Can the Pens find a way to win a home game against the Flyers?
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One down, one to go, another town and one more show. The Penguins made an emphatic Game 4 statement with a 10-3 romp of Philadelphia, but the Flyers can still close out the series with a win Friday at CONSOL Energy Center.
The NHL.com
stats page says it all. Claude Giroux leads all playoff scorers in goals, assists and points. He’s got a Penguins player right behind him in each of those categories, too. There aren’t too many skaters lagging behind offensively. Matt Cooke is one of the few regulars who haven’t scored yet, but even he has three helpers.
For the Flyers, there’s really only one guy who hasn’t set the world on fire, Scott Hartnell. The left winger has three assists in four contests but nothing else. Hartnell led the Flyers with 37 regular-season goals and his 16 goals on the man advantage ranked second in the league behind only James Neal’s 18. Hartnell also strung together the second-longest goal streak (six games), as did Evgeni Malkin.
According to the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, no other NHL playoff series has seen more goals through four games than has Pens-Flyers matchup.
Penguins-Flyers: 2012, 45 (goals)
Blackhawks-Oilers: 1985, 44
Oilers-Kings: 1987, 43
Bruins-Kings: 1977, 43
Blackhawks-North Stars: 1985, 42
Special teams have played a huge role in determining winners thus far. Philadelphia has converted 9-of-15 power-play attempts for a 60-percent scoring rate. The Penguins have cashed in “only” 33 percent of the time, going 7-for-21.
Philly has also cashed in with three shorties during Pittsburgh power plays, including two from Max Talbot and one from Giroux.
The Flyers did a wonderful job of agitating Penguins players into taking undisciplined penalties during the series’ first three games. In Game 4 there appeared to be a sea change, with Philly reverting back to its regular-season, bad-boy ways.
The Flyers have compiled 149 PIMs to Pittsburgh’s 133 in the postseason (the two-highest team numbers), but Philly totaled nearly 50 percent more penalty minutes than the Pens in the regular season (1318 to 880).
The referees called Game 4 as tightly as possible. That favored the Flyers early but more than evened out by the end of Wednesday evening. It’s doubtful either organization would have too many problems if Game 5 is called in a similar fashion – at least for the most part.
There were a couple of beefs to be had by both teams. The Penguins felt slighted after NHL suspension guru Brendan Shanahan decided not to suspend Zac Rinaldo for his selfish, two-punch check of Zbynek Michalek. How the league could watch tape of that and not issue at least a one-game suspension is somewhat surprising, especially considering how the Pens’ Arron Asham got four games for a fairly similar infraction.
Another beef from Pittsburgh stems from Matt Cooke getting kicked out of Game 4 with a misconduct penalty for basically being Matt Cooke. Don’t be fooled, Cooke has picked up his feistiness level in the playoffs, but he hasn’t crossed the line. Even though the refs kicked out Cooke likely as a preventative measure, he did nothing to deserve the call.
Perhaps the officiating should take a hard look at itself. Its failure to handle James Neal properly after his running of two Flyers likely contributed heavily to the late Game 4 shenanigans.
Some Philly fans believe Evgeni Malkin delivered an illegal hit to defender Nicklas Grossmann. Grossmann is questionable for Game 5 after taking the Malkin hit and one by Tyler Kennedy (of all people). If Malkin wasn’t fighting for puck possession and if he had left his feet, then the Philly beef might have more cheddar to its burger. As it stands, Malkin didn’t extend his elbow and Grossman was stretching forward in a series of unfortunate events.
As entertaining and heartening for Penguins fans as Wednesday’s game was, Philadelphia still leads the series, three games to one. Pittsburgh has yet to beat the Flyers in a meaningful game at CONSOL Energy Center. In fact, the Pens went 28-8-2 at home against the rest of the league and lost two of three against Philly.
Few teams have the ability to rattle off winning streaks like Pittsburgh. The Pens won 11 straight before losing to the Flyers on March 18. They won 10 straight home games at one point and eight more during another hot stretch. Perhaps most importantly, the team is 1-0 in playoff elimination games.
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Game 5 Issues
- Will James van Riemsdyk suit up for the Flyers? He hasn’t played since March 1 but practiced Thursday. Replacing Zac Rinaldo with van Riemsdyk figures to be a win-win for the Flyers.
- Who will mind the nets for Philly? Sergei Bobrovsky, Ilya Bryzgalov, Michael Leighton?
- Will defenseman Nicklas Grossmann play? He looked woozy after taking a hit by Tyler Kennedy on Wednesday, wobbling across the ice. He’s one of the Flyers’ better shot blockers.
- Will Pens d-man Paul Martin return to the lineup after sitting out Game 4 with an undisclosed injury? Penguins fans seem to overwhelming hope he takes a seat in the press box.
- Do the Pens go with seven blueliners? Which ones?
- Which forwards/defensemen sit out with James Neal and Craig Adams coming back?
- Is it possible the Pens split up Malkin and Neal? While that sounds like a taboo question to ask about a 40-and-50 goal scorer, the team did okay in Game 4. If Sidney Crosby can skate on the second power-play unit, anything is possible.
- Does Simon Despres get another taste, Eric Tangradi? The Pens would be hard-pressed not to dress Despres, wouldn’t they?
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Tweety Birds
Dave Molinari @MolinariPG
Another No. 1 PP variation: Malkin and Letang at points, Crosby, Kunitz and Neal up front.
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
That’s Neal going in for Kunitz, not Crosby, on #Penguins PP top unit. Second unit: Despres, Niskanen on pts with 24, 11, 48.
Pens Inside Scoop @PensInsideScoop
#Pens using Letang, Sullivan on points with Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz up front on top PP unit -SK
Dan Rosen @drosennhl
Looks like Tangradi might stay in lineup. He skated 4th line with Adams and Park. If Bylsma dresses 7 D again, Tangradi or Park likely out.
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
#Penguins lines: 14-71-18, 26-87-9, 24-11-48, 25-27-12, 45-46-15. So maybe Vitale, Jeffrey out.
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Treasure Life & Let's Go Pens!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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