Daily Clips – 4/12/12
Penguins squander 3-0 lead, lose to Flyers in overtime
By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There were no trash cans overturned in the Penguins' locker room when it was over, no highdecibel curses puncturing the air.
Just a sober, if somewhat stunned, realization of what had just happened.
And a stubborn insistence that any damage done to them had been superficial.
They had built a three-goal lead against Philadelphia in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff
series at Consol Energy Center, then watched it mutate into a 4-3 overtime defeat.
The tangible impact of the game is obvious as the Flyers have seized the home-ice advantage
that the Penguins fought hard for weeks to earn.
Whether there is a lasting psychological impact of having a seemingly secure lead melt into
such an excruciating loss won't be clear until the teams meet in Game 2 here at 7:38 Friday.
"It's rough," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "We were up by three. We came out the way we
wanted to. It's definitely a tough one ... but that's why it's a best-of-seven. There's a lot of time,
a lot of games to play. We can't panic right now."
Actually, the Penguins could, because there's nothing to suggest that they can build a lead so
large that the Flyers can't wipe it out. Twice during the stretch drive, the Penguins went up, 2-0,
on Philadelphia, only to be beaten. Getting an even more commanding advantage in Game 1,
then being unable to protect it, has to be unsettling, at the very least.
"We know they're a good team," right winger Tyler Kennedy said. "We know we have to play a
full 60 to compete with them."
The Penguins certainly didn't do that Wednesday night and paid dearly for it when Jakub
Voracek of the Flyers got the winner at 2:23 of overtime by knocking in a loose puck from the
right side of the crease.
Voracek, though, hadn't been much of a factor in the game until he ended it.
Until then, the Flyers had been carried largely by Daniel Briere, who scored twice, and Brayden
Schenn, who had a goal and two assists. Briere's goals raised his total to 44 in 98 career playoff
games.
"He's done it so many times in the playoffs that I don't think it should surprise anybody that he
had a big game tonight," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.
Early on, it didn't look as if any of the Flyers would have a night they'd care to remember, as the
Penguins rang up three unanswered goals in the first period.
Sidney Crosby put them up, 1-0, at 3:43 by pouncing on a loose puck and chipping a backhander
past Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and Kennedy got the Penguins' second goal at 7:49, as he took
a backhand feed from Jordan Staal and beat Bryzgalov from in front.
Pascal Dupuis scored what could have been the back-breaker with 36.9 seconds to go before
intermission, when Steve Sullivan threw a backhand pass between his legs from behind the goal
line and Dupuis knocked it out of the air and behind Bryzgalov.
"We weren't happy with the first 20 minutes," Laviolette said.
But the Flyers weren't completely deflated, either. And probably shouldn't have been, since
they've made a habit of overcoming multiple-goal deficits this season.
"It's pretty amazing," Briere said. "Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying was that
we've done it all year. Let's start with a goal, and you never know what can happen."
The Flyers' comeback began with a controversial goal when Briere got behind the Penguins'
defense and beat Fleury at 6:22 of the second. Replays showed that Briere had crossed the
Penguins' blue line long before Schenn's pass to him did, which meant the play should have
been ruled offside.
"That's not why we lost the game," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.
Briere (9:17) and Schenn (12:23) scored in the middle of the third period to force overtime, and
Voracek capped the Flyers' comeback with the goal that gave them the early upper hand in this
series.
The issue now is whether the nature of their rally will affect more than just the outcome of
Game 1.
Laviolette volunteered that, "I don't necessarily believe in momentum," while Bylsma was quick
to point out that "it's one game."
Not one like many others, though. And certainly not one on which the Penguins can afford to
dwell.
"Especially in the playoffs, tomorrow is a new day," Kennedy said. "We have to move on."
Penguins find script painfully familiar
By Ray Fittipaldo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins forward Craig Adams doesn't know why the Penguins are in the habit of blowing leads
against the Philadelphia Flyers. If he or any of the other Penguins had it figured out they surely
would have had done something Wednesday night to prevent a 4-3 overtime loss to the Flyers
in Game 1 of a first-round series at Consol Energy Center.
It was the third time in the past four games against the Flyers that the Penguins blew multiple
goal leads. The previous two times it happened, the Penguins blew two-goal leads. They oneupped themselves and blew a three-goal lead this time.
"It's not a shock," Adams said. "They've done it against us a couple of times. I saw some stat
that they've been down by two goals in 20 of the past 30 games. They're not going to quit. We
know that. We just didn't sustain our effort long enough."
The Flyers completed the comeback 2:23 into overtime when Jakub Voracek whacked in a
rebound past Marc Andre Fleury. The Flyers, like the Penguins, are an explosive offensive team,
but Penguins coach Dan Bylsma noticed a pattern in their comeback.
Two of the goals were not pretty goals off the rush. Danny Briere's second goal and Voracek's
winner were the result of dogged fore-checking and keeping the puck in the Penguins zone.
"In the overtime it was evident," Bylsma said. "They had repeated pressure in our zone."
The first Flyers goal came on a breakaway by Briere that was off sides, but the linesman missed
the call. Briere's second goal got the Flyers to within one midway through the third period.
Briere threw a shot to the net where Fleury appeared to be screened by Sidney Crosby. It might
have been a fluky goal, but it was the result of sustained pressure on the Penguins, whose
defense failed to clear the puck.
"Obviously, we're not playing the way we need to play for long enough," Adams said. "We need
to keep playing in their end. We can't sit back. We're not trying to sit back. We need to keep
the pressure on them and keep generating chances and try to score more goals. We have to
stay on the fore check and put pucks in their end. We didn't do that enough."
Byslma also said the Penguins gave the Flyers too many quality scoring chances. The Penguins
outshot the Flyers 28-26, Bylsma said afterward that the Penguins did not get to their game
often enough.
Briere's breakaway goal came off a bad turnover, and the third goal by Brayden Schenn came
off a rush on a power play.
It was the only power play of the game for the Flyers, and they capitalized. The Penguins,
meanwhile, were 0 for 4 on power play opportunities.
"They're very good off the rush and have good transition offense," Bylsma said. "The last two
periods of hockey there was too much of that. There was too much back and forth and not
managing the puck in the neutral zone."
Game 2 is Friday night, and Bylsma has to find a way to keep this game from getting into the
heads of his players.
"It's one game," he said. "They did a lot of that all season. They keep coming back from deficits.
They got a big goal from Briere that got them back in it and they kept chipping away. They don't
stop."
By now, the Penguins have that message loud and clear.
Jagr keep his eyes on the prize
By Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
He's 40 now, and every year -- sometimes, every day -- brings a different version of Jaromir
Jagr's relationship with the Penguins, his original team.
For the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night, the right winger had a couple of scoring chances
but no points in a 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 of the teams' first-round playoff series.
It took only a matter of seconds for the unforgiving fans at Consol Energy Center to boo Jagr as
he handled the puck near the right corner on the first shift of the game.
If you listen to what he had to say before the game, he didn't hear them.
"I don't pay any attention to that," Jagr said. "Even the boos, you don't hear it. You kind of get
used to it, I guess. Early in the game, and you've got the puck, the fans think you're going to
hear it. You don't hear it.
"It's tough to describe, but it's like your wife talking to you and you don't hear. She's
complaining. Why are you going to listen to her? You're somewhere else. That's what it is. Your
mind is somewhere else."
Jagr, acknowledging that what he said wasn't politically correct, flashed the boyish smile that
was one of his off-ice trademarks when he played for the Penguins.
He won two Stanlely Cups, five NHL scoring titles and a league MVP award while with the
Penguins and got most of the 1,653 points that have him ranked eighth all time. These days,
he's concentrating on helping the Flyers win that Cup.
"I think our group is very tight," Jagr said. "I don't think I've been on a team where there were
no arguments, no fighting over the year. That's probably the first time it happened to me. This
group is so tight, the chemistry is so good, a lot of great guys around the team. That kind of
stuff gives me confidence."
Jagr's best scoring chance in Game 1 came with his team trailing, 2-0, about midway through
the first period. He had a breakaway from the blue line in, but Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre
Fleury deflected Jagr's shot outside the left post.
In the third period, he got an extra loud round of jeers when he got an interference penalty
drawn by Penguins star Sidney Crosby.
Last summer, after three seasons playing in Russia, Jagr didn't respond to a Penguins contract
offer of $2 million for this season and instead signed with the Flyers for $3.3 million.
Whether he returns to Philadelphia next season or goes back to Europe, Jagr vows to keep
lacing up the skates.
"I'm going to play if something bad doesn't happen to me in the summer because I love the
game," he said.
It probably won't be in Pittsburgh, even though Jagr once again professed his affection for the
town that now boos him.
"It's been 20 years, but I have such great memories about teammates," he said of the Cup
years. "We won together. Those guys showed me around. They showed me the life off the ice.
They taught me on the ice. You have to appreciate it."
It has been 11 years since he played for the Penguins, and he doesn't get overly emotional
facing them anymore.
"It's the same city, but different players," Jagr said.
Jagr also has changed over the years, but his comments -- when he is in the mood to laugh and
chat -- often are still entertaining. Such as his thoughts on working out.
"Hard work makes me happy," said Jagr, who sometimes goes to the Flyers practice facility late
at night to skate.
"I think that's the best thing that happened to me in my life. If I go to the gym and I do some
things, I'm happy after that. Some people are happy if they have a day off. I'm the opposite
way. I don't know why. I'm just doing that to be happy.
"Strange stuff, but that's how I would describe it. If I do something hard, something for my
body, I'm happy."
Flyers at home in Consol
By Gene Collier / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
So what's next, do you imagine, for a team that can't flip the fleet, frustrating Flyers in its own
house to save its playoff life?
Can the Penguins blow a four-goal lead to yank defeat from way down the gullet of victory, a
five-goal lead, do I hear a half-dozen goals overturned en masse on an ice pond near you?
What are you doing Friday night?
Game 1 saw a 3-0 Penguins lead easily within the capable reflexes of Marc-Andre Fleury, who
was 8-3 against Philadelphia in the postseason and locked on the puck for most of two periods.
But after a brief sudden death overtime in which Dan Bylsma's team barely participated, Fleury
let a Matt Carle shot rebound into the slot beyond his reach, beyond Jordan Staal's reach, but
not beyond the exuberant poke of Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek.
Voracek, barely two minutes into the overtime, showed that he not only shares a birthplace
with Kladno's own Jaromir Jagr, but an opportunistic streak as well, flicking the disc into the net
for a 4-3 Philadelphia victory and a monstrous jump in these Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The Flyers can all but end it Friday at Consol Energy Center with any combination of events that
wash out as a two-games-to-none bulge.
Less than four minutes into his first playoff game in 23 months, Sidney Crosby had the puck in
Philadelphia's net, torturing the Flyers at his earliest convenience with an impossible play that
shook the building.
Huge, it would appear.
Staal carried the puck on a fast track to a 2-on-1 barely four minutes later, sliding it to Tyler
Kennedy and watching appreciatively as Kennedy buried it behind Ilya Bryzgalov.
Huger, it would appear.
But it was the increasingly amazing, the suddenly indomitable Pascal Dupuis who appeared to
turn Game 1 the Penguins' way for good, flicking Steve Sullivan's unlikely between-the-legs pass
from behind the Philadelphia net right into Bryzgalov's laundry basket, from where it somehow
leaked onto the scoreboard to make it 3-0.
Hugest.
Right?
Because these Flyers are rarely troubled by a two-goal deficit, rallying as they have on 10
occasions this season out from similar or even bigger holes, each time adding to their pile of
103 points. They did it in this very building on the last Sunday of the regular season.
Dupuis' goal would make things too difficult for the boys in creamsicle and white, wouldn't it?
Surely the standard psychological sting for teams who get burned in the final minute of the
period would apply, coming as it did at 19:23.
With one foot in the locker room, the Flyers suddenly had their predicament metastasized by
50 percent, which is no way to start a playoff spring you're hoping to elongate significantly.
Is it?
Dupuis has scored in 18 consecutive games. He has piled on 28 points in his past 24 games. He
has taken his place among the vast Penguin constellation of the offensively gifted.
And all that did was give him the optimal vantage point for Philadelphia's methodical
comeback, starting with a Danny Briere goal in the second period that didn't seem to ruffle the
crowd in the slightest, perhaps because the home team hadn't lost all season when leading
after two periods (32-0-2)
But when Briere scored again before the third period was half over to slice the lead to 3-2, the
comfort level dropped appreciably, and stomachs roiled when defenseman Brooks Orpik took
an interference penalty behind the Penguins net less than 90 seconds later.
It was the only whistle against the Penguins in three periods, and the best penalty killing unit in
franchise history had liquidated all but 18 seconds when Brayden Schenn skated across the
crease and tipped in Scott Hartnell's blast.
Right there in front of the quietest 18,565 people ever assembled.
It was 3-3.
"In the first period we did too much standing, too much watching," said Flyers coach Peter
Laviolette, who didn't feel the need to shatter any lumber after this one. "The third period we
really started to play good hockey and felt good about the overtime coming out. It was a loud
building, a completely different environment from anything that we saw all year. We have not
seen that kind of energy in a building all year."
Briere represented the walking dead for Philadelphia, having literally been knocked into the
middle of next week by a Joe Vitale hit in that overly nasty affair April 1. It wasn't known until
he was on the ice last night whether his postseason presence was assured, but those two goals
that obliterated a burgeoning Fleury shutout would seem to indicate he's ready.
But the more urgent question hasn't been changed or rephrased or edited by one millimeter in
the fading echo of Game 1: When will the Penguins be ready to beat the Flyers in any
meaningful game along Fifth Avenue? The place has been here two full years.
If the answer isn't Friday night, you'll soon be looking hard at Year 3.
Bylsma says recent flareups, remarks not new to rivalry
By Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Penguins' rivalry with Philadelphia, renewed with Game 1 of their opening-round playoff
series against the Flyers Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center, might well be the most
fierce in the NHL.
And, while passions have flared a few times recently, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma pointed out
after his team's game-day skate that the kind of verbal jabs launched at his team and players
from across the state of late are not ground-breaking.
"I'm surprised you're talking about name-calling in the last two weeks, because Sidney Crosby
and Evgeni Malkin have been called names for a long time in this rivalry, against this team,"
Bylsma said. "It's not a new thing.
"It's not something that came out of the woodwork and it's not the first time names have been
used. Most of the [derogatory] nicknames for Sidney Crosby have originated out of Philly and
their fans, and so forth.
