John Toperzer: GAMEDAY! Keys to a better Penguins result Pittsburgh needs win Friday after suffering Game 1 meltdown Wednesday

i agree on the jordan staal thing... he was right there...

The Penguins are better than what they showed in Game 1 but so are the Flyers. Neither Malkin nor Giroux impacted the contest the way they have all season long. Who knows what's going to happen Friday, but one thing is for sure. The Penguins must pay better attention to detail if they hope to figure out the Flyers going forward.
- the-mitch-wilsons

well said. I fully expect the Pens to come out with all guns blazing tonight, and hopefully the Flyers do a better job in the 1st so they don't fall behind by multiple goals. One can only do that comeback-thing so many times against good teams.

Considering the ton of overtime games so far it wouldn't surprise me if game 2 goes OT as well. Double OT, maybe?

As good as the Pens looked in the first period Wed I expect them to come out about 20 times better tonight..

The key for the Flyers is handling that push with less damage (3 goals) because you can not keep giving one of the best teams in the world 2-3 goal leads.

Keys for both teams..no injuries please.

Best of luck Pens and lets go Flyers!

John, we had a discussion about cards near the end of the last blog. We would be interested in your expert opinion...

As good as the Pens looked in the first period Wed I expect them to come out about 20 times better tonight..

The key for the Flyers is handling that push with less damage (3 goals) because you can not keep giving one of the best teams in the world 2-3 goal leads.

Keys for both teams..no injuries please.

Best of luck Pens and lets go Flyers!
- opeth_pa

You guys keep saying that but it keeps working.

John Toperzer: GAMEDAY! Keys to a better Penguins result
Pittsburgh needs win Friday after suffering Game 1 meltdown Wednesday
- the-mitch-wilsons

Letang needs to be stronger on the puck near his own net. Schenn goal and the winner he was right there. I'm sure he'll have a great game tonight.

As good as the Pens looked in the first period Wed I expect them to come out about 20 times better tonight..

The key for the Flyers is handling that push with less damage (3 goals) because you can not keep giving one of the best teams in the world 2-3 goal leads.

Keys for both teams..no injuries please.

Best of luck Pens and lets go Flyers!
- opeth_pa

Bryz should be more confident going into tonight and for Flyers sake stop more 1st period pucks. He looked good after the first the other night.

Letang needs to be stronger on the puck near his own net. Schenn goal and the winner he was right there. I'm sure he'll have a great game tonight.
- Domidives

Letang does not appear to me to be as strong physically. I am thinking all the injuries have made him weaker physically.

Letting Brierre get in on a breakaway is unacceptable. Once, twice or more is stupid and indicates a lack of discipline.

Hope for a win and better, smarter and most importantly, CONSISTENCY!

Lets go Pens!

John, we had a discussion about cards near the end of the last blog. We would be interested in your expert opinion...
- canadianpenfan

Yeh, the best way to look up card values is to go on eBay. If you have an account you can click the completed sales square on the left hand side of the page and find out how much the cards are actually selling for. I really wish I'd held on to some of the Mario rookies I had. I think his 85-6 OPC rookies is way undervalued.

Thanks for serving as a ref, canadianpenfan, you're doing great.

Looking forward to Bettman's next apology to you guys ...
what a joke

Looking forward to Bettman's next apology to you guys ...
what a joke
- MrBigglesworth

At least you have something to complain about now, I was getting worried there for awhile.

many players need to step up. the malkin neal kunitz line was practically invisible. staal had a few good opportunities and a nice pass on the break, but his puck possession and defensive dominance were absent. even crosby had a couple of plays where the simple effective play seemed to be lacking. it was very disheartening to lose that way, but there is much room for improvement. each player should be pistol whipped for every blind backhand pass through the neutral zone

Bryz should be more confident going into tonight and for Flyers sake stop more 1st period pucks. He looked good after the first the other night.
- Domidives

Looking back I'm not sure if he played that poorly in the 1st. Obviously on the 3rd goal it seemed that he fumbled it a bit, but it was also a crazy ass bounce. Were the other 2 stoppable? Maybe, but they were also perfectly placed, and a lot of goalies wouldn't have stopped them.

Even if the Flyers win tonight I give the Pens a decent shot at taking the series. There's just too much talent over on your side to think they can't win 4 of 5.

Icing/offsides. Both were blown calls. They equaled out. It was just wrong the way the league had to apologize to the Pens for a missed call, when calls get missed all the time, and there was one in that game.

Justify it how you will. Coburn was already past the linesman before he waived off icing, even if you can somehow justify why the icing was waived off, you cant justify that it was late, and the players involved could not see the call.

Looking back I'm not sure if he played that poorly in the 1st. Obviously on the 3rd goal it seemed that he fumbled it a bit, but it was also a crazy ass bounce. Were the other 2 stoppable? Maybe, but they were also perfectly placed, and a lot of goalies wouldn't have stopped them.

Even if the Flyers win tonight I give the Pens a decent shot at taking the series. There's just too much talent over on your side to think they can't win 4 of 5.
- FlyerGuy

appreciate the vote of confidence, but 4 out of 5 is a very tall order when dealing with teams of this caliber, not to mention bitter rivals

At least you have something to complain about now, I was getting worried there for awhile.
- canadianpenfan

At least you have something to complain about now, I was getting worried there for awhile.
- canadianpenfan

who's complaining?? ***head snap back*
i'm finding all of this nonsense quite amusing!! ***head snap back*

Yeh, the best way to look up card values is to go on eBay. If you have an account you can click the completed sales square on the left hand side of the page and find out how much the cards are actually selling for. I really wish I'd held on to some of the Mario rookies I had. I think his 85-6 OPC rookies is way undervalued.

Thanks for serving as a ref, canadianpenfan, you're doing great.
- the-mitch-wilsons

Would you agree with the notion that overall cards are less valuable then they might have been 10 years ago?

i agree on the jordan staal thing... he was right there...
- Buc Nasty68

so was letang -- but yeah, Staal should've at least kept Voracek from the puck.

Letang needs to be stronger on the puck near his own net. Schenn goal and the winner he was right there. I'm sure he'll have a great game tonight.
- Domidives

all of Pittsburgh is hoping!

well said. I fully expect the Pens to come out with all guns blazing tonight, and hopefully the Flyers do a better job in the 1st so they don't fall behind by multiple goals. One can only do that comeback-thing so many times against good teams.

Considering the ton of overtime games so far it wouldn't surprise me if game 2 goes OT as well. Double OT, maybe?

- FlyerGuy

I kind of hope the Pens dont come out guns blazing. Keeping the game tight maybe the key to getting them to play 60minutes.

I kind of hope the Pens dont come out guns blazing. Keeping the game tight maybe the key to getting them to play 60minutes.
- Rawdog9755

me too.

Honestly I think that coaching staff should just show the team the first period and say "do this" and then show them the following 42 minutes and say "don't do this".

They played a near perfect first period, the puck was always deep, the forecheck was physical and they forced and capatalized on Flyer mistakes. Following the intermission they completely got away from anything that they had done well in the first period.

me too.
- flyersfan51

Curious to see how the Flyers play when they arent digging themselves out of a hole.