ORANGE = CRUSHED and we're off to Round 2!!!!!!!!!!
First Period
In all honesty, at first, each team was pretty evenly matched where the other's weakness was. It seemed like the Pens had more offensive ice time, but the Flyers did their job keeping our Boys off the board. Until the last 2½ minutes of the period...
We were told two not-so-surprising facts: First, that our wicked 3rd line has had as many scoring chances as our stellar 1st line; second, that super d-bag Carcillo (yeah, he's the one that got suspended for the headshot on Mad Max on the faceoff in Game 1) is a "fan favorite here in Philadelphia." That certainly says something, no? As expected, the crowd had been chanting "CROSBY SUCKS!!" every 3 minutes on cue. Also of note - when Super Duper was hit in the throat by Coburn, which caused him (duh) to fall to the ice, the fans actually booed Dupuis.
The stalemate ended with a major mistake on Mad Max's part. Geno had just gloved down a puck at the Pens' blue line. Talbot took the puck and headed towards Flower. Superstar must not have realized that Richards was right on him from behind, and so he had the puck stolen with no D man between Richards and Flower. Our goalie actually made the initial save with a big fish flop. But, like I said, there were no D men in sight, so Knuble skated in and capitalized on the rebound, sending it into the wide open net. [Pens 0, Flyers 1]
I'm guessing that goal must have messed with Flower's head because just 51 seconds later, while the Pens were in the midst of a change, Lupul was able to find the puck-sized space between Flower, the post, and his glove to double the Flyers' lead. [Pens 0, Flyers 2]
Amazingly enough, there were no penalties until 37.7 seconds until the end of the period. Geno was tripped up at the Flyers' blue line by Carter. The Pens didn't score on their abbreviated power play, and as the period ended, things were tense but no fights broke out.
Second Period
The Pens didn't score on the remainder of their power play. Things went from bad to worse when Siddo was called for slashing and 40 seconds later, Briere scored. [Pens 0, Flyers 3] For Pens fans, it felt as though all the happiness had gone from the world. But then our little Superstar scrapper decided to take matters into his own hands.
He and Carcillo had been doing the war of the words thing for a while until it finally culminated with a knock down, drag out fight. Who won? WHO CARES?! Because immediately following their fisticuffs, Geno went hard to the net and fired a shot that Tank was able to send to the back of the net through Biron's pads. [Pens 1, Flyers 3]
Tank didn't get to celebrate his goal before Coburn took him down from behind. The result was an all out melee. Sticks and gloves were everywhere. When the ice was cleared up, we were left with a 4-on-4. An errant pass from one Flyer to another in the Pens' zone was scooped up by TK, who went 3-on-1 with Tank and Eaton. Kennedy fired the initial shot that gave the rebound for Eaton to send over the goal line. [Pens 2, Flyers 3]
The Pens got two golden opportunities when Carle and Alberts took back to back penalties for tripping, but they were unable to seal the deal. Tank was penalized for cross-checking, but the Flyers didn't add to their lead. Our top line went to work. Guerin fired a shot that popped up in front of Biron. Siddo was right there to bang one home to tie the game. [Pens 3, Flyers 3]
What's that, crowd? "CROSBY SUCKS!!"? Haha, I think you mean, "CROSBY SCORES!!"
Despite good chances from Geno and Kuni, the period ended with both teams at 3.
Third Period
Early on, Gonch displayed an incredible sense of good timing when he scored his first goal of the playoffs. [Pens 4, Flyers 3] That goal would become the game winner. :)
Geno took a penalty for crosschecking Powe (only after Powe crosschecked him first without getting called for it). On the ensuing penalty kill, Scudsi was an absolute warrior, and Flower goofed but Eaton was there to cover for him and help keep the Flyers from scoring. A giveaway from Gill lead to chaos in front of Flower, yet the Flyers didn't score because of some glorious stick work by Scuds. Later, Giroux nearly changed the world, but lucky for us he hit the post. Then Flower wanted some of that glory, so he made the save of a lifetime on Lupul.
Geno stole the puck and went 1-on-none, but Biron stoned him. The Pens got a 3-on-1 chance, but Superstar made one too many moves before shooting the puck (BTW, after the spectacular performance he put in, I have MORE than forgiven him for the mistake leading to the Flyers' first goal).
I couldn't breathe for the last seven minutes of the game, let alone take notes. Let's just say the Flyers came dangerously close to tying the game and forcing overtime more times than I'd care to count. With about one minute left in the game, the Flyers pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker.
The Flyers called a timeout after the Pens iced the puck, but it didn't help. Carter screwed up a pass and it went to center ice and slowly towards the empty net, when - who was that streaking by everyone? It was OUR CAPTAIN! Propelled by the strength of his tree trunk sized legs, Siddo beat Timonen to the puck and was able to get not one but two chances to put it into the empty net. The second try was the one that assured the end of the Flyers' season. [Pens 5, Flyers 3]
A few seconds later, that was it. PENS WIN AND ADVANCE TO ROUND 2!!!!!!!!!!
Look for a second Pep Rally before the start of Round 2. If anyone has any suggestions for the mp3 download, shoot me an email. :)
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!
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