"So, it's not really anything new and, frankly, this start of the series, kind of, I think, makes it go
away. It's about playing hockey, now. That name-calling fades away."
There could be new chapters, however, when it's these teams.
"The emotion is always going to be there." Flyers winger and former Penguin Max Talbot said.
"It's still a big rivalry. It's still a first-round matchup.
"It's still a battle of Pennsylvania."
Bylsma offered a flattering assessment of the work of Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, who broke
a stick and climbed onto the boards to scream at the Penguins' bench after Vitale dropped
Flyers forward Daniel Briere with a hard check late in Philadelphia's 6-4 victory here April 1.
"He's won a lot of hockey games ... and clearly showed he's a real good coach in this league,"
Bylsma said.
"Their team has a real identity that may not necessarily be the old Flyer identity, but a real good
identity. I've got a lot of respect for Peter as a coach and what he's done, regardless of the
name-calling."
A health update
Both teams entered the series fairly healthy, although there's no guarantee either will leave it
that way. Neither, however, was at full strength.
Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen missed his third consecutive game because of an
unspecified injury he got April 3 in Boston, while the Flyers had an even larger void on their
blue line.
Not a new one, to be sure, but still a significant one.
Chris Pronger, the dominant presence on Philadelphia's defense, has a Norris Trophy and a
Stanley Cup on his resume, but appeared in just 13 games in 2011-12 before his season was
terminated by a concussion.
While losing him obviously didn't sabotage the Flyers' season, not having Pronger in uniform
denies Philadelphia the services of a potential difference-maker.
"He's a guy who plays top minutes," said Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz, who played with
Pronger on Anaheim's Cup-winning team in 2007. "Power play, penalty-kill, he does everything.
He brings veteran leadership. They're missing all those same things.
"He's a really big body [6 feet 6, 210 pounds] which, in the playoffs, tends to be huge to [make
it possible to] shut down people."
The Penguins, in something that would have been a surprise a week earlier, got defenseman
Ben Lovejoy back in the lineup, just 15 days after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Cooke returns to playoffs
The start of the playoffs is a pretty exciting time for everyone involved. Penguins left winger
Matt Cooke is no exception.
In fact, he had good reason to be more charged than most, although he insisted before Game 1
that such wasn't the case.
"I don't think I'm more amped up [than before previous playoffs]," he said. "I'm just more
content that I'm able to get dressed and actually go out and help the team win."
That's an option Cooke didn't have a year ago, when he was suspended for the final 10 games
of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.
Because the Penguins lost to Tampa Bay in Round 1, Cooke never made it out of street clothes
in the playoffs last spring.
Flyers rally past host Penguins in Game 1 of NHL playoff series
By Josh Yohe
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Flyers made an adjustment after just one period, while the Penguins seemingly remain
incapable of adjusting their style of playing when taking a lead.
It burned them badly Wednesday.
Jacub Voracek scored 2:23 into overtime in Game 1 at Consol Energy Center, helping the Flyers
roar back from a three-goal deficit in a 4-3 victory.
This continues a trend for the Penguins, who have blown two-goal leads to the Flyers three
times in the past 25 days.
"I don`t know," said right wing Craig Adams, who was one of a few Penguins to speak after the
game. "Obviously, we`re not playing as well as we need to. We can`t sit back. We`re not trying
to sit back. We need to pressure them and generate more chances."
The Penguins` offense can be explosive, and it was on display in the first period when center
Sidney Crosby, right wing Tyler Kennedy and right wing Pascal Dupuis scored goals.
However, the Flyers altered their approach during the rest of the game, snuffing notions of
playing pond hockey by playing a more responsible brand of hockey.
The Penguins, though, never changed.
"We need to stay on the forecheck," Adams said, "put pucks in their end and try to wear down
their defense and stay in their end. We didn`t do that enough after the first period."
Even when they led, 3-0, the Penguins continually attempted to beat defenseman at the blue
line instead of taking the more prudent approach of dumping the puck deep into Philadelphia
territory. The Flyers played a simple game, and the approach worked.
"We know we can win hockey games playing a certain style and a certain brand," Flyers coach
Peter Laviolette said. "We became targets (early)."
Now the Penguins find themselves in something of a must-win game in Friday`s Game 2.
"We know we need to be better with puck management," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "I
don`t anticipate every game being the same, jumping out with three goals. I think the overtime
is real evidence … every puck was in, and they went on the forecheck. They had repeated
pressure. That`s something we have to continue (to improve on) regardless of the score or the
situation."
Only goalie Marc-Andre Fleury`s brilliance silenced the Flyers, at least temporarily. He made a
number of brilliant saves early in the game, including against Jaromir Jagr on a breakaway.
Fleury also made spectacular saves against right wing Scott Hartnell and Voracek.
Still, Fleury was unable to mask his team`s shoddy defensive work for the entire game. Danny
Briere scored twice, and rookie Brayden Schenn, who had three points, evened the game on a
power play in the third period.
Replays clearly showed that Briere was offside on his first goal, the one that gave the Flyers life
and ultimately deflated the Penguins.
"Yeah, well, it was offsides," Adams said. "But what are you going to do? It`s frustrating now. At
the time you say, ‘It`s 3-1, let`s not get too worked up about it and make it be a differencemaker in the game.` But it ended up being a difference-maker."
The Flyers were delighted with their comeback.
"We fought, and we battled," Briere said. "In the playoffs, you don`t know how many chances
you`re going to get."
The Penguins let a big one get away.
Starkey: Pens undone by power play
By Joe Starkey
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 12, 2012
What a bizarre evening — and I`m not talking about the animals in the stands.
"Did you see all the bears out there?" Jaromir Jagr said to no one in particular in a joyous
Philadelphia Flyers` dressing room. "There were like 70 or 80. How did they get tickets?"
They were not real bears, of course. They were Penguins fans dressed as bears, playfully
mocking Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who, before the series, memorably told reporters the
only thing he was scared of was "bears in the forest."
The Penguins looked pretty darn scary for a period, jumping to a 3-0 lead before they were
undone by a familiar foe: their own power play.
That is their bear in the forest.
Unable to bury the resilient Flyers, the Penguins saw their three-goal lead melt into a stunning
4-3 loss when Jakub Voracek scored at 2:23 of overtime. Kris Letang flubbed a puck in front of
goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and Voracek whacked it home.
"What we did," Bryzgalov said, "was unbelievable."
To call the loss dispiriting would be a radical understatement. Blame it on the power play.
Not only did the Penguins fail to score on their three chances — all coming with an opportunity
to bury the Flyers — but they sapped themselves of momentum.
"We didn`t have much end-zone time," said coach Dan Bylsma. "It was more off the rush, and
within five to 10 seconds a shot, and (the Flyers) got it cleared."
The ineptness was enough to spark memories of last year`s power-play meltdown against the
Tampa Bay Lightning.
Surely, you remember. The Penguins went 1-for-35 overall and 0-for-25 at home.
At least that power play had an excuse. It didn`t have enough talent.
This one might have too much.
This isn`t new, either. The power play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin underachieves to
its talent level.
It`s time for Bylsma and his staff to make some changes. One, the Crosby-at-the-point
experiment needs to end. He belongs around the net. That is where he does his best work. It`s
where he scored a brilliant even-strength goal last night.
Two, Steve Sullivan belongs back on the first unit full-time. Gaining entry has been a problem.
Sullivan is a master there. He and Kris Letang need to man the points. It seems obvious now.
Chris Kunitz would then be the odd man out.
The Penguins didn`t shoot enough with the man advantage last night. They got too cute. When
they did get a decent shot, they had zero net-front presence.
The only space that cleared faster than the Flyers` goal crease was the Penguins` dressing room
after the game. Players were gone in record time, leaving a trail of unanswered questions.
The Flyers gained life immediately after a failed Penguins power play early in the second period.
A goal there, and "it`s over," as Voracek put it.
Instead, Daniel Briere took advantage of a Joe Vitale turnover to make it 3-1 (yes, Briere was a
mile offside on the play).
Briere struck again early in the third to make it 3-2, beating Fleury on an odd-angle shot from
near the left boards.
"I`m sure he`d like to have that one back," Briere said.
The Flyers showed the Penguins what a real power play looks like after Brooks Orpik went to
the box for interference at 10:41 of the third. Brayden Schenn skillfully deflected a Scott
Hartnell pass into the net at 12:23.
Game 1`s don`t always foretell a series, especially when the Penguins are involved. In their past
four playoff series, and five of their past six, the Game 1 winner went on to lose.
But this was a shocker.
It puts a ton of pressure on the Penguins Friday night, unless they`re planning more 2-0 escapes
on their way to another Stanley Cup.
That doesn`t sound like a good plan.
A mandatory practice today, featuring lots of power-play work with Sullivan at the point,
sounds like a great one.
Time to bear down.
Philly's Bryzgalov bounces back in win over Penguins
By Chris Harlan
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The first period was a bear for Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who had a few of the
furry animals watching him rinkside.
But he never hid.
Bryzgalov allowed three early goals but shut out the Penguins for the final 43 minutes of
Wednesday night`s 4-3 overtime victory at Consol Energy Center in Game 1 of the first-round
playoff series.
"What we did today was unbelievable," Bryzgalov said. "To beat Pittsburgh when we were
down, 3-0, after the first period is not easy."
Known for giving unusual answers, Bryzgalov raised eyebrows this week when he said he was
only afraid of bears. That inspired a few fans to don bear costumes last night.
"How did they get tickets?" Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr said. "I was scared, too."
Bryzgalov didn`t show it. Only one of his goals against could be called partially his fault. The
high-priced standout proved his worth by keeping the Flyers in position for their comeback.
"Those goals weren`t his fault, obviously," said forward Brayden Schenn, whose power-play
goal tied it with 7:37 left. "He played great for us, especially when it was 3-0."
Bryzgalov shut out the Penguins in the second and third periods, stopping 15 straight shots.
Among them was an up-close stop on Evgeni Malkin, who slipped between two Flyers
defenders.
After two goals by Danny Briere and Schenn`s tying goal, Jakub Voracek won it 2:23 into
overtime.
The victory ended Bryzgalov`s postseason losing streak at five games and helped answer
questions about whether he could carry the Flyers to the Stanley Cup. The 31-year-old Russian
hasn`t won a playoff series since 2006, his rookie season with Anaheim.
Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots and bettered Marc-Andre Fleury during the final 43 minutes.
"After this series, they`ll talk about one goaltender having done his job," Penguins coach Dan
Bylsma said before Game 1. "And that will be the team that wins four games first."
Right now, Bryzgalov leads 1-0.
Sidney Crosby was the first to score on Bryzgalov, with a backhand shot between the legs of
Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann. Crosby found the puck in Grossmann`s feet and flipped
it over Bryzgalov`s left shoulder to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead 3:43 into the game.
Tyler Kennedy snapped a shot past Bryzgalov`s blocker about four minutes later to finish a twoon-one with Jordan Staal. Bryzgalov had little chance to stop either.
The third goal, with just 37 seconds left, was the one Bryzgalov could have prevented with a
little luck. Steve Sullivan`s pass from behind the net hit Bryzgalov`s stick and popped in the air,
and Pascal Dupuis knocked it into the net.
The Flyers saw Bryzgalov as the premier goaltender they lacked and signed the free agent to a
nine-year, $51 million contract in June. He won 33 games this season, but his play was uneven
at times.
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Dejan Kovacevic's Blog
A place to talk Pittsburgh Sports
Wakeup Call: Penguins’ double-disappearing act
April 11th, 2012
Brief and to the Point …
>> It’s Joe Starkey’s column day, and he focuses on the Penguins’ power play, which is now 1
for Infinity dating back to the playoffs last spring.
Here is where to find all of our coverage for the day.
I’ll share a few of my own Game 1 observations right here, and I hope you do, too …
>> Let me start with after the game: Exactly four Penguins made themselves available to the
media –Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Craig Adams and Tyler Kennedy and credit to them.
It’s not easy speaking after a tough loss, especially so soon after it ends so abruptly. Good for
them.
But within no more than a couple minutes of the time the room opened, it emptied out. Most
players wouldn’t even pass through.
Personally, I couldn’t care less. I had a specific set of questions that I needed to ask the Flyers,
so I went over there. But I can’t imagine anyone could take it as some great sign that the
dominant majority of the roster bolted the place as if it were on fire … after a Game 1.
That room’s made of tougher stuff than this. More guys needed to stand up, to speak up. If
Fleury could do it after that comeback, none of them had an excuse.
>> Yes, the Flyers scored one goal clearly offside, and the Brooks Orpik penalty was iffy, though
not definitively bad. But anyone blaming this loss on officiating is a) ignoring that one of the
Penguins’ goals was scored on a play that should have been icing and b) in total denial over
what actually happened.
The Penguins’ system and mindset is predicated on being aggressive. They stopped being that
after the first 15 minutes or so, then tacked on that third goal for the three-goal lead.
Not good enough.
This team must play in the other team’s zone.
>> Sure, Kris Letang failed to intercept the pass on Jakub Voracek’s winner. It looked terrible
from up here, and it’ll look just as bad on the highlights. But Jordan Staal paid zero attention to
Voracek coming in from behind, part of a long evening of the Penguins watching the puck
rather than looking for orange sweaters.
>> Only thing I’ll say about the power play: It’s one thing to have Sidney Crosby on the point,
it’s quite another to have someone else taking faceoffs in the attacking zone. That needs to
change. Dan Bylsma complained that the power play had “too little zone time,” and he’s right.
All the more reason to do your best to maintain possession once there.
>> You know what they say about how your best players have to be your best players?
Kennedy was the Penguins’ best player. Even beyond the goal, he skated relentlessly and —
unlike so many of his fellow forwards — took the middle of the ice on the breakout when it was
available.
>> I didn’t count formally, but it sure looked like James Neal took more shots from the Flyers
than anyone. And he took them up high. Maybe they know something we don’t about whatever
kept him out in the past week. Remember, the Penguins described it as “lower body” at the
time.
>> A lot of players were lousy, but Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek were really lousy.
Together or split up, it just doesn’t change much. But I’m well past thinking there’s a solution
for the Penguins at this stage. Got to go with ‘em.
>> It’s time to ditch the whiteout, especially with Winnipeg back in the league. The Jets began
doing it in 1987, well before Penn State or anyone else. The Penguins look as silly doing this as
other NFL teams do in trying to create their own versions of the Terrible Towel.
