Early in the day we learned that Sidney Crosby would not play in the game, after Sully found out he answered a Craigslist ad from Ungaba’s mom. Unfortunately, she is an anti-vaxxer, so Sidney has to spend 72 hrs under a UV light.
Tonight was the first time that fans were allowed to buy $15 beers. The arena was opened to 15% capacity. I can only imagine what it took to get those tickets. The broadcaster mention the importance of this series, as the Penguins are a few points behind the Flyers, who have more games in hand.
With Sidney under the care of a hazmat team, the keys fell to Evgeni Malkin to lead the team. Coming of a loss to the Islanders and another, self proclaimed bad game, Geno had a lot to prove.
Aston-Reese got a hooking penalty early in the period. Gostisbehere had a couple of shots on Jarry, but he already had 3 shots of Espresso, so he was ready to go. The Penguins kill the penalty just in time for Matheson to get an interference call on Couturier. Thankfully the penguins kill that off too. Malkin had a turn-over right in front of Jarry, who has to save his bacon with a poke-check. The Penguins can’t seem to string together any momentum. At the midpoint of the period the penguins finally looked to be settling into their game, oh wait, that was like for 3 minutes. The neutral zone causalities continued to pile up. Letang was molested in his own zone, and coughed up the puck for a 2 on 1, that Jarry had to stop.
There was a nice rushing play, when Letang entered the zone, left a drop pass for Malkin. Malkin shot the puck on net, just as Guentzel slipped behind the D, but unfortunately Hart was there. Aston-Reese also almost set up Lafferty for a goal, but Hart said NO. Malkin received the Crosby treatment all game from the Flyers, as he was attacked any time he got near the corners.
Letang took a shot from the point, with Tanev providing a screen, but the goalie was ready. On the very next play, Letang grabs the puck, passes it to Petterson, who shot it just wide. This provided a scrum around Hart, that forced Giroux to take a hooking penalty in the remaining seconds.
The Penguins start the period on the power play, and Letang put a dangerous wrister on net, but Rust was not able to get the rebound.
Power play killed.
Couturier embarrassed the penguins with a steal in the neutral zone, and a needle pass, that led to a flyer goal. Before you could even get up to throw your drink, Kap steals the puck in the penguin zone, zipped down, and shot a laser on Hart.
Kapanen (4), unassisted – 3:39 – EV
Rust tried his trademark play in front of Hart, but Hart was able to get a toe on it. With Malkin and Jake at the door, Hart kept the rebound out too. A scrum ensued and Couturier and Malkin had words. Oh, yes, please keep poking that bear.
On the following play, Ceci tried to sneak the puck in on the short side. The play was stopped, but it led to a power play. Since Malkin’s line was just out, this allowed a rare chance for the 2nd line PP to start. They got one shot on goal, but after the whistle, the prime beef was over the boards. Kap got his 2nd goal, after Malkin sent the biscuit to Rust, who sent it to Jake. No need to save this to your spank bank, because this porn is syndicated.
Kapanen (5) from Guentzel (11), Rust (10) – 8:41 – PPG
On Next play Kap almost got a natural hat trick, but somehow the puck never went in. Next to be feed was Rust, as Malkin once again, set someone up for a goal. The Orange Clowns somehow let 2 top scorers walk behind their defense.
Rust (7) from Letang (11), Malkin (9) – 10:45 – EV
LaffyTaffy took Women’s Month too seriously, as he tried to give a Flyer player a mammogram in front of the Ref. Holding Penalty. As the Penguins killed the PP, I heard the 1st air horn of the season. The foriegn sound scared most of the players, and caused Sullivan to scream, ‘Keep it down’. Malkin got a tripping penalty to end the period.
The penguins started the 3rd period with a penalty kill. Malkin jumped out of the box, and started slapping people right and left, yet somehow Lafferty gets a slashing penalty. Back to the PK, You go now!
Power play Killed.
McCann got a great pass for breakaway, but blew a tire. At the half way point of the period, Farabee got his 2nd goal, as he was snuck behind Marino to score. CeCi rushed into the zone, to set up another Tix-Tac-Toe play, in which he scored his 2nd for the season.
Ceci (2) from McCann (4), Friedman (1) – 12:08 – EV
The Flyers had a good push on Jarry around the 5 minute mark, but he was quick with clearing the rebounds. Math had a WTF play, as he scored an empty net, when Hart left the crease for the bench. Kudos to him for stealing the puck in the 1st place.
Matheson (2) – Unassisted – 16:06 – EV
Take-aways:
Someone page Rad and tell him stop stealing all the Frost Flakes from the lounge. I will give this my best try. It appears the team has been working on some strategies.
- D-D Point shot play, al la, Crosby-Letang SC OT winner
- On the PP: have 1 net presence, 1 middle person, 2 on the side, and D up top. D to Side piece, to middle guy —-who can score or pass to Net guy.
- Though he didn’t score, Malkin was everywhere. He showed up and led this team. Why must Crosby have a communicable disease for this to happen, I cannot say. I can only hope that this confidence continues when 87 returns.
- Per Penguin PR: In 146 career games without Crosby, Malkin has 1.36 PTS/GP, compared to 1.14 PTS/GP in 781 games with Crosby.
- The Flyers are clowns. That Is All.
Till Next Game…
