into game 3, then we might be going back to Pittsburgh with a split instead of up 3-1.

The Pens came out looking flat in this game, much like game 4 in New York against the Rangers.

This is something that can’t happen in game 5.

Coach Michael Therrien once again mixed up lines in the third period when he added Maxime Talbot to the Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy line. Therrien’s goal was to create more speed by adding Talbot to this line, and it paid off as Staal notched 2 goals in the 3rd period.

The series shifts back to Pittsburgh for game 5 on Sunday afternoon at the Igloo at 3PM. This one could get interesting as 34 minutes of penalties were dished out in the final minute of the game. Hatcher and Malone tangled, Talbot and Dowd engaged in some extra curricular activity, and even Sid the kid got into the mix with Mike Richards. Hopefully the Penguins put forth a more complete effort this Sunday so they can put the Flyers in their rear view mirror on the road to the Stanley Cup.

(Pic from d.yimg.com)

It's getting ugly up in here!

**PNA CONSPIRACY THEORY***

Thanks to my buddy Bobinkle for bringing this to my attention during the game last night. The Allegheny County Chief Executive, Dan Onorato, orchestrated a master plan to ensure the Penguins would be coming back to town for game 5. Why you might be asking yourself? Danny O wanted to rake in some extra cash money in the form of the 10% drink tax collecting off of all the beer sales at the Arena during game 5.

(Pic from media.philly.com)

Come on, gimmmeeee money!

NEWS AND NOTES

Where have you gone Geno? Since scoring two goals in game one he has been pretty quiet for the rest of the series. The Flyers seem to be zeroing in on him and punishing him every time he’s out on the ice. So far the game plan is working out for the Flyers, but hopefully he’ll break out for a huge game at home Sunday.

Is it possible that the PR staff loves the fans in the Burgh so much that they actually had the team throw game 4 so that they could win the Eastern Conference Final in front of a home crowd? You never know they do say the Pens are the most fan friendly teams in all of sports.…

Coach John Stevens said that both Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn could return to the lineup for the Flyers on Sunday for game 5. I say bring them on, at least it will shut up the whining Flyers fans who complain about how’d they be winning if they were playing.

Guess the Flyers fans will just have to blame then next loss on the refs, they’ve gotten pretty good at crying about them too. I hate Philly.

Sure, we have our differences in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (who am I kidding we hate each other). However, there is one thing we can agree one, the fact that Versus coverage of the NHL playoffs sucks. That camera angle they use on the power play makes me wanna throw up and don’t even get me started on the announcers…

Until lata...

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