Penguins defenseman Lovejoy returns early from knee surgery
By Dejan Kovacevic
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Penguins welcomed back defenseman Ben Lovejoy just two weeks after knee surgery. He
was inserted into the Game 1 lineup Wednesday after Matt Niskanen didn't participate in the
morning skate because of an upper-body injury.
The original prognosis for Lovejoy's recovery was about a month.
"Before the surgery, I thought it would be longer," he said. "This is awesome."
Lovejoy worked with Deryk Engelland on the third defense pairing.
>> Philadelphia also welcomed back two regulars from injury, center Daniel Briere (bruised
back) and defenseman Nicklas Grossman (upper body). Both missed the final three regularseason games because of hits by Penguins center Joe Vitale.
>> In his morning news conference, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma took umbrage at the notion
name-calling between his team and the Flyers is a recent development.
"It's not like it just came out of the woodwork," he said. "Most of the nicknames for Sidney
Crosby have originated out of Philly and their fans. It's not anything new. Frankly, the start of
the series makes it go away. It's about playing hockey now. Name-calling fades."
>> Crosby summed up his stance on all the verbal jabs succinctly: "A lot of times you forget
about that stuff. It's there in every playoff series. Maybe not to this extent, but nobody really
remembers what's said. Everyone remembers who wins the series."
>> Left wing Matt Cooke had a slightly different take on Crosby's critics: "I'm not sure why
anybody ever thinks it's a good idea to make him mad. Anytime it's happened before, he's gone
out there and completely dominated games. Good on us if that's what happens."
>> Jaromir Jagr, 40, strongly suggested he'll return for another season, and it will be with the
Flyers "if they'll have me back." Jagr had 19 goals and 35 assists in 73 games after three years in
Russia.
"I know I'm going to play," he said. "I don't know where I'm going to play, but it doesn't matter
because I love the game. Right now, I'm here and just want to get ready for playoffs."
Flyers Win Game 1 of Opening Round Series
Wednesday, 04.11.2012 / 10:49 PM / Features
By Sam Kasan
No lead is safe in the National Hockey League, particularly against a high-powered offensive
team like the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Penguins scored three goals in the first period to jump out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of
play.
However, in two of the last three regular-season meetings between these two teams, the Flyers
overcame 2-0 deficits to record victories. And unfortunately for the Penguins, history repeated
itself on Wednesday night.
The Flyers scored four unanswered goals, including the game-winner 2:23 into overtime, to
escape Game 1 with a 4-3 victory at CONSOL Energy Center.
Rookie forward Brayden Schenn scored the game-tying goal on the power play halfway through
the third period and added two assists for a three-point night. Danny Briere scored two goals
and Jakub Voracek tallied the winning score.
“We got away from our game. That’s really what it was,” said Sidney Crosby, who had a goal
and an assist in the contest. “We started great, had a lot of energy. Went hard at them. Then
just slowly got away from things and let them get back into it.”
Pascal Dupuis recorded a goal and an assist. Tyler Kennedy scored a goal and Kris Letang added
two assists for Pittsburgh.
The Penguins will put this game behind them and look forward to Game 2.
"We've got a game Friday," head coach Dan Bylsma said.
"Sometimes things like this happen. At the end of the day, they won," Crosby said. "It doesn’t
matter what the score was, whether it was overtime or we lost 10-0. It doesn’t matter. We lost.
We’ve got to fix the things that need to be fixed here and make sure we’re ready for the next
one."
Flyers rally to beat Penguins 4-3 in OT
Thursday, 04.12.2012 / 12:15 AM
Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer
PITTSBURGH -- The Philadelphia Flyers stuck to their dangerous strategy, one they'd actually
like to get as far away from as possible, to take an early lead in the latest installment of the
Battle of Pennsylvania.
Jakub Voracek scored 2:23 into overtime Wednesday as the Flyers erased a three-goal deficit to
beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 at Consol Energy Center. Danny Briere scored twice and
Brayden Schenn had a goal and two assists in the final 33 minutes and 38 seconds in regulation
to help the Flyers grab a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series
against the Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 2 is Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS), when the Flyers hope to avoid going into an
early hole like they did in Game 1.
However, should it happen again, at least they have enough evidence now to prove that no
deficit is too great. The Flyers beat the Penguins twice in the final month of the season after
falling behind 2-0. They did the same thing seven times in the last 12 games of the season, but
still managed to gain six out of the maximum 12 points.
"We've done it all year and that's what we've got going our way after the first period," Briere
said. "At the same time we have to find a way to rectify that because it's not going to happen
every night, especially in the playoffs. We got away with it tonight. We're not going to come
back from two or three goals every single game. We'll take it, but let's be better."
The Flyers will have Thursday to correct the errors they made in the first period, when they sat
back and let the Penguins come at them with great speed that led to a 3-0 deficit by the
intermission. Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis all scored for Pittsburgh, but still
it wasn't enough.
Instead of sitting back in the second, the Flyers started to skate. They were better and the
Penguins weren't nearly as effective with their speed game.
By the third period, the Flyers were flying and the Penguins were on their heels. After getting
outshot 23-13 in the first two periods, the Flyers outshot the Penguins 11-5 in the third. The
Flyers kept up the pressure in overtime, and it led to Voracek's winner. He slammed home a
loose puck from the right post after Matt Carle's shot from the left point appeared to be
partially blocked by Kris Letang.
Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who was less-than-inspiring in the first period, stopped the last 15
shots he faced. He was never tested in overtime.
"To be honest I don't really know what happened," Voracek said after calling it the biggest goal
of his career. "I just put it on my backhand in front of the net. I just went back door and
scored."
The Penguins know exactly what happened to them after the first period. They sagged and
could never find their rhythm. Their power play was also problematic as they managed only five
shots over three chances. Despite having all the star power, including Crosby and Evgeni
Malkin, the Penguins could not establish any in-zone possession time with the man advantage.
"We've got a game on Friday. It's one game," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said when asked how
to avoid letting this frustrating loss linger. "They did a lot that they have done all season, which
is keep coming and come back from deficits. They did that. They're a good team -- and they
don't stop. The second half of the game we didn't get to our game and where we needed to
play as much as we needed to, and they really got back in it."
The Flyers started to get back into it when Briere, who missed the final three games of the
regular season with a back injury, scored a semi-breakaway goal that maybe shouldn't have
counted 6:22 into the period. Replays showed that Briere went into the zone offside, but the
whistle did not blow and the goal counted after he beat Marc-Andre Fleury (22 saves) over the
glove.
"Everybody has been asking me about it," Briere said. "I had no clue that I was offside. In my
mind it's still good."
It was on the official scoresheet as well.
"It was clearly offside, but what are you going to do?" Penguins forward Craig Adams said. "It's
frustrating now. At the time you say, 'It's 3-1, let's not get too worked up about it and make
sure it's not a difference-maker in the game.' But it ended up being a difference-maker."
It did because the Flyers kept coming hard in the third period, and there was no question about
their two goals that got the game into overtime.
Briere scored at 9:17 off a shot through traffic from the left side of the left circle. The shot
appeared to surprise Fleury, who was also being screened by his own player.
Brooks Orpik was called for interfering with Briere less than 90 seconds later, and this is where
the Flyers won the special-teams battle. While the Penguins could get nothing on their three
power plays, the Flyers needed just one shot to tie the game.
Jaromir Jagr carried the puck into the zone and found Scott Hartnell at the right point. His shotpass from there went to the slot for Schenn to redirect it past Fleury with 7:37 to play in
regulation.
"We know what makes us successful and we know what we need to do to play a game that we
are happy with," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "We weren't happy with the first 20
minutes. We started skating better in the second and we were skating at our best in the third.
When you're skating good things happen. When you're not you become playable and you
become hittable. That's what we were in the first period."
The goal for the Flyers is to never be that way again, but it seems almost unrealistic to think it
won't happen. They have a habit of getting down early only to find their way back into the
game.
It's not a strategy they prefer, but for yet another night it did not burn them.
"We can't keep doing that," Briere said. "It's the playoffs. It's not going to keep happening. We
got away with it, but we understand it's not going to keep happening. We have to find a way,
and I know we keep saying that and I wish I knew how to reverse our starts, but at the same
time it makes it a special way to win."
Flyers' Briere shines in playoffs again
Thursday, 04.12.2012 / 12:31 AM / Penguins vs Flyers - 2012 Stanley Cup Conference
Quarterfinals
By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer
PITTSBURGH -- Danny Briere doesn't have an answer for why the playoffs seem to be his time
to shine. He shouldn't go searching for one either.
Just go with it.
"At the end of the day it doesn't matter what I do. It's all about the team, it's all about a win,"
Briere said humbly after igniting the Flyers 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win Wednesday
with a pair of goals. "I can play as well as I could, but if we don't win that game nobody cares in
this room and I don't care. We're trying to move on. There is only one goal. All we care about is
winning games."
The Flyers clearly need Briere to win games at this time of the year. That much became even
more apparent Wednesday, when he scored on a semi-breakaway in the second period (replays
showed he was offside, but the whistle never blew), and then with a sneaky quick shot from the
left corner in the third to cut what was a 3-0 Penguins lead down to 3-2.
Briere now has 98 points in 98 career playoff games. He has 61 points in 58 playoff games with
the Flyers.
"He's done it his whole career," Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's done it so many
times in the playoffs that I don't think it should surprise anybody that he had a big night
tonight."
Well, maybe a little bit, but only because Briere could barely move last week with his back in
spasms. He missed the last three games of the regular season and was not sure he'd be able to
start the playoffs, but he made a somewhat miraculous recovery over the weekend and was
back practicing by Monday.
Flyers center Claude Giroux even said Wednesday morning that Briere was flying on the ice the
last few days.
"Yeah, I'm 100 percent," Briere said with a smile. "Overnight I got a lot better."
Clearly he's fibbing there, but only to have a little fun at the media's expect. Still, it wouldn't
have mattered if he was telling the truth.
Briere has a track record of showing up in the playoffs, and 100 percent healthy or not, it's no
surprise he was the guy that lit the fire Wednesday.
Two years ago he had 30 points over 23 games in the Flyers run to the Stanley Cup Final.
"We all know what he's capable (of doing)," Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. "We know he's a
very skilled guy, he's a goal scorer. I wasn't surprised he scored the goals because we all know
two years ago he was scoring all the time in the playoffs. It's nice to see he's healthy."
No Penguins lead is safe against Flyers
Thursday, 04.12.2012 / 12:22 AM / Penguins vs Flyers - 2012 Stanley Cup Conference
Quarterfinals
By Alan Robinson - NHL.com Correspondent
PITTSBURGH -- With their six high-contribution rookies and their ability to come back from
almost any deficit, the Philadelphia Flyers truly are the NHL's Comeback Kids. The Pittsburgh
Penguins, who own a decided advantage in playoff experience in their cross-state series against
their big rival, know better than anyone.
The Flyers surged back from a 3-0 deficit and the Penguins' clear-cut dominance in the first
period to beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center and grab a
1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Game 2 is Friday night.
That's a pretty short period of time for the Penguins to push aside such a troubling loss.
"It's hard to come back," said Jaromir Jagr, who at age 40 is by far the most playoff-tested of all
the Flyers.
Not for this team.
"I definitely think we can move forward now, we a lot of first-time experiences and we
preserved," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, referring to his overly large crop of rookies.
Afterward, the few Penguins who answered questions from reporters were asked how it could
possibly happen. Perhaps the question should been this: How does it keep happening?
Four times since March 18, the Penguins have held a lead of two goals or more against the
Flyers – and three times they've lost. The only time they won was last Saturday, in a game that
meant almost nothing.
The Flyers are 6-0-0 at Consol in games that really do matter, and games don't matter much
more than Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"That's rough. We were up by three, you know," said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, as if the fans
wouldn't remember. "We came out the way we wanted to and it was a tough one tonight. But
it's a best of 7 and there's a lot of games to play. We can't panic right now."
Pittsburgh also led 2-0 after two periods in Philadelphia on March 18, and lost 3-2 in the final
second of overtime to end its 11-game winning streak. The Flyers pulled off another comeback
April 1, surging back from another 2-0 deficit to win 6-4 at Consol.
"It's no shock," Penguins forward Craig Adams said. "They've done it against us this year a
couple of time. . .. They're not going to quit. "
But this is the one that hurt. The Penguins clearly were the faster, more energized and more
prepared team in the first period as Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis all scored,
yet that edge in speed -- and on the scoreboard -- soon began to vanish.
"We weren't happy with the first 20 minutes," Laviolette said. "We started skating better in the
second and we skated at our best in the third. When you're skating, things happen. When you
don't, you become playable and become hittable."
And beatable.
This was the fourth time this season that the Flyers won when down by at least three goals, and
the sixth time they've accomplished such a comeback in the playoffs.
"But this one is in the top five (of his career)," said Danny Briere, who scored the first two goals.
"To come back from a 3-0 hole with such a young team and to battle back [is huge]."
Jagr dismissed the fact that the Flyers rely on so many young players. He recalled that during his
rookie season in 1990-91, Penguins coach Bob Johnson told him, "After 50 games, you're not a
rookie any longer. Fifty games is what you need."
The Flyers accomplished this comeback by establishing a forecheck that negated the Penguins'
breakouts and neutralized their speed. They also kept turning the puck over in the neutral zone,
frustrating the Penguins' stable of scorers before they could establish themselves in the
offensive zone.
"The last two periods was too much of that, too much of that back and forth and not really
managing the puck in the neutral zone," Bylsma said. "I thought the way we played in the first
was pretty safe and that's way we have to continue, no matter what the score is. We allowed
them to play on the aggressive side (in the overtime) and on the forecheck and, as a result ,in
the offensive zone."
Jakub Voracek got the game-winner 2:23 into overtime, going around Jordan Staal –
Pittsburgh's best defender – to score after Kris Letang couldn't get the puck out.
"I think the overtime is the real evidence of how they played, every puck was in and they went
on the forecheck," Bylsma said. "It wasn't perfect all the time, but they had repeated pressure
in a short period of time."
The Penguins also went 0-for-3 on the power play -- in part, Bylsma said, because they simply
lacked patience.
"The first 5-10 seconds of the zone time, we shot the puck and got it cleared and we didn't have
the opportunity in the zone like we wanted to," Bylsma said. "I think that was a factor in all
three power plays."
