4/11/2012 Flyers v. Pens Game 1- Official Game Thread

[RxBandit66]

I think it would be something for them to consider. There really are no excuses this year. Yes, Philly is a tough first round match-up but the Pens should be the better team. The Pens have been spending to the cap and I'm guessing they budget expecting to have some long playoff runs to bring in that playoff revenue. Losing in the first round can't be accepted. I don't know if they actually fire him but I will say that this is the last free pass he'd get for a quick playoff exit. I have faith that they're going to keep most, if not all, of the core together but just saying, Sid's currently scheduled to be a UFA after next season. Who knows how much longer they're going to enjoy these great rosters. Which makes it all the more frustrating when they underachieve.

This is why these early exits can't be accepted. We have no idea if we will ever have as talented as a team again in the future or that we can be so heathly. And Sid, Geno, and Staal are all getting older. Will we have more chances in the future? Most likely, but you can't count on it. And honestly Therrien had just as much to do with the Pens winning the Cup as Bylsma. There are zero excues for another early playoff exit. If he can't get it done with this group he shouldn't be the guy next year.

Bylsma will be out if the Pens lose this series. I still think they will win it, but tonight was a golden opportunity wasted. Now they have to win 4 out of 6, which they can certainly do, but Friday is basically a must-win now. As for the "D" I think Martin or Z or both will be gone during the summer. The rest of the team is fine. They should clear a spot for one of the young guys on D and bring in another guy.

The forwards are great as they are.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Yes, it's only game one. But no way can you chalk this up to an "aw shucks" loss. This loss was characterized by the same systematic failures we've seen for weeks. There is reason for concern, If they don't pull their heads out of their collective asses

QFT

I still think the Pens will win the series, but the loss tonight isnt just the Penguins taking the foot off of the gas. Poor defensive zone play, lack of a consistent cycle, other team cycling, and lack of talent on defense. They can fix a few and have the talent to overcome the others but at some point they need to prove they can do it on a consistent basis.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Series isn't over, but this is a very bad sign. It's not so much that they lost. I've been saying for a while, it's not about the wins and losses, it's about how they played. The loss exposed the weaknesses of this team that have been a concern for a while, especially against the Flyers. The fact that they've carried into the playoffs is very concerning. Can this be a wake-up call? Sure, but this team hasn't shown much capability for adjustments and learning from mistakes. They should have had this crap out of their system weeks ago.

Agreed, the way they played defense the last 10 games of the season wasnt a wake up call? The Pens are talented and I expect them to win but cant quite figure out the same d mistakes over and over and over.

[tifosi77]

Awesome. Went out to dinner tonight with my high school girlfriend (along with her husband and 2 daughters) who I hadn't seen in 20 years. She happened to be the person who got me into hockey back in the day. Had a great time catching up. Then I get home to learn that between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs the NHL said offside goals were legal. Sweet!

This should open up the playbook, as it were.

[tfrizz]

DB is signed for two more seasons after this one.

He absolutely should be fired if the Pens don't get past the first round.

That might be a bit extreme. Bylsma is working with what he's got, which is a team lacking in defensive prowess.

[tfrizz]

Series isn't over, but this is a very bad sign. It's not so much that they lost. I've been saying for a while, it's not about the wins and losses, it's about how they played. The loss exposed the weaknesses of this team that have been a concern for a while, especially against the Flyers. The fact that they've carried into the playoffs is very concerning. Can this be a wake-up call? Sure, but this team hasn't shown much capability for adjustments and learning from mistakes. They should have had this crap out of their system weeks ago.

Agreed, the way they played defense the last 10 games of the season wasnt a wake up call? The Pens are talented and I expect them to win but cant quite figure out the same d mistakes over and over and over.

Last 10 games? I've been talking about these holes for almost 3 months now. The play coming out of the all-star break is when it became most apparent to me.

When rolling, they can cover this up with their quick transition game; but as soon as they need to defend, it pops right back up.

[knives of ice]

the flyers are very very well coached. they completely took away the breakout passes on the boards after the first and for some reason the pens can't seem to breakout at all through the middle of the ice.

this was not just another loss, the amount of penguins available for the media afterwards tells that story clearly. this was a potentially devastating loss, or it was a loss that will wake this team up to somehow be defensively responsible. i'm not sure how that will happen overnight. it was my opinion that the flyers were by far the worst matchup against the pens in the east because of their insane scoring depth.

one thing is certain - pens lose game 2 and this series is OVER.

[Pens4Life]

I agree with some,we have to be more physical on D,but dont have the players for that.. we are too soft back there.. And that's need to change in summer-SHERO!? Blysma should have kept the team fresher after 2 periods,playing 4th line and 3rd D pair more.. We need to play 60minutes with the same attitude as first 40minutes.. If we lose game 2,we are OUT in 6 games..

[ivand87]

the flyers are very very well coached. they completely took away the breakout passes on the boards after the first and for some reason the pens can't seem to breakout at all through the middle of the ice.

this was not just another loss, the amount of penguins available for the media afterwards tells that story clearly. this was a potentially devastating loss, or it was a loss that will wake this team up to somehow be defensively responsible. i'm not sure how that will happen overnight. it was my opinion that the flyers were by far the worst matchup against the pens in the east because of their insane scoring depth.

one thing is certain - pens lose game 2 and this series is OVER.

