Hockey Night in DSP-Season 2011-12

[HipE]

Disgraceful performance by the Pens today, way to embarrass the organization. I hope the Flyers beat them by 10, they deserve the sweep.

[Diablo25]

Suck on that one Fleury...you are Swiss cheese.

[Naples39]

6 goals, a few fights, a major penalty...just another first period in this series.

The only thing I will say is that the Pens lost each of the first 2 mainly because of a lack of poise, but today they are becoming totally unglued.

[10spro]

When B. Shanahan just gave a 5 games vacation to Duncan Keith for his deliberate flying elbow on Daniel Sedin, he practically declared open season for a lot of players and more so now in the heat of the 1st round of the playoffs. For a top minutes guy like Keith, he probably needed the rest. Would it been so difficult to add a few games into the playoffs where CHI would have really missed his services? In the meantime the victim Sedin is still on the sidelines.

Then a petty fine to S. Weber for banging one of the leagues stars' head WWE style last week. And no wonder you see guys like A. Asham who from his perspective knows will be suspended but probably 3-4 games, while a rising star sits on the shelf.

And it'll get worse as the playoffs intensifies, this league just has to go the NFL route and make suspensions really mean something.

What a wild series in the battle of Penn. PIT just needs to cut down on turnovers and be more disciplined. Flyers are making them pay with their man advantage.

[10spro]

Roberto Luongo is not the reason the Canucks are down 0-2, but you got to shake things up at the same time and statistically C. Schneider has some amazing numbers. Looks like coach V will play that card tonight, tighten up the D a bit and hopefully the pathetic PP score at least a goal. That would be a good start because of all the teams involved in the playoffs, I see VAN still without a goal with the man advantage.

[Diablo25]

Jagr is a beast.

[10spro]

Jagr is a beast.

Not too bad for a 40 year old man eh?

What impressed me so far about the Flyers are the new guys. The Couturiers, Read, Wellwood and Schenn are saving a great round.

[Diablo25]

Pittsburgh is just embarrassing themselves. Totally gutless from top to bottom. Joke.

[Diablo25]

20 goals in 3 games. Suck on that Pens.

[HipE]

I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed by a Pittsburgh sports team. Just take your beating and go home. All this crap they are starting now just makes them looks like bigger punks. Which they all are, from top to bottom in this series. The refs need to get control and start tossing Penguins, Neal somehow managed to run two players in the span of a minute and still remain in the game?

[HipE]

Gutless and cowardly performance, so much for respecting your opponent and losing with some semblance of class. I hope MAF doesn't even dress for the next game, they would be better off just using six skaters all game instead.

[Leebo33]

20 goals in 3 games. Suck on that Pens.

Nice.

[Diablo25]

Jagr is a beast.

Not too bad for a 40 year old man eh?

What impressed me so far about the Flyers are the new guys. The Couturiers, Read, Wellwood and Schenn are saving a great round.

All rookies . Read is bit old for a rookie but man is he taking advantage of his opportunity. I can't believe how well Couturier has adapted to the NHL. He is 19... And he only turned 19 during the season (December or January I believe). Unbelievable pickup by the Flyers with the 8th pick. Wellwood is a jet. Schenn might be the best out of all of them. He started slow but man did he come on the last month of the season. Let's get the sweep!

[Feanor]

Neal really lost his mind out there, but Bylsma and the refs also are to blame for letting him stay on the ice. They should all be suspended/stood down from future playoff games, as well as Asham for that disgraceful cross check to the throat of Schenn.

[Naples39]

The Pens completely lost their sh*t today. This series was there for the taking, with 3-0 and 2-0 leads in the first two games, and they've psyched themselves out of a chance to win. I wrote on my blog after game 1 that they were too concerned with hitting and being physical with the Flyers, and it was distracting them.

I was worried today, that on the road, they'd show more control and restraint and outclass the Flyers. Not so much. The Penguins have collapsed psychologically this series, with each game going further off the deep end.

"[The Flyers] seem to bring out the worst in me."
-Sidney Crosby, 4/2/2012

Indeed.

[XXXIV]

Yowza!......Looks like I picked the wrong sunday to celebrate Easter at my sisters house. Missed all the crazy.


Great win for the Hawks last night in golf country. Tying the game with 5 seconds left and then tying the series in OT.

[pk500]

Not only are the Flyers showing their usual brawn and grit, they're looking even more skilled than usual.

Bryzgalov still is the X Factor. I don't see him beating Lundqvist in a seven-game series.

[Lancer]

Not only are the Flyers showing their usual brawn and grit, they're looking even more skilled than usual.

Bryzgalov still is the X Factor. I don't see him beating Lundqvist in a seven-game series.

Rangers still have to win their series.

Also, Bryz hasn't been that good, just MAF has sucked so much more.

[10spro]

Not only are the Flyers showing their usual brawn and grit, they're looking even more skilled than usual.