They also didn't get much offense from Art Ross Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, who had three
shots but didn't score in 22:11 of ice time.
The message the Penguins will take from Bylsma into Game 2 on Friday is that it was only one
game -- and that an opening-game loss doesn't necessarily dictate who will control the series. In
2000, for example, the Jagr-led Penguins won the first two games in Philadelphia, but the Flyers
came back to win the next four and a series highlighted by a five-overtime Game 4.
"They did a lot what they've done all season, which is to come back from deficits. They don't
stop. The second half of the game we didn't get our team game the way we needed to," Bylsma
said. "But we've got a game on Friday."
Danny Briere steps it up
Updated: April 12, 2012, 7:44 AM ET
By Scott Burnside | ESPN.com
PITTSBURGH -- As incongruous as it might have seemed, dotted around the Consol Energy
Center on Wednesday night were a number of fans decked out not in Pittsburgh Penguins
paraphernalia, but in bear costumes.
That's right, bear costumes.
They were dressed so in the hopes of taunting Philadelphia Flyers netminder Ilya Bryzgalov
who, when asked about the danger the Pittsburgh Penguins represent in their first-round
playoff series, insisted that Penguins are not to be feared and that he fears only the bear in the
forest.
"I saw a few bears in the stands but they didn't come out of the woods or the forest. We were
OK," Flyers forward Daniel Briere said with a broad smile in a buoyant locker room after the
Flyers had improbably erased a 3-0 first-period deficit to defeat the Penguins 4-3 in overtime.
Although it was Jakub Voracek who sealed the comeback, poking home a rebound at the side of
the Penguins' net just 2:23 into overtime, the fact that the bears and the Penguins were held at
bay in Game 1 was a testament to Briere's gumption.
Laid low by a clean but devastating hit by Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale in the now-infamous regularseason coaches-clash game between the two teams April 1, Briere was unable to play in the
Flyers' last three regular-season games.
His availability for Game 1 on Wednesday night was in doubt until earlier in the day.
Not only did he play, Briere was instrumental in keeping the never-say-die Flyers alive, scoring
the first Philadelphia goal early in the second period and adding a second midway through the
third period to draw the Flyers to within one.
Asked if he was 100 percent, Briere smiled.
"Yeah, I'm 100 percent. I felt really good. Overnight, I got a lot better," he said.
Whatever pain Briere might have suffered, a win like this one will no doubt be a welcome salve.
Not that he is any stranger to such heroics.
The soft-spoken native of Gatineau, Quebec, has forged a reputation in recent years as one of
the game's clutch postseason performers. He led the NHL in playoff scoring when the Flyers
advanced to the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
And while he struggled offensively this season, recording just 49 points, and only once during a
29-game span, he delivered mightily at a crucial moment once again.
"I thought that he was terrific. Everybody got going; certainly his line was good," head coach
Peter Laviolette said.
"As far as Danny goes and his game, he's done it his whole career," he said. "He's done it so
many times in the playoffs I don't think it should surprise anybody that he had a big night."
Not even the fact that replays showed Briere's first goal, a clean break off a turnover near the
Pittsburgh blue line, was at least a foot offside could wipe the grin from his face. In fact, when it
was mentioned to him that the play should have been whistled dead, that grin seemed to grow
by two feet.
"In my mind I was good, so …" he said, laughing.
"I had no clue because I felt I was way behind the play," he explained. "All I was thinking, I put
my head down and trying to skate back as hard as I could."
Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma refused to use the fact that Briere's first of two goals was
offside as an excuse for his team's blowing a three-goal lead.
"That's not why we lost the game," he said.
Instead, he said, the Flyers dictated the play in the final two periods and the Penguins got away
from the puck-possession style that served them so well in the first period.
"The last two periods of hockey was too much of back-and-forth and not really managing the
puck in the neutral zone the way we need to to play our game," Bylsma said. "We allowed them
to play on the aggressive side of the game and the forecheck."
If this kind of spring performance has become Briere's trademark, this type of game has also
become something of a repeating cycle for the Flyers themselves.
The win marked the 11th comeback from a deficit of two or more goals in games in which the
Flyers collected at least one point this season. Counting Wednesday's game, the Flyers have
now given up the first goal 47 times but managed to collect wins in 21 of those games, tops in
the league.
"It's pretty amazing. Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying is 'We've done it all
year, let's start with a goal and you never know what can happen.' But to make it happen in a
hostile environment is a special feeling. You can't dwell on that, it's one game, you've got to
move on, but I think for a few minutes it's OK to appreciate what we just did," Briere said.
"At the same time, we have to find a way to rectify that," he added. "This is the playoffs -- we're
not going to come back from two or three goals every single game, so we'll take it tonight, but
let's get better, let's be better at weathering the storm in Game No. 2 in the first period."
It's only one game, but the story arc of this one suggests a dramatic swing in emotions. The
Penguins dominated the first period, scoring with 36.9 seconds left to take a 3-0 lead and
prompt speculation that Laviolette might pull Bryzgalov.
Instead, Bryzgalov was solid the rest of the way and ended a personal five-game playoff losing
streak.
And so instead of the bears celebrating in the aisles in Pittsburgh, the more experienced
Penguins -- a team favored by many to the win the Cup -- will be forced to prove all of that
experience has value and even the series Friday night.
Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov survives explosive Penguins and mocking bears
By Nicholas J. Cotsonika | Yahoo! Sports – 7 hours ago
PITTSBURGH – Ilya Bryzgalov stood on a riser in the dressing room surrounded by reporters.
The spotlights were shining on him. The microphones were ready to capture any colorful
quotes.
They captured this:
"Beeeaaaars!" teammate Jaromir Jagr shouted as he walked past, trying to sound ominous, but
sounding more like a baaing sheep. "Beeeaaars!"
This could have been frightening for the Philadelphia Flyers. Bryzgalov had been his Bryz-arre
self before this first-round playoff series, saying in his Russian accent: "I'm not afraid of
anything. I'm afraid of bear, but bear in the forest."
Then fans showed up in bear costumes, the Pittsburgh Penguins took a three-goal first-period
lead, and it looked like Game 1 would be a blowout. It looked like Bryzgalov would be the butt
of jokes.
But the Flyers got a couple of breaks, came back and earned a 4-3 overtime victory. This, after
they had rallied from two 2-0 deficits to beat Pittsburgh during the regular season. This, making
them 6-0-0 in meaningful games at the two-year-old Consol Energy Center.
If anyone should be afraid, it's the Penguins, who are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, but
who start with a stiff test against their cross-state rivals. They blew their chance to take an early
series lead.
"It's pretty amazing," said Flyers captain Danny Briere, who ignited the comeback with two
goals. "Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying was, 'We've done it all year. Let's
start with a goal, and you never know what can happen.' But to make it happen in a hostile
environment is a special feeling.
"You can't dwell on that. It's one game. You've got to move on. But I think for a few minutes, it's
OK to appreciate what we just did."
First, appreciate what the Penguins did in the first period. They looked like they were expected
to look – at full strength, unstoppable.
Sidney Crosby, back from his concussion problems, playing his first playoff game in two years,
opened the scoring, of course. He spun away from a hit along the boards, went to the net and
pounced on a puck at a defenseman's feet. He flipped a backhand past the glove of Bryzgalov. It
was 1-0.
Then Kris Letang, back from his own injury problems, whipped a pass up the middle to Jordan
Staal, back from his own injury problems. Staal fed Tyler Kennedy on the rush, and Kennedy
finished. It was 2-0.
"We love bears!" the fans chanted. "We love bears!"
Bryzgalov looked to be in over his head, along with his teammates. He literally ducked a James
Neal rocket shortly afterward. This was the guy the Flyers had signed last summer to a nineyear, $51 million deal to solve their goaltending problems, only to have more issues on the ice
and in the media, and the Penguins and their fans were making a mockery of him.
Two 23-year-old fans – Josh Callan of Monaca, Pa., and Zach Evan of Pittsburgh – rented bear
suits from Costume World in the Strip District. One hundred bucks for the week, each. Callan
was a polar bear. Evan was a brown bear.
So the bear wasn't in the forest. It was in the first row of Section 122.
"We just thought, 'Let's just go crazy, go get bear costumes and scare the hell out of him,' "
Callan said.
The Penguins scored again with 36.9 seconds left in the first. Crosby flipped the puck deep.
Steve Sullivan flipped it in front. It went off Bryzgalov's goal stick and hovered in the air near his
body, and Pascal Dupuis slapped it into the net. It was 3-0.
"We've been in that situation before a couple times this year," Bryzgalov said. "Pittsburgh is a
great team. They have great players. What we did today was unbelievable, including the luck,
everything."
Briere, who so often comes up big in the playoffs, caught a big break in the second period. He
was clearly offside when he took a pass in the Pittsburgh zone, but the officials missed it. He
streaked behind defenseman Brooks Orpik and scored. It was 3-1.
The Penguins stopped skating, the Flyers started skating and Bryzgalov settled down. Even the
bears became nervous.
"I think we're in his head," Callan said during the second intermission. "Yeah."
"The first period, we were in his head," Evan corrected, without taking off his bear mask. "But
he did all right in the second period."
Briere whipped a puck from the left wing wall through traffic midway through the third period.
It slipped past a screened Marc-Andre Fleury. It was 3-2. Rookie Brayden Schenn scored on the
power play with 7:37 to go in regulation. It was 3-3.
Overtime. Jakub Voracek got to a rebound before Staal could swipe it away, put the puck in the
net just 2:32 in and lifted the Flyers to victory. The Flyers mobbed each other as if they had won
the series.
The Flyers didn't win the series, of course, and momentum means only so much. Maybe the
Penguins could have planted a seed of doubt with a dominating victory. Maybe the Flyers
gained confidence with yet another comeback. Maybe none of that will matter after Game 2.
But this matters: The Penguins cannot afford to sit on leads. They cannot afford to stop skating,
to stop attacking. They have a better chance of pouring it on than of shutting it down, so that's
what they have to do. As good as they are, they cannot afford to give away playoff games,
either.
Especially against the Flyers. As Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said: "They don't stop."
And though the Flyers don't want to keep digging deficits for themselves, you know they aren't
going to stop the rest of this series, no matter what they see on the scoreboard, no matter
what they see in the stands.
Bears?
"Who got them a ticket?" Jagr said. "I was scared, too."
He wasn't scared. He was laughing.
Brutal start for Flyers
PITTSBURGH - This is not a recording: The Flyers allowed the game's first goal.
And the second.
Sidney Crosby scored on a backhanded rebound as he was falling down tio the ice, giving
Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead after just 3:43 on Wednesday in Game 1 of the playoffs.
It marked the 11th time in the last 13 games that the Flyers have surrendered the initial goal.
About four minutes later, Tyler Kennedy finished off a two on one and made it 2-0.
If you're scoring at home, the Flyers have fallen into a 2-0 hole in eight of the last 13 games.
So, another BRUTAL start for the Flyers, who have had Sean Couturier's line against Crosby and
Evgeni Malkin's units in the early minutes.
It got even more brutal as Ilya Bryzgalov _ who was so brilliant in March _ allowed a goal with
36.9 seconds left in the first. Steve Sullivan threw a pass from behind the net, and it went off
Bryzgalov's stick and pads before Pascal Dupuis knocked it out of the air and into the net.
That gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead, and the Flyers appeared headed to a lopsided loss.
Danny Briere, after taking a slick pass from Brayden Schenn, scored on a breakaway with 13:38
left in the second, cutting the deficit to 3-1. (Replays showed Briere was offsides when he took
the pass, so the Flyers got a huge break.)
Still, the Flyers had a mountain to climb because of an ugly first period in which they were
outshot, 13-6.
The defense, including Nick Grossmann, had their shaky moments early. Ditto Bryzgalov.
Think coach Peter Laviolette will be second-guessed for not playing Bryzgalov in the final
regular-season game Saturday and keeping him sharp?
Camden aquarium to rename penguins after Flyers
In recognition of the playoff series between the Flyers and Pittsburgh, the Adventure Aquarium
in Camden is renaming all of its penguins after current Flyers.
The Penguins, uh, penguins, will display their new names in what was formerly known as
“Penguin Island," in the aquarium, complete with Flyers décor. The area is being renamed
“Flyers Island” until the playoffs conclude.
No word on if the Philadelphia Zoo will name goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's most feared animal the
Bryzly Bear.
Expert picks round-up
PITTSBURGH -- WIth a few days to dissect the series, the “expert” picks are in.
Not surprisingly, the experts like the Penguins. One Pittsburgh columnist, Dejan Kovacevic of
the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, says the Penguins should just get to the Stanley Cup final
already.
Here’s a quick round-up of the predictions. By our count, 37 out of the 45 experts listed below
liked the Penguins to knock off the Flyers:
EA SPORTS
NHL 12 simulation: Penguins in 7
ESPN
John Buccigross: Penguins in 7
Scott Burnside: Penguins in 6
Linda Cohn: Penguins in 7
Craig Custance: Penguins in 7
Paul Grant: Penguins in 6
Pierre LeBrun: Penguins in 7
Steve Levy: Penguins in 5
Joe McDonald: Flyers in 7
Barry Melrose: Penguins in 7
James Murphy: Flyers in 7
Jesse Rogers: Penguins in 6
Katie Strang: Penguins in 7
NHL.com
Shawn Roarke: Penguins
Dan Rosen: Penguins
Adam Kimelman: Flyers
Dave Lozo: Penguins
Corey Masisak: Penguins
Brian Compton: Penguins
Mike Morreale: Flyers
NHL NETWORK
EJ Hradek: Penguins
Craig Button: Penguins
Jeremy Roenick: Flyers
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
Ed Barkowitz: Flyers in 7
Chuck Bausman: Penguins in 6
Sam Donnellon: Penguins in 6
Marcus Hayes: Penguins in 6
Rich Hofmann: Penguins in 6
Frank Seravalli: Flyers in 7
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Sam Carchidi: Penguins in 7
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
Dave Molinari: Penguins in 7
RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER
Luke DeCock: Flyers
ROGERS SPORTSNET
Daren Millard: Flyers in 7
Nick Kypreos: Penguins in 6
Doug MacLean: Penguins in 6
Jeff Marek: Penguins in 6
John Shannon: Penguins in 6
Scott Morrison: Penguins in 6
Denis Potvin: Penguins in 7
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Brian Cazanueve: Penguins in 7
Mike Keenan: Penguins
SPORTING NEWS
Jesse Spector: Penguins in 7
TORONTO STAR
Kevin McGran: Penguins in 7
USA TODAY
Kevin Allen: Penguins in 6
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
Zac Rinaldo Blog: Day 2
We got to Pittsburgh around 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon and the first thing we did was hook
up the Play Station 3 in my room. We played video games and hung out for a good part of the
night. I’d say we had six to eight guys at a time in my room, the guys would come in and out.
The majority of the team was there at one point.
They wanted to check out who we were playing.
We like to play FIFA Soccer. We played a round robin tournament with a couple of us.
After that, we had a team dinner at a Pittsburgh steakhouse. It was really good. I just wanted to
get in and get out. It’s good to get some bonding going before the start of the postseason.
Jake Voracek is sick on FIFA. It’s soccer, and those Czechs are pretty good at soccer. I wouldn’t
expect any less from them.
We got back to the hotel after dinner and did the same thing again: played video games. It’s a
good way to kill some time.
By 9:30 p.m., everyone had cleared out of my room. Me and ‘Reader’ (Matt Read) closed the
door, just watched a little TV, and cut the cord and went to bed.
At the skate today, (Peter Laviolette) called the rookies aside and talked to us about tonight’s
(Game 1). It’s been a great ride for us. We’ve had ups and downs throughout the season but
we’ve done a great job. He told us to keep going and keep positive.
We can’t let any situation get us too high or too low. We’ve got to stay in the middle and just
keep grinding it out.
As for this afternoon, I don’t know if I’m going to take a nap yet. I’ll see how I feel.
Bourdon replaces Kubina
PITTSBURGH -- At one point, during the hustle and bustle of the team’s routine morning skate,
Peter Laviolette called the Flyers’ six rookies over for a chat along the boards.
The meeting between Laviolette and Matt Read, Brayden Schenn, Zac Rinaldo, Eric Wellwood,
Marc-Andre Bourdon and Sean Couturier was simple and to the point. It didn’t last long.
“He told us he has confidence in us, always,” Bourdon said. “He thought we played really well
this season. He wanted us to know that he knows we can do a great job. It was nice to hear.”
For Laviolette, it wasn’t just chatter. He’s proving it with his Game 1 lineup on Wednesday night
at Consol Energy Center. Bourdon will remain in the lineup and veteran, Stanley Cup winner
Pavel Kubina will be scratched. Nick Grossmann, who missed the last three games of the
season, will be back in the lineup.
Kubina skated as an extra defenseman again on Wednesday after the morning skate with fellow
scratch Jody Shelley. He played on the extra pairing all week in practice in preparation for the
series opener. Practice lines are often tough to judge, but Wednesday’s skate confirmed what
once seemed unlikely.
Kubina, a veteran of 46 playoff games, was acquired on Feb. 18 in exchange for second and
fourth round picks because the Flyers apparently thought guys like Bourdon could not do the
job. Kubina earned $3.85 million this season.
“For me, this is not a roll of the dice,” Laviolette said. “We didn’t go ‘Oh my god, it’s your first
playoff series.’ I don’t think that would help. Our younger players have been used in every
situation imaginable up to this point - they got to be part of HBO, part of the Winter Classic.
Never once has there ever been any lack of confidence from the organization, our staff, and
their teammates.
“They need to do their job. They’ve done it all year.”
Bourdon, 22, played 45 games with the Flyers this year. If you recall, Bourdon had a little bit of
a hiccup in his game in February before Kubina was acquired, and that could be due to the fact
that he was playing through a concussion.
Bourdon was outspoken when he went to Adirondack after the Flyers acquired Kubina, saying
he believed he could fill that role for the Flyers.
He returned to Philadelphia on March 29 and played the final 6 games of the regular season
with the Flyers. He is expected to be paired with Andreas Lilja on the third pairing, which could
see limited minutes depending on the matchups. Wednesday night will be his first playoff
game.
“I’m going to go in there and play like I have played,” Bourdon said. “I’m not a flashy guy out
there, so I just try to get the puck out and play simple. I need to make sure my reactions are
hard and fast and I finish my hits.”
Briere ready to to go
PITTSBURGH _ After the morning skate, Flyers center Danny Briere was coy, saying he couldn’t
answer any questions about whether he was playing in Game 1 on Wednesday night in
Pittsburgh.
His smile and the way he practiced, however, implied he was indeed playing.
About an hour later, GM Paul Holmgren confirmed that Briere (back spasms) and defenseman
Nick Grossmann (knee) would indeed play Wednesday.
Earlier, center Claude Giroux removed all doubts.
“If he plays the way he can _ and I have no doubt for him _ I think he’s (a big addition),” Giroux
said. “In the last two practices, he’s been flying out there, and he just finds a way to get it
done.”
"I feel better and better every day," Briere said.
Briere, who had just 16 goals during an injury-plagued year, has been Mr. Post-Season
throughout his career.
“He’s a difference-maker,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “…The bigger the circumstances, the
bigger the performance. Since I’ve been here, that’s my take on Danny. Give him something to
thrive in, and he thrives.”
In his four post-seasons with the Flyers, Briere has 29 goals and 59 points in 57 games.
"Danny's a clutch performer. He's playoff-tested, and that's where he plays his best hockey,"
winger Wayne Simmonds said.
Briere, 34, is expected to center Simmonds and Brayden Schenn.
"He brings soemthing different to the table," Schenn said of Briere. "Our line seemed to have
some chemistry going before he got hurt."
"I like our depth. I know people are probably saying there's a lot of rookies on this team, and
you don't know how they're going to answer," he said. "I actually think these guys are going to
be excited to prove themselves, just like they did in the beginning of the year _ to prove they
had a place on this team. I think our youth is going to give us energy and take us a long way."
Flyers want 16 'Knock Knocks'
PITTSBURGH -- With the dawn of a new playoff series, the Flyers enter the first round wellequipped.
Aside from the standard, team-issue gear, the Flyers are wearing new playoff t-shirts under
their equipment, one that pays homage to their post-game victory song.
The back of the shirt, as pictured, says “16 Knock Knock’s” in honor of Mac Miller’s song “Knock
Knock,” which the Flyers made famous through HBO’s “24/7” documentary.
The Flyers only play that song in their locker room after a win. You can listen to the song here.
The Flyers begin their quest for 16 wins and a Stanley Cup on Wednesday night at Consol
Energy Center (7:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet and NBC Sports Network).
The left sleeve of the shirt features the Stanley Cup logo. According to equipment manager
Derek Settlemyre, the quote on the right sleeve, which is “What a Great Day,” originates from
Jaromir Jagr's mouth daily.
Unfortunately, these shirts won't be made available to the public.
The Flyers’ playoff t-shirts in 2010 paid homage to Michael Jackson’s hit “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get
Enough.”
Flyers' win is one for the ages
PITTSBURGH - It wasn’t as epic as their five-overtime win over the Penguins in the 2000
playoffs, and it didn’t have as much meaning as their 4-3 comeback victory in OT that jolted
Boston in Game 7 of the 2010 conference semifinals.
Still, the Flyers’ had-to-see-it-to-believe-it 4-3 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night was one
for the ages.
They trailed 3-0 in the first period and looked doomed.
They trailed 3-1 with 11 minutes left in regulation and were about to lose the series opener.
They double-shifted defensemen because of a second-period injury suffered by defensemen
Marc-Andre Bourdon.
And, still, they persevered.
And put doubt in the collective minds of the Penguins, who are in an almost must-win position
for Game 2 on Friday.
Give these Flyers credit. They stage more comebacks than Don Rickles.
“I don’t necessarily believe in momentum in the playoffs,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “… One
(game) has nothing to do with the next. It’s just one win, and now we have to focus on the
second game and making sure we’re better in a lot of areas.”
Brayden Schenn became just the eighth rookie in Flyers history to notch three points in a
playoff game, and Danny Briere continued his amazing playoff success with a pair of goals.
Briere, who had missed the previous three games because of back spasms, now has 31 goals in
58 playoff games with the Flyers. All told, he has 98 points in 98 playoff career games.
“On an individual basis, this is probably one of the top five,” said Briere when asked to rank the
game. “Every game is special, but to come back out of a 3-0 hole with such a young team and
battle back and not quit, it’s (gratifying).”
The Flyers faced a 3-0 deficit after the first period.
“We had two choices - either we start playing or pack it in and try to get ready for Game 2,”
Briere said. “It was an easy choice.”
The Flyers took Option No. 1.
As a result, they overcame a three-goal deficit and won a playoff game for the sixth time in
franchise history. They had last done it was in the decisive game of the 2010 series against
Boston, the one where they not only overcame a 3-0 deficit in Game 7, but a three GAMES-tonone deficit in the series.
“We had a couple bounces go our way and we got back in the game,” Briere said. “You put in all
that work and come back - and to win on top of it makes it even more special.”
Briere said his performance “wouldn’t have meant anything if we didn’t win that
game….There’s only one goal here.”
They are 15 wins away from reaching it.
Briere and Flyers and bears, oh my. By Jaromir Jagr’s estimate, there were 70 fans who wore
bear costumes to the game. The fans were mocking goalie Ilya Bryzaglov, who said he didn’t
fear the Penguins - just bears.
“How did they get tickets?” Jagr asked about the fans in costumes. “They were everywhere. I
was scared, too.”
Breakaways. The Flyers had 39 hits, including eight by Scott Hartnell, seven by Wayne Simmons
and five by Max Talbot … Flyers are 35-37 all-time in OT games … In franchise history, the Flyers
are 22-8 in playoff series after winning Game 1.
Rough start makes Flyers win sweeter
Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Sports Columnist
PITTSBURGH - It started off as the worst possible scenario for the Flyers. It wound up being the
perfect game.
Jakub Voracek did more than win a hockey game when he fired a rebound past Marc-Andre
Fleury just 2 minutes, 23 seconds into overtime. He did more than give the Flyers a 1-0 lead in
this best-of-seven first-round series.
Considering Wednesday night’s outcome, who do you think will win Friday’s Game 2 of the
Flyers-Penguins playoff series?
Voracek and his teammates used a horrible first period as a springboard to a spirit-crushing 4-3
victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The ugliness of that first 20 minutes made the outcome
that much more beautiful, and profound, for the Flyers.
The Penguins came into Game 1 of this first-round series telling themselves they had broken
the Flyers' magic spell over them in the Consol Energy Center. Even though their first win
against Philadelphia here came in Saturday's meaningless season finale, the Penguins needed to
believe it mattered.
Their all-too-easy, three-goal lead at the end of the first period had the Penguins and their fans
feeling pretty sure of themselves. This is, after all, a team full of guys whose names are on the
Stanley Cup. The Flyers dressed five guys making their playoff debuts.
"It was a loud building," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was a completely different
environment from anything we've been used to all year. We had not seen that type of energy in
a building. You could tell it's playoff hockey. We were standing too much in the first period."
Those first 20 minutes played out as if Laviolette's worst anxiety dreams about this series were
being projected on the giant screens around this shiny arena.
The young untested players appeared overwhelmed. They all were careless with the puck in
their own end and too careful with it on the offensive end. Ilya Bryzgalov, their teeter-totter
goaltender, gave up his first goal less than four minutes into the game. While Bryzgalov wasn't
bad, he was never able to get settled, and his confidence is one of the big variables in this
series.
So Danny Briere did more than reestablish himself as a postseason hero by scoring two goals
and getting the Flyers back into this game. He established doubt in the minds of the Penguins
and their boisterous fans.
And Brayden Schenn did more than tie up his first Stanley Cup playoff game with a nifty powerplay goal midway through the third period. He completed a comeback that silenced the sellout
crowd, reseeded the fields of doubt in the Penguins' minds, and gave the Flyers an opportunity
to steal the game in overtime.
They did, and this game instantly became a rallying point instead of a disaster.
Remember, the core of this team changed dramatically from the one that made recent playoff
runs. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were traded away. Chris Pronger is hurt. Even James van
Riemsdyk is out.
So it was immensely encouraging that two of the guys acquired in the Richards/Carter
blockbusters - Schenn and Voracek - scored the tying and winning goals. Those are the guys
who are going to have to grow up fast if this team is to play deep into the tournament.
Briere, who had a strange season because of injuries and slumps, took a Schenn pass (and
maybe got away with an offside journey over the blue line), skated in on Fleury, and fired a
pretty shot for his first goal of this postseason. The veteran forward has scored 98 points in 98
playoff games. If he is that guy after the regular season he endured, the Flyers are a much
bigger threat to win the Stanley Cup.
The Flyers had to kill three Pittsburgh penalties, and they did. They settled down in front of
Bryzgalov, played smarter, and prevented Crosby from getting anything else going. They kept
Evgeni Malkin, the Russian bear of Bryzgalov's nightmares, from accomplishing much of
anything.
When the Flyers finally got a power play of their own, Scott Hartnell fired a crisp pass that
Schenn tapped perfectly past Fleury. The moment the puck hit the back of the net, real doubt
was planted in the minds of the Penguins and their no-longer boisterous fans.
Laviolette stressed that it was but one game: "I don't believe in momentum," he said.
And that's fine. Game 2 will indeed start out 0-0, sources told The Inquirer. But the way this one
went, as the Flyers tiptoed along the abyss and then asserted their will on the Penguins, will
make all the difference for this still-unformed team.
Bryzgalov was "brilliant," as Laviolette put it, over the final 42 minutes, 23 seconds. The rookies
helped turn their first playoff game into a thrilling win. Briere looked like Briere. The Penguins'
confidence proved hollow.
Game 1 couldn't have started worse for the Flyers. It couldn't have turned out better.
Flyers stun Pens with overtime victory
By FRANK SERAVALLI
PITTSBURGH - The spotlights in the Consol Energy Center were impossibly bright and blinding,
flashing just enough in the pregame to reveal the packed Penguins crowd in all white T-shirts.
Just a few feet from Ilya Bryzgalov's crease, two mocking Penguins fans were dressed in bear
costumes - Bryzgalov said this week he does not fear Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, only bears
in the forest.
Considering Wednesday night’s outcome, who do you think will win Friday’s Game 2 of the
Flyers-Penguins playoff series?
For the Flyers, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals started - mentally and physically
- in just about the most hostile way possible. It was loud. It was intense. It was filled with Sidney
Crosby magic, even in the first 4 minutes.
None of it mattered.