Yep . The Flyers are a very well coached team. And I realize they gave up more goals that we did in the regular season, but when we play them, they keep it simple, they have a good breakout, and they play good defense against our star players. They have good structure. They were excellent against Crosby and Malkin the way they have been in pretty much every game in Pittsburgh for the last 2 years. It's scary to think that Giroux, Jagr and Hartnell had no points in this game and we still gave up 4 goals.

Up 2-0 just 5 minutes into the game and 3-0 after 1 was too good to be true. The real Flyers woke up in that game with enough time and in a hole that wasn't too deep for them to dig themselves out of. The Penguins should have seen it coming after the 2nd intermission but instead of waking up and playing "their game", they ended up playing a horrendous 3rd period instead, and it could easily end up costing them the series and a shot at another Stanley Cup.

[jimreb]

5:30 in the morning....still physically ill from this loss.

[Guinness]

Friday is going to be tough. I'm sure the Pens will come with a better 60 minute effort, but so will Philly. They know they can't keep getting down early and coming back dramatically like this. That's going to bite them eventually. That's another reason why tonight hurts. Such a huge blown opportunity and it's only going to get harder now. Philly wasn't ready for the start and the Pens had a chance to really take advantage of that. I doubt you're going to see the Flyers start a game like that again in this series.

So Philly is going to magically adjust, even though they've played this way all season, but PGH will not?

I have more faith in Bylsma and Crosby.

[Guinness]

Have to agree with that. This Pens' team cannot play a passive, defensive-oriented style because the blueline is rather suspect and the team D overall is sort of lacking at critical times. Putting the pressure on them to make the simple and safe plays consistently is expecting too much. Z, Martin and Orpik have not had their best seasons by any measure and you cannot rely on them as heavily as a passive approach dictates at this point. Add LeTang to this tonight as he just didn't seem to treat the Flyers' pressure as much of a threat and got a little reckless several times.

Pens overall as a team right now are not stellar in their own end and you have to coach this as a situation to be highly avoided. Best way to do that is get more aggressive on the forecheck and get a lot quicker in the neutral zone with your decision making, even if that means the safer dump-and-chase game. Pens treated the puck in their own zone as no big deal tonight and got careless enough to let a 3-0 slip totally away and lose. They also freaked-out about flyers hanging around their blueline when the play was in the flyers' zone and loosened up way too much to try and defend against the homerun to the cherry picker when they could have bottled up the flyers in their own end and forced the forward lurking around up ice to come back and play some D.

I think this is a fair assessment. I also think these are things that should be readily apparent on the tape, and adjustments should and will be made.

Edit: On the other hand, had they kept coming in waves after being up 3-0, we'd probably all be wondering why he wasn't keeping a forward back.

On to Friday. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

[Pens Fan Since 1970]

The Pens power play sucks...........the life and momentum away from the team almost every time.

[DelPen]

Trying to find out if we ever blew a three goal lead in the playoffs, can't find anything.

But I did see the Bruins lost a game last year to TB after going up 3-0.

Flyers also went up 3-0 against us in 2009 in Game 6.

[shafnutz05]

The Penguins have not won a playoff series since they started up with that obnoxious Twitter feed.

[MRandall25]

The Penguins have not won a playoff series since they started up with that obnoxious Twitter feed.

Ottawa.

[shafnutz05]

The Penguins have not won a playoff series since they started up with that obnoxious Twitter feed.

Ottawa.

SK has been around that long? Seems like only yesterday

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Series isn't over, but this is a very bad sign. It's not so much that they lost. I've been saying for a while, it's not about the wins and losses, it's about how they played. The loss exposed the weaknesses of this team that have been a concern for a while, especially against the Flyers. The fact that they've carried into the playoffs is very concerning. Can this be a wake-up call? Sure, but this team hasn't shown much capability for adjustments and learning from mistakes. They should have had this crap out of their system weeks ago.

Agreed, the way they played defense the last 10 games of the season wasnt a wake up call? The Pens are talented and I expect them to win but cant quite figure out the same d mistakes over and over and over.

Last 10 games? I've been talking about these holes for almost 3 months now. The play coming out of the all-star break is when it became most apparent to me.

When rolling, they can cover this up with their quick transition game; but as soon as they need to defend, it pops right back up.

No, I agree with you (I have been saying for awhile now that although guys like Eaton/Gill/Scuderi might be overrated in the Penguins historical sense, we all underestimate the importance of having 6 solid non mistake making defensive players combined with a couple of guys who can clear the crease or stop the cycle). My point is really just that over the past 10 games or so teams have just decided not to be afraid of the Penguins. They attack attack attack. With the Pens not cycling no offense it is leading to way too many chances, especially when other teams figure out how to stop our breakout.

[MRandall25]

The Penguins have not won a playoff series since they started up with that obnoxious Twitter feed.

Ottawa.

SK has been around that long? Seems like only yesterday

Oh, I don't know about Inside Scoop, but the official Twitter has been around for a while.

[Pens Fan Since 1970]

My Game 2 prediction.....5-2 Flyers.

Let me guess, the Pens will score the first 2 goals of the game.

[Guinness]

My Game 2 prediction.....5-2 Flyers.

Let me guess, the Pens will score the first 2 goals of the game.

No sense in replying to rgj - he jumped just minutes after posting that.

[Malkamaniac]

Really this is like Christmas for the people that Foe other people.

[columbia]

This post was made by Malkamaniac who is currently on your ignore list. Display this post.

[Malkamaniac]

This post was made by Malkamaniac who is currently on your ignore list. Display this post.

You're just jelly.