Bryzgalov still is the X Factor. I don't see him beating Lundqvist in a seven-game series.

Rangers still have to win their series.

Also, Bryz hasn't been that good, just MAF has sucked so much more.

I gotta agree here. It's not like Bryz is stealing the series for them because he's not. But the rookies are making an impact for the Flyers and Sid the Kid looks more interested in fighting than scoring. But when you have two of the best players in the league like Crosby and Giroux in a tussle it's great playoff hockey. Love that.

[10spro]

Tight game is La as Kings are 1-0 halfway through the 3rd. D. Brown just seems to be in the right place at the right time in this series with yet another goal. And again, other than the PP sucking air, I don't see anything wrong with the "Nucks play 5 on 5. They played most of the game in the Kings zone but they just cant solve J. Quick.

[10spro]

Alex Edler has been brutal in this series. With two minutes left and the game still a close 1-0, he clears the puck over the glass in an attempt to pass leaving his team a man short. LA takes a stranglehold lead. Quick was the difference.

[Lancer]

I don't know how LA is this good. I seen them vs the Sharks this year and they sucked. But VAN is playing without any intensity from the games I watched. I can see this going 7 still.

[10spro]

I don't know how LA is this good. I seen them vs the Sharks this year and they sucked. But VAN is playing without any intensity from the games I watched. I can see this going 7 still.

You know, it's going to be tough coming back from this hole. But again, the frustrating thing for me is that I can't say that they are playing badly. There's a fine line between intensity and aggression with the way the zebras are calling penalties these days. I didn't think they lacked intensity tonight but rather execution in their play. A part of me still says that they're in it, but it's going to be hard.

Lets' face it, the two teams that were considered to be finalists are on the brink of elimination.

[Leebo33]

I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed by a Pittsburgh sports team. Just take your beating and go home. All this crap they are starting now just makes them looks like bigger punks.

I agree. The bad thing is that this series has been so embarrassing that I won't even even be able to enjoy what is currently a 36 year run of playoff schadenfreude. In past years I would tune into games just to root against the Flyers (and they never let me down although 6 times they got closer than I prefer), but I doubt I'll watch any more hockey after this. It won't matter this spring that Flyers fans my age don't know what it's like to have their team hoist the cup. It won't matter that those same fans probably follow the Eagles and they don't know what it's like to experience the elation of a Super Bowl victory. All that will matter, at least until next fall, is that the Penguins were beaten in every possible way by a better, more disciplined, and dare I say *gulp* classier team. If the Pens have an ounce of dignitity and respect for the game they will play out the rest of series (likely 1 or 2 games) without any of these childish antics.

[HipE]

The Flyers have played as clean of a series as is possible between these two teams. I guess when you are dominating the way they are there is nothing to be gained by playing the game the Penguins are trying to play now. Some of the stuff that was going on in the game yesterday reminded me of what the Islanders did against the Penguins last year that resulted in suspensions to two of their players and a hefty fine to their organization. After everything Mario said following that game it shames me to see this Penguins team basically duplicate that.

I know many people are piling on Sid today for his antics, but nothing he did really bothered me. I thought it was more of an attempt by him to get his teammates a little more emotionally invested in the game or get the Flyers to lose their cool. It was the crosscheck by Asham and the hits on Couturier and Giroux by James Neal that really bothered me, all three of those looked to be nothing more than attempts to injure players. I'd hope that both players would be suspended, although it wouldn't surprise me if only Asham is. Maybe the Penguins will finally win a game if they lose a couple of players, they sure seem to play a lot better when they do.

It isn't so much the losing to the Flyers that has me so pissed off. The Penguins bowed out early to both the Canadiens and Lightning the past couple of years and I applauded their efforts in the losses. It is the manner in which they are losing and the way they react to it that really bothers me. It seems like Bylsma has no control of the team at this point and I can't understand it. Something seems seriously wrong with this current Penguins team, hopefully Shero has the guts to do something about it in the offseason. I applaud Philadelphia for making the decision that Richards and Carter weren't going to get them a championship and doing something about it, I hope Pittsburgh can do the same. Whether or not that means cutting ties with Bylsma, Orpik, Martin, MAF or whoever, so be it. If they do end up losing this series, they can't just stand pat and make another run at it with this team after this humiliation.

I still haven't given up all hope yet, maybe the embarrassment yesterday will finally get the Penguins going. If they can just win Wednesday in Philadelphia and get back to Pittsburgh and finally win a game, who knows what could happen in the series. Most likely the Flyers will just finish off the sweep in game 4, but I hope if they do that the Pens at least attempt to go out with a modicum of class and show some respect for the Flyers.

At least I finally got my answer to the questions I've been asking ever since Sid got the concussion back in the Winter Classic. Yes, they have finally iced a full lineup of healthy players and no, they aren't unstoppable when doing so.