It didn't matter, for the Flyers, that the Penguins scored three times in the first 20 minutes. Or
that the Penguins had won 28 of their last 29 playoff games when leading after two periods. Or
that the Flyers had allowed a two-goal deficit to the opposition for the eighth time in their last
13 games.
The Flyers proved their resilience again on Wednesday night, magically erasing a three-goal
deficit thanks to clutch tallies from Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn that pushed the Flyers to
a 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins in Game 1.
Jake Voracek netted the overtime winner for the Flyers just 2:23 into overtime. It was Voracek's
first career playoff goal, and he called it the biggest goal of his career.
"I think, however many rookies we had in the lineup, we were just in shock," Schenn said. "We
weren't doing things the right way. We didn't weather their storm. Before we knew it, we were
down 3-0. For the young guys, that was a big win for us to get one under our belt."
Improbably, the underdog Flyers - picked to knock off the Stanley Cup favorite Penguins by just
eight of 45 national hockey "experts" - lead the best-of-seven series, 1-0, and now hold homeice advantage over Pittsburgh.
It was just the Flyers' second win in their last seven playoff games in Pittsburgh, including
games across the street at Mellon Arena, dating to the 2008 Eastern Conference finals.
Historically, the Flyers are 22-8 in playoff series when taking Game 1. They have followed that
up with an 18-12 record in Game 2, which is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Consol Energy Center.
However, the winner of Game 1 in the last four playoff series the Penguins have played has
gone on to lose the series.
Predictably, Briere - the Flyers' top playoff performer from 2010 who now has 98 points in 98
career postseason games - carried the team on his back and nearly singlehandedly got them
back in the game. Briere, who missed the final week of the season with back-related issues, got
the Flyers on the board 6:22 into the second period, but it took more than a full period to get
on the scoresheet again.
Up until Briere netted his second goal, Claude Giroux had posted just one shot on Penguins
goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Flyers' shots well into the third period were still numbered
in the teens. And they had just one power play compared to Pittsburgh's three.
Without a consistent forecheck or pressure, the Flyers offered little threat of even mounting a
complete comeback. That was, until Brooks Orpik caught Briere with a late hit with under 10
minutes to play, giving the Flyers their first man advantage.
Coach Peter Laviolette said he tried to instill in his team a "realization that they could play"
during the first period.
"It's tough to come back, we were kind of lucky," Jaromir Jagr said. "We didn't make any plays."
After miraculous, diving attempts to keep the puck alive in the Penguins' defensive zone,
Schenn finally one-timed a slap-pass from Scott Hartnell with 7:37 left in regulation, making it
even and forcing overtime. The Flyers outshot the shell-shocked Penguins, 13-5, over the last
22:23.
The first 20 minutes painted a dim picture of the Flyers' first-round chances. Crosby, Tyler
Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis scored in succession.
As the bears mockingly danced in front of Bryzgalov, thoughts of his 17 goals against in four
postseason tests last year with Phoenix danced in the heads of many back in Philadelphia. But
Bryzgalov wasn't nearly the story. He gave the Flyers a chance to come back, hanging on to
collect his first playoff win since April 25, 2010.
Briere said he "wouldn't recommend" trying to overcome a deficit like that every game, but
that it was "pretty cool" to watch a game end in overtime with his team on top.
"We can move forward now," Laviolette said. "There were a lot of first-time experiences today.
That's over with. We persevered. That's a good thing. The playoffs are like a loaf of bread. It's
slice by slice. Some slices you really like, some are kind of moldy and rotten. One has nothing to
do with the rest."
Briere leads huge Flyers comeback
PITTSBURGH -- Even as late as Wednesday morning, Danny Briere was admitting nothing other
than that he was feeling better every day. Under orders not to say anything in the days
following the upper back contusion he suffered at the hands of the Penguins’ Joe Vitale with a
week to go in the regular season, Briere was doing his level best to make his lips move and
provide no information. He was even doing it in two languages.
Only later did Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren admit the obvious: that Briere, a point-agame scorer in his career in the Stanley Cup playoffs, was going to be out there for Game 1
against the Penguins. This is his time, these are his moments, and Briere was not going to miss
this one.
As Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, “He’s a difference-maker. I think his career path, not only
in the regular season but especially in the playoffs, he shows what an effective player he can
be. The bigger the circumstances, the bigger the performance. Since I’ve been here, that’s my
take on Danny.
“Give him something to thrive in and he thrives,” Laviolette said.
And then it happened.
It was Briere, the savvy veteran, and Brayden Schenn, the emerging kid, who triggered a Flyers
comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the first period to a 3-3 tie in the third period. Each of them had
a vital role in each step of the climb out of the hole that the Flyers managed: 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3,
overtime. And if the ending is all anyone will remember -- a goal by the Flyers' Jakub Voracek
with 2:23 gone in overtime -- the truth is that the series will likely be defined mostly by what
led up to the ending. That is, the battle between the Penguins’ speed and the Flyers’ will.
And on Wednesday, it was Briere who defined that will.
Basket-hanging and maybe offsides, it was Briere who scored the Flyers’ first goal in the second
period on a pass from Brayden Schenn. It was a crucial ice-breaker for a Flyers team that had
been out-skated badly in the first period by the Penguins.
Then, in the third period, it was Briere who snaked a shot through traffic, a shot from the
extreme outside of the faceoff circle, and brought the Flyers to within 3-2. The momentum had
begun to shift and this was the affirmation the Flyers needed.
Minutes later, it was Briere who drew an interference penalty on Penguins defenseman Brooks
Orpik, giving the Flyers their first power play of the game. And while on that power play, it was
Schenn who scored the goal that tied the game at 3-3, redirecting a slap-pass from Scott
Hartnell.
In that way, Briere (and Schenn) had a hand in every bit of the kind of comeback that has come
to define this Flyers team. In the first period, the Penguins’ speed had been breath-taking. It
had left everybody wondering if this was some extra playoff gear, and if the Flyers had anything
to counteract it.
Now, we know.
Rich Hofmann: Briere's time to shine
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
PITTSBURGH - Even as late as Wednesday morning, Danny Briere was admitting nothing other
than that he was feeling better every day. Under orders not to say anything in the days
following the upper-back contusion he suffered at the hands of the Penguins' Joe Vitale with a
week to go in the regular season, Briere was doing his level best to make his lips move and
provide no information. He was even doing it in two languages.
Only later did Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren admit the obvious: that Briere, a point-agame scorer in his career in the Stanley Cup playoffs, was going to be out there for Game 1
against the Penguins. This is his time, these are his moments, and Briere was not going to miss
this one.
As Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, "He's a difference-maker. I think his career path, not only
in the regular season but especially in the playoffs, he shows what an effective player he can
be. The bigger the circumstances, the bigger the performance. Since I've been here, that's my
take on Danny.
"Give him something to thrive in and he thrives," Laviolette said.
And then it happened.
It was Briere, the savvy veteran, and Brayden Schenn, the emerging kid, who triggered a Flyers
comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the first period to a 3-3 tie in the third period. Both of them had
a vital role in each step of the climb out of the Flyers' hole: 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, overtime. And if
the ending is all anyone will remember - a goal by the Flyers' Jakub Voracek with 2:23 gone in
overtime - the truth is that the series likely will be defined mostly by what led up to the ending.
That is, the battle between the Penguins' speed and the Flyers' will.
And on Wednesday, it was Briere who defined that will.
"It's pretty amazing," Briere said. "Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying was,
'We've done it all year. Start with a goal and you never know what can happen.' But to make it
happen in a hostile environment is a special feeling."
Basket-hanging and maybe offsides, it was Briere who scored the Flyers' first goal in the second
period on a pass from Schenn. It was a crucial ice-breaker for a Flyers team that had been outskated badly in the first period by the Penguins.
Then, in the third period, it was Briere who snaked a shot through traffic, a shot from the
extreme outside of the faceoff circle on another assist from Schenn, and brought the Flyers to
within 3-2. The momentum had begun to shift and this was the affirmation the Flyers needed.
Minutes later, it was Briere who drew an interference penalty on Penguins defenseman Brooks
Orpik, giving the Flyers their first power play of the game. And while on that power play, it was
Schenn who scored the goal that tied the game at 3-3, redirecting a slap-pass from Scott
Hartnell.
In that way, Briere (and Schenn) had a hand in every bit of the kind of comeback that has come
to define this Flyers team. In the first period, the Penguins' speed had been breath-taking. It
had left everybody wondering if this was some extra playoff gear, and if the Flyers had anything
to counteract it.
Now, we know.
"We came back on the ice in the second period and then we started taking it to them," Briere
said. "Slowly, we started taking the game over in their zone and creating more chances."
Briere is such a conundrum of a player. He is not a big man, but he gets things done in the
scariest, most dangerous areas of the ice. And while that wasn't the issue necessarily in Game
1, it was very clear that this was about his uncanny ability to seize the day - especially when it is
a day in April or May.
"He's done it so many times in the playoffs that I don't think it should surprise anybody,"
Laviolette said.
Over and over, Briere talked about how the Flyers cannot afford to continue falling behind in
games. That he is right goes without saying. At the same time, though, this was one for him and
his teammates to savor.
"You want to help the team," Briere said. "I didn't know if I was going to be able to be effective,
but it worked out. In the end, all that matters is winning the game. You can play as well as you
want but if you don't win the game, it doesn't matter."
Oh, and how was he physically?
"I felt really good," he said, with a bit of a wink. "Overnight, I got a lot better."
Bourdon's fresh face
By FRANK SERAVALLI
PITTSBURGH - Flyers rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon shaved his face with soap and a
razor for the first time in nearly 3 years on Tuesday morning. His scruffy growth is usually
thicker than his French-Canadian accent.
After all, this is the season of the playoff beard - an annual rite of passage for the 320 or so
players who qualify for a chance to compete for Lord Stanley's silver chalice. And Bourdon
wanted to start from scratch.
For Bourdon, who was in the AHL less than 2 weeks ago, the shave was an unexpected firsttime experience. On Wednesday night, Bourdon was in the thick of the action against the
Penguins' Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin after being subbed into the lineup in place of
Stanley Cup-winning veteran Pavel Kubina.
It was all a bit ironic, since the Flyers went out and traded for Kubina on Feb. 18 - for second
and fourth round picks - after deciding that Bourdon couldn't get the job done.
Kubina, who has 46 playoff games under his belt, was a healthy scratch for Game 1. Wednesday
was Bourdon's 46th career NHL game of any kind.
At the Flyers' pregame skate, coach Peter Laviolette called over his six rookies - Bourdon, Zac
Rinaldo, Eric Wellwood, Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn - for a quick chat.
"He told us he has confidence in us, always," said Bourdon, who left Wednesday's 4-3 overtime
win over the Penguins in the second period with an upper-body injury. "He thought we played
really well this season. He wanted us to know that he knows we can do a great job. It was nice
to hear."
Bourdon is day-to-day, and his status for Game 2 on Friday is unknown, paving way for a
possible return for Kubina.
Bourdon played 39 straight games from Nov. 21 to Feb. 18 after being a spare, emergency callup. His game waned in the middle of February, but he revealed last week that he was playing
through a concussion in an attempt to keep his job.
He was sent back to Adirondack to make room for Kubina, but was recalled when Kimmo
Timonen needed rest. Bourdon sat out for 3 weeks with the Phantoms because of the
concussion.
Since injured players aren't allowed to be sent to the AHL, Bourdon would have earned $4,370
per day on the Flyers' injury list instead of $351 daily in the minors.
Bourdon said he didn't want to be the guy who the team thought was milking an injury for a
paycheck. His silence has paid off in a bigger way.
Along the way, there will be hiccups - like when he was caught on a 2-on-1 rush in which he did
not pick up open skater Tyler Kennedy, who converted an easy goal to make it 2-0 on
Wednesday night. But that is to be expected.
"For me, this is not a roll of the dice," Laviolette said of his rookies. "We didn't go, 'Oh my God,
it's your first playoff series.' I don't think that would help. Our younger players have been used
in every situation imaginable up to this point. They got to be part of HBO, part of the Winter
Classic. Never once has there ever been any lack of confidence from the organization, our staff,
and their teammates. They need to do their job. They've done it all year."
Will Jagr be back?
Jaromir Jagr said he decided to start an account on Twitter (@68Jagr) on the eve of the Stanley
Cup playoffs because he was bored.
Not surprisingly, his interest in tweeting wasn't shared by reporters on Wednesday after the
Flyers' morning skate. Already tired of answering questions about returning to Pittsburgh for
the fourth time as a Flyer, the topic shifted to his status for next season.
Jagr is finishing out his 1-year, $3.3 million deal with the Flyers.
"I want to play next year, for sure, if something bad doesn't happen to me over the summer,"
Jagr said. "I know I'm going to play. I don't know where, but it doesn't matter to me because I
love the game."
Jagr was then asked if he would be willing to return to Philadelphia, where he has become a
leader in the Flyers' locker room. He collected 19 goals and 35 assists in 73 games, missing just
nine with a chronic groin strain.
The 40-year-old Jagr is the NHL's second oldest active non-goaltender in the league behind
Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, who turns 42 on April 28.
"If they're interested, we can always talk about it," Jagr said. "But this is not about myself. After
the playoffs, we can talk about stuff like that, but right now I have a lot more important things
than me."
Slap shots
Danny Briere returned to the lineup after missing the last three games of the regular season
with an upper-back contusion. He was reunited on a line with Wayne Simmonds and Brayden
Schenn . . . Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy also returned to the lineup, making rookie Brian
Strait a healthy scratch . . . Matt Niskanen, the Penguins' normal sixth defenseman, missed the
game with an unspecified injury . . . Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis netted a point in his 18th
consecutive game with his assist on the first goal. Regular-season streaks do not carry over to
the playoffs . . . Cherry Hill native Bobby Ryan was named to the U.S. World Championship team
on Wednesday, of which Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren is an adviser.
Flyers Notes: Rookies get a vote of confidence
By Frank Seravalli
Daily News Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH - Rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon shaved his face with soap and a razor
for the first time in nearly three years Tuesday morning. Bourdon's scruffy growth is usually
thicker than his French Canadian accent.
After all, this is the season of the playoff beard - an annual rite of passage for the 320 or so
players who qualify for a chance to compete for Lord Stanley's silver chalice.
For Bourdon, who was in the AHL less than two weeks ago, the shave was an unexpected firsttime experience. On Wednesday night, Bourdon was in the thick of the action against Sidney
Crosby and Evgeni Malkin after being put into the lineup in place of Stanley Cup-winning
veteran Pavel Kubina.
It was ironic, since the Flyers went out and traded for Kubina on Feb. 18 - for second- and
fourth-round picks - after deciding that Bourdon couldn't get the job done.
Kubina, who has 46 playoff games under his belt, was a healthy scratch for Game 1. Wednesday
was Bourdon's 46th career NHL game of any kind.
At the Flyers' pregame skate, coach Peter Laviolette called over his six rookies - Zac Rinaldo,
Bourdon, Eric Wellwood, Sean Couturier, Matt Read, and Brayden Schenn - for a quick chat.
"He told us he has confidence in us, always," Bourdon said. "He thought we played really well
this season. He wanted us to know that he knows we can do a great job. It was nice to hear."
Bourdon played 39 straight games from Nov. 21 to Feb. 18 after being a spare, emergency callup. He struggled in the middle of February, but he revealed last week that he was playing
through a concussion in an attempt to keep his job.
He was sent back to Adirondack to make room for Kubina on the roster, but was recalled when
Kimmo Timonen needed rest. Bourdon sat out for three weeks with the Phantoms because of
the concussion. Since injured players aren't allowed to be sent to the AHL, Bourdon would have
earned $4,370 per day on the Flyers' injury list instead of $351 daily in the minors.
Bourdon said he didn't want to be the guy who the team thought was milking an injury for a
paycheck. His silence has paid off in a bigger way.
Along the way, there will be hiccups - such as when he was caught on a 2-on-1 rush in which he
did not pick up open skater Tyler Kennedy, who converted the easy goal to make it 2-0
Wednesday night. But that is to be expected.
"For me, this is not a roll of the dice," Laviolette said of his rookies. "We didn't go, 'Oh my God,
it's your first playoff series.' I don't think that would help.
"Our younger players have been used in every situation imaginable up to this point - they got to
be part of HBO, part of the Winter Classic. Never once has there ever been any lack of
confidence from the organization, our staff, and their teammates. They need to do their job.
They've done it all year."
Jagr coming back?
Jaromir Jagr said he decided to start an account on Twitter (@68Jagr) on the eve of the Stanley
Cup playoffs because he was bored.
Not surprisingly, his interest wasn't piqued by reporters Wednesday after the Flyers' morning
skate. Already tired of answering questions about returning to Pittsburgh for the fourth time as
a Flyer, the topic naturally shifted to his status for next season.
Jagr is finishing out his one-year, $3.3 million deal with the Flyers.
"I want to play next year, for sure, if something bad doesn't happen to me over the summer,"
Jagr said. "I know I'm going to play. I don't know where, but it doesn't matter to me because I
love the game."
Jagr was then asked if he would be willing to return to Philadelphia, where he has made a home
in the Flyers' locker room as a leader. He collected 19 goals and 35 assists in 73 games, missing
just nine with a chronic groin strain.
Jagr is the NHL's second oldest active skater behind only Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, who turns
42 April 28.
"If they're interested, we can always talk about it," Jagr said. "But this is not about myself. After
the playoffs, we can talk about stuff like that, but right now I have a lot more important things
than me."
Slap shots
Danny Briere returned to the lineup after missing the last three games of the regular season
with an upper-back contusion. He was reunited on a line with Wayne Simmonds and Brayden
Schenn and scored in the second period to cut the Flyers' deficit to 3-1. . . . Penguins
defenseman Ben Lovejoy also returned to the lineup, making rookie Brian Strait a healthy
scratch for Pittsburgh. Matt Niskanen, the Penguins' normal sixth defenseman, missed the
game with an unspecified injury.
Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis netted a point in his 18th consecutive game with his assist on the
first goal. Regular-season streaks do not carry over to the playoffs. . . . Cherry Hill native Bobby
Ryan was named Wednesday to the U.S. team for the world championships. Flyers general
manager Paul Holmgren is an adviser to the team.
In the end, the Flyers were scary good
By Sam Carchidi
Inquirer Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH - Outside the arena, a Pittsburgh fan dressed in a white bear costume mocked
Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's fears. This was about an hour before Wednesday's wild playoff
opener between the hated, intra-state rivals.
"Bryz: Welcome to the Woods!" said the sign that the Bryzly, uh, grizzly bear, was holding.
The sign was in reference to Bryzgalov saying the other day he didn't fear the Penguins and
didn't fear anything except bears in the woods.
For the first two periods of Wednesday's overtime thriller, the Penguins played the role of
bears.
And then Danny Briere, Brayden Schenn and the rest of the Flyers made the bears take a fit in
the woods.
The Flyers overcame a 3-0 first-period deficit and stunned Pittsburgh, 4-3, in the opener of the
Pennsylvania Cold War series at the Consol Energy Center. Jakub Voracek scored the winner
after 2 minutes, 23 seconds of overtime, silencing the stunned sellout crowd.
Considering how the game began, it was one of the most amazing playoff wins in the Flyers'
playoff history.
Maybe Bryzgalov should have added another fear to his list: Slow starts.
For the umpteenth time this season, the Flyers fell into an early hole.
And for the umpteenth time, they made a gritty comeback.
Pittsburgh bolted to a 3-0 first-period lead, only to see Danny and the Juniors - that would be
Briere and his young teammates - rally to tie the score at 3-3 in the third period.
Briere, who had missed the last three regular-season games because of back spasms, scored
two goals, and 20-year-old rookie Brayden Schenn tied it with a power-play tally with 9:19 left
in regulation.
For the Flyers, the slow starts border on the ridiculous. Consider:
They allowed the first goal for the 11th time in the last 13 games.
They fell into at least a 2-0 hole for the eighth time in the last 13 games.
They have failed to lead after the first 10 minutes in 52 of the last 56 games.
Et cetera, et cetera.
Two of the Penguins' early goals were scored while the Flyers had their shutdown defensive
pair on the ice: Nick Grossmann, who is trying to get back into a rhythm after missing the final
three regular-season games because of a knee injury, and Braydon Coburn.
Trailing 3-0, the Flyers staged one of their trademark comebacks.
Fittingly, it was Mr. Post-Season, Briere, who re-energized the Flyers.
Briere took a great feed from Schenn and scored on a breakaway with 13:38 left in the second
period.
"He's a difference-maker," coach Peter Laviolette said before the game. "The bigger the
circumstances, the bigger the performance. Since I've been here, that's my take on Danny. Give
him something to thrive in, and he thrives."
Midway through the third period, Briere cut it to 3-2, scoring from deep in the left circle. Sidney
Crosby appeared to screen goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. That gave him 31 goals in 58 playoff
games with the Flyers. In his career, he has 98 points in 98 playoff games.
Schenn tied it by redirecting Scott Hartnell's clever feed. Until the late barrage, Fleury had
continued his playoff dominance against the Flyers.
Fleury made point-blank saves on Jaromir Jagr (breakaway), Hartnell and Voracek in the first
two periods. He also made key stops on Andreas Lilja's rebound and Matt Carle's ticketed slot
shot in the first nine minutes of the third period.
Since 2006-07, the Penguins had been 28-1 when leading playoffs games after two periods.
That was before they got lost in the woods.
Matchups favor the Flyers
It's not just that the Flyers match up well with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It's that they match up well with themselves.
If you stroll through the team's dressing room — a far more harmonious one than in previous
years — you will find a group of hockey players at ease with each other.
Sometimes that tranquility can be mistaken for complacency but not this bunch. Look back over
the past few seasons and there was enough contentious behavior — between players and
coaches, between players and players, between players and media — to go around for a whole
division of teams.
But through circumstances, some planned, some unforeseen, a number of lightning rod figures
are no longer here.
A new leadership core has formed, a small squadron of rookies without a bit of me-first attitude
has arrived on the scene and a high-priced goalie has figured out a pop psychology formula for
dealing with people in the big city.
Tie it all together and you have an unspoken air of confidence.
It's no longer just about the movement of former franchise players Mike Richards or Jeff Carter
out of the picture or the likely forced retirement of catalytic defenseman Chris Pronger.
It's now about the people who have stepped in to fill their skates.
Claude Giroux already has achieved more in one full year as the go-to guy than any of his
predecessors.
The rookies, led by Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn, have completed one
seamless freshman year with the savvy of five-year veterans.
And a defense once thought to be in bad shape with the departure of Pronger due to postconcussion symptoms, has been rebuilt to the point where it's actually become a strong point
once again.
Throw in a revitalized Ilya Bryzgalov, the goalie signed to save Philadelphia hockey, and you
have a curious but effective blend of vets and kids who have meshed well together.
A year ago, squabbling ruled the day. Players admitted they weren't on the same page with
coach Peter Laviolette or their teammates.
This time around, a trust has been built. And despite an epidemic of injuries, the Flyers put
together their second straight 100-plus point season.
How will all this get the Flyers past the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs?
Start with their brilliant road record, one born from believing in each other when there aren't
fans to cheer them on. This year's 25 road wins matched a team record and until Sunday's
meaningless loss at Pittsburgh, the Flyers had won five straight in the Steel City. Jaromir Jagr
calls it the "road-ice advantage.''
Go to their team defense. Biggest figure here? Couturier, who did such a nice job of shadowing
Evgeni Malkin this season that the Penguin superstar became frustrated enough to take a swing
at the 19-year-old.
Finally, their 8-3-1 mark against Pittsburgh over the past two seasons shows the Flyers aren't
intimidated by Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Jordan Staal or goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. If the old Igloo
still had been around (where the Flyers had been 13-27-8 over the past 20 years prior to 2011)
it might be a different story. But the Flyers don't mind playing in the Consol Energy Center. It's a
nice building, just not as intimidating.
If the Flyers can break their trend of slow starts and stay out of the penalty box, they have a
very good chance of winning this series.
The trick for them is to stay focused and concentrate on their own execution — dictate the
pace of play without getting caught in a firewagon style of hockey.
Should they maintain the kind of concentration they exhibited under Laviolette for most of the
season, they should be in good shape.
And consider this: The Flyers have not lost four games in regulation time in a seven-game
stretch since Oct. 29.
Something for the Penguins to consider when they strap on their helmets a little tighter than
usual.
Schenn saving his best for last
Wayne Fish Staff writer |
PITTSBURGH - He was injured much of the first half of the season and didn't score his first goal
until the Jan. 2 Winter Classic.
People were wondering what all the fuss about Brayden Schenn had been about.
Now they know.
Schenn has caught fire in the last month of the season and continued that hot trend on
Wednesday night when he became only the eighth Flyer rookie in history to put together a
three-point game in the Flyers' come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win over the Pittsburgh
Penguins.
The 21-year-old from Saskatoon assisted on both Danny Briere goals, then popped in the tying
goal with less than seven minutes to play.
"We were sitting back too much tonight,'' Schenn said of the Flyers' determination not to give
up. "We didn't come out the way we wanted. We got a couple big goals there to get us back in
the game.''
The Flyers are now 3-2 alltime in overtime playoff games against Pittsburgh, including 3-1 on
the road. The Flyers' last playoff OT win vs. Pittsburgh was the five-overtime 2-1 win on May 4,
2000.
Also, this is just the second time in six series that the Flyers have beaten Pittsburgh in Game 1
of a playoff series. They were 1-4 heading into the series.
As for overall playoff series, Wednesday night's result might be a good omen: The Flyers are 228 alltime when they win Game 1 of a series and they have an alltime record of 18-12 following a
Game 1 win.
Wednesday night's game also marked just the sixth time in Flyers franchise history they have
rallied to win after falling behind by at least three goals. The others:
/n + Flyers 4 Boston 3, 5/14/2010 - Game 7 Eastern Conference semifinals.
/n + Flyers 5 Washington 4 (OT), 4/10/1988 - Game 4 Patrick Division semifinals.
/n + Flyers 5 Edmonton 3, 5/22/1987 - Game 3 Stanley Cup Final.
/n + Flyers 6 Toronto 5, 4/17/1977 - Game 4 quarterfinals.
/n + Flyers 4 Atlanta 3, 4/14/1974 (OT) - Game 4 quarterfinals.
Also, the other Flyer rookies to have put together three-point playoff games in their rookie
season: Ville Leino, Andy Delmore, Peter Zezel, Brian Propp, Mel Bridgeman, Andre Lacroix,
Rosaire Paiement.
Briere posted his sixth career two-goal playoff game and his fourth as a Flyer. He now has 31
goals and 30 assists for 61 points in 58 playoff games for the Flyers, and moves past Rick
Tocchet into 8th place in on the Flyers all-time playoff scoring list.
Only Briere, Eric Lindros (10th, 24-33-57 in 50 games), Ken Linseman (11th, 11-42-53 in 41
games) and Peter Forsberg (4G, 4A in 6 games in 2005-06) have scored more than a point-pergame on average in the playoffs in Flyers history.
Another patented rally keys Flyers' OT win
By Wayne Fish Staff writer |
PITTSBURGH — By now, the Flyers have the formula down to a science. Fall behind by two or
three goals, then suddenly find their legs.
For the eighth time in the last 13 games, the Flyers did it again on Wednesday night, this time
digging themselves a three-goal hole.
But the Flyers came all the way back on the strength of three goals after the second period for a
stunning 4-3 win at the Consol Energy Center.
Pittsburgh collected all three goals in the first period. But it mattered not to the Flyers, who got
the winning goal from Jake Voracek with 2:23 gone in sudden-death overtime to take a 1-0 lead
in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Game 2 is scheduled for Friday night at the Consol Energy Center.
It’s become clear the Flyers don’t care about falling behind. They remain confident they can
come back, no matter the deficit or the opponent.
“It’s pretty amazing,’’ said Danny Briere, who bounced back from three games off due to a back
injury to score the Flyers’ first two goals. “Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying
was, ‘We’ve done it all year. Start with a goal and you never know what could happen.’ ‘’
And it did.
Before the rally, Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis put shots past Ilya Bryzgalov
before Briere finally broke through for the Flyers in the second period.
Briere then ignited the third-period rally with a goal past Marc-Andre Fleury at 9:17. That was
followed by the tying goal from Brayden Schenn.
“To make it happen in a hostile environment is a special feeling,’’ Briere said. “You can’t dwell
on this. It’s one game. You have to move on. But for a few minutes, it’s OK to appreciate what
we just did.’’
Schenn, who scored the tying goal with 7:37 to play and assisted on both Briere goals, is playing
like a 10-year veteran.
“(Comebacks) have kind of happened to us all year,’’ Schenn said, probably knowing the Flyers
have rallied 10 times from two goals down to salvage at least a point in regular-season play. “It
seems like we always get behind and have to claw our way back. That was a big win for us. For
the young and old guys, just to get one under our belts means a lot.’’
Crosby scored at 3:43 when defenseman Nicklas Grossmann lost control of a Dupuis shot that
fell at his feet. Crosby swept in and shoveled the puck into the net.
At 7:49, the Penguins broke in on the defense pairing of Marc-Andre Bourdon and Andreas Lilja.
Kennedy took a nifty pass from Jordan Staal and lifted a shot past Bryzgalov.
Finally, with time running out in the first, Dupuis was situated perfectly in front to tap Steve
Sullivan’s backhand feed from behind the net. The puck trickled in off Bryzgalov at 19:23.
Briere countered for the Flyers at 6:22 of the second. Schenn sent him in on Fleury, who went
down as Briere’s shot went up.
The Flyers had trouble getting the puck out of their own zone early in the game, found their
legs for a while, and finally got going for real in the third period.
Midway through the third, Briere’s wide-angle shot went through a Crosby screen and eluded
Fleury. Schenn then converted a pass from Scott Hartnell at 12:23 on the Flyers’ only power
play of the game.
In overtime, a long shot banked off Kris Letang and came right to Voracek for an easy chip past
Fleury.
“It was a huge game for us,’’ Voracek said. “We were down 3-0 and a lot of people didn’t
believe in us. Probably one of the most important goals in my NHL career.’’
After seeing so many of these comebacks, coach Peter Laviolette doesn’t sound surprised
anymore.
“We know what makes us successful,’’ he said. “We skated better in the second, at our best in
the third and when we’re skating things happen.”
Short shots
The Flyers scratched defenseman Pavel Kubina and Jody Shelley. ... Crosby has seven goals in 12
playoff games against the Flyers. ... Bourdon left the game in the third period and did not
return.
Wayne Fish: 215-345-3070; e-mail: [email protected]; twitter: @waynefish1
Flyers rally for 4-3 win in overtime
By Wayne Fish Staff writer |
PITTSBURGH — By now, the Flyers have the formula down to a science. Fall behind by two or
three goals, then suddenly find their legs.
For the eighth time in the last 13 games, the Flyers did it again on Wednesday night, this time
digging themselves a 3-0 hole.
But the Flyers came all the way back on the strength of three goals after the second period for a
stunning 4-3 win at the Consol Energy Center.
Pittsburgh collected the first three goals of the game, all in the first period, but it mattered not
to the Flyers, who got the winning goal from Jake Voracek with 2:23 gone in sudden-death
overtime to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Game 2 is scheduled for Friday night at the Consol Energy Center.
Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis put shots past Ilya Bryzgalov before the Flyers
could get on the scoreboard.
But Daniel Briere finally broke through for the Flyers in the second period. Briere then ignited
the third-period rally with a goal past Marc-Andre Fleury at 9:17. That was followed by the tying
goal from Brayden Schenn.
The Flyers did not have the benefit of a power play until 10:41 of the third period.
Crosby scored at 3:43 when defenseman Nicklas Grossmann lost control of a Dupuis shot that
fell at his feet. Crosby swept in and shoveled the puck into the net.
At 7:49, the Penguins broke in on the defense pairing of Marc-Andre Bourdon and Andreas Lilja.
Kennedy took a nifty pass from Jordan Staal and lifted a shot past Bryzgalov.
Finally, with time running out in the first, Dupuis was situated perfectly in front to tap Steve
Sullivan’s backhand feed from behind the net. The puck trickled in off Bryzgalov at 19:23.
Briere countered for the Flyers at 6:22 of the second. Brayden Schenn sent him in on Fleury,
who went down as Briere’s shot went up.
The Flyers had trouble getting pucks out of their own zone early in the game, found their legs
for a while, then spent a great deal of the third period in their defensive zone.
Midway through the third, Briere’s wide-angle shot went through a Crosby screen and eluded
Fleury. Schenn then converted a pass from Scott Hartnell at 12:23.
PARENT: Pens-Flyers series likely to live up to the hype
By ROB PARENT
Nothing like a great Scott Hartnell quote to get everyone ready for the playoffs. So with the
Flyers about to head to Pittsburgh for Game 1 of what they think will be a fun series, Hartnell
squinted his eyes as if peering at CONSOL Energy Center and said, “You love coming into these
buildings where the fans despise you.”
Welcome to the NHL Playoffs, where hate is but part of the game in a sport in which postseason
games are never easily predictable. As for the Flyers’ first-round lovefest with the Penguins, the
games themselves should be more fun than the hype.
The return of Sidney Crosby has been a boon for fourth-seeded Pittsburgh, but by the looks of
him in two games in the last week of the regular season, he’s not back to the level of healthy
days’ past.
Yet.
The fifth-seeded Flyers are hoping the juices of the postseason don’t fuel this fresh Crosby back
to being old Sid anytime soon. As it is, the Flyers will have plenty of trouble with his cohort, 50goal MVP-to-be Evgeni Malkin. One fan named Jaromir Jagr noted of Malkin, “it’s going to be
tough to stop him, so we have to slow him down.
“But he’s going to get his goals and points,” Jagr said, “because he’s that good. He’s probably
the best in the league. So the longer this series goes on he’s going to get better, because he’s so
skilled, so strong and so big. It’s up to us to do it. I think we have a good defense and a good
checking line to slow him down.”
Those under-appreciated Flyers checking line people, including ex-Penguin Max Talbot and
advanced rookies Matt Read and Sean Couturier, might be a key difference between the two
teams.
“You’re playing your old team, and so you take it as a challenge,” Talbot said. “That’s how I take
it. It’s going to be whistle-to-whistle hockey.”
The Penguins look good with two elite scoring lines, but can’t match the Flyers’ depth of twoway forwards. The Flyers might have an edge defensively, but it isn’t enough of one to much
matter. They had the best goalie in the conference down the stretch, and one of the worst ones
for months on end early in the year. So which Ilya Bryzgalov will stand up, please?
Probably one that will at least match the performance of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
One worrisome factor for the Flyers is the way they fall behind easily.
“That’s been the story this year for us, trailing after one period,” Claude Giroux said. “We have
to make sure we’re ready at the start.”
Regardless of the 10 times in the last 12 games and 46 times overall this season where the
Flyers fell behind first, they’ll probably be more than ready from start to finish in this series.
For the best series in the Eastern Conference, expect the Flyers to come out on top, probably in
six games.
As for those other seven series, here’s a thing or two to watch out for...
The other three series in the East don’t offer much chance for upsets. Expect the No. 1 New
York Rangers over the last-seeded Ottawa Senators in six games, the second-seeded and nearly
as good as first Boston Bruins over Washington in six (or maybe five) games, and No. 6 New
Jersey over No. 3 Florida in five.
And expect coach Dale Hunter to be out of Washington immediately if not sooner. Don’t know
how long it’ll take Alex Ovechkin to pick a new coach.
As for the West, those elite Vancouver Canucks might have a tough time beating the Los
Angeles Kings.
Pending coach of the year Ken Hitchcock’s St. Louis Blues should beat the San Jose Sharks in six,
the Chicago Blackhawks should dispatch the Phoenix Coyotes in six and — in the best series
outside of Pennsylvania — Nashville upsets Detroit in seven.
OUR WRITERS' STANLEY CUP PICKS: Flyers win series
By ROB PARENT and JACK McCAFFERY,
Ten times in their last 12 games, the Flyers let the other guys score first. It was the continuation
of a season-long trend, but one that got worse as time went on. Invariably, the Flyers have
proven to be a team that never gives up, that had to because it couldn’t avoid falling behind
early.
If that trend doesn’t do a fast 180, the Flyers are going to be handed a fast exit from the
playoffs by a Penguins team that is more skilled stylistically but not as deep and probably not as
defensively capable.
Coach Peter Laviolette has a team that can roll four lines, which the Penguins can’t do to great
effect. He also has a team forced to start five or six rookies on any given night, but this season
that hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing.
From a special-teams standpont, the teams are close. The Penguins probably have an overall
edge in scoring capability, and the Flyers are a touch tougher on defense. And so, of course, this
series might be decided in net.
That’s why the Flyers paid $51 million for a free agent deal with Ilya Bryzgalov. The past two
months, he’s proven to be a difference maker.
With the presumption that Bryzgalov’s late-winter to early spring roll resumes, the pick here is:
Flyers in six.
—- ROB PARENT
The Pittsburgh Penguins finished ahead of the Flyers in the standings. But the Flyers won the
season series. The Penguins have the better players at the top of their roster. The Flyers are
deeper. The Penguins will have the home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup
playoffs, but the Flyers play well on the road.
Which way to go, then, in the best-of-seven?
Go with the singular driving instinct that made the Flyers what they were this season. Go with
the idea that everyone —- the press, the fans, Ed Snider, Paul Holmgren —- was right when
they decided that the one thing separating the Flyers from fulfillment was a distinct No. 1
goaltender.
Was everyone right? Was the press right to yell that it was time for Peter Laviolette to commit
to one, just one, goaltender? Was Holmgren right to bring Ilya Bryzgalov to Philadelphia? Was
Snider right to OK $51 million in financing?
Check it out: The NHL is about to find out.
Bryzgalov was the Player of the Month in March, but has had a slightly injured foot. He’ll start
tonight in Pittsburgh and, presumably, for as long as the Flyers are in the playoffs.
If he is leaky, creaky and altogether like too many other Flyers goalies since 1987, then the
Penguins will win. If he is spectacular, stumping the Pens three, four, five times a period, then
the Flyers are off to Round 2.
The pick: I’ll go with the instinct. I’ll go with the press. I’ll go with Snider and Holmgren. I’ll go
with Bryzgalov until there is a reason not to.
Flyers in six.
—- JACK McCAFFERY
Flyers can't make a habit of getting down early in playoffs
PITTSBURGH — There is little that’s quaint about how the Flyers survived an NHL regular
season, little endearing, little heroic.
There is nothing captivating about showing up late for work, nothing constructive. There is
nothing reassuring about spending a winter and part of spring dangling from a cliff.
But who wouldn’t stop to watch?
The Flyers will be difficult not to monitor now, given that they are three victories from the
second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3,
Wednesday night in the CONSOL Energy Center ... and by doing it their way.
They did it after falling behind, as they too often do, 3-0, and then winning on a Jakub Voracek
goal in overtime. They did it with younger legs, more depth and, after an initial scare, with
better goaltending.
That’s how they play. But they cannot expect to play that way too often this postseason. Such
were the twin messages and the cold realities of one of the more gripping victories of their
modern era.
“In the first period,” Peter Laviolette said, “there was too much watching. Too much standing. I
think we got better in the second period, to a level that we were satisfied. And in the third
period, we started playing good hockey and we felt good going into the overtime.”
The come-from-behind success is a sports standard, honored on film and in legend, but for a
reason. It’s because it is the exception. It’s not because it is a habit. The Flyers are in that habit,
nasty and ugly in the regular season, and too dangerous beginning in Game 83.
With a max payroll and eternal championship expectations, the Flyers fell behind 46 times this
season, or about what the ordinary teams are expected to do —- those, or the Islanders. In
eight of their final 13 regular-season games, they were behind by at least 2-0. Ten times in their
last 12 games, they were the second of two teams to score.
If Curt Schilling had been on the Flyers’ bench, he’d have spent the season burying his head in a
towel, the way he used to whenever Mitch Williams fell behind, 3-0, in a count. That “Wild
Thing” persona was good for a few T-shirt sales, and also for one of the most thumping instalosses in sports history.
The postseason was 19:23 old Wednesday and the Flyers were already a hat trick in arrears.
They were out-shot in the first period, 13-6, were out of waddling back on defense, were
shooting wide, were falling down.
Laviolette has won a Stanley Cup as a head coach, so he knows how to schedule a pregame
meal, to order a curfew, to see that his employees show up on time, at least physically. So it’s
not that. It might have something to do with the Flyers being so young. But how many times
does the same thing have to happen before it grows old?
Two of Laviolette’s favorite momentum-changers are the timeout and the goaltender change.
For reasons economical, political and sensible, one of those is missing this spring from his
quiver. As beatable as Ilya Bryzgalov was Wednesday in the first 20 minutes, Laviolette was not
even permitted the temptation to make a switch. For one reason, his alternative is Sergei
Bobrovsky. For another, Ed Snider just approved $51 million for Bryzgalov to play a postseason,
a whole postseason. So Laviolette was stuck with Bryzgalov.
Good thing for the Flyers, he was.
Laviolette did call a timeout after Tyler Kennedy made it 2-0, cashing on a 2-on-1 breakaway.
That didn’t help, at least not instantly.
By late in the first period, the Flyers started to stir, particularly Brayden Schenn and Jaromir
Jagr. By the third period, Danny Briere —- who never shows up late in a postseason —- scored
to sturdy the interest level, then scored again to calm a crowd. Even Bryzgalov began to loom
professionally.
It is how the Flyers play, and how they now are in command of a series.
But if they ever began to show up on time more regularly, they could be in command of so
much more.
Crosby can't win it for Penguins alone as Flyers take Game 1
By ROB PARENT
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby announced Wednesday night to shellshocked Flyers and
delighted Pittsburgh Penguins fans that he’s back and in playoff form, after all.
Despite playing just 22 games during the regular season, and just 14 of them after making a
dramatic return from an absence of more than three months due to concussion-like symptoms,
Crosby scored a goal and assisted on another in a blowout first period for the Penguins.
What he couldn’t do was prevent a four-goal comeback by the Flyers, who got two goals from
Danny Briere and a game-winner by Jakub Voracek 2:23 into overtime as the Flyers opened the
playoffs with a stunning, 4-3 victory over the Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center.
Voracek scored with the help of Matt Carle, who gained possession along the side boards and
threw the puck on net. It hit Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and fell to the other side of the crease
away from slipping and sliding Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who could only watch
Voracek plant it into an open net.
“It was a huge game for us.” Voracek said. “We were down 3-nothing. A lot of people didn’t
believe in us. But we came back and won it in overtime. So it was huge win for us and obviously
one of the most important goals in my NHL career.”
That completed a 4-zip run of goals by the Flyers that didn’t begin until Briere’s first goal in the
second period.
It took just 3:43 before Crosby’s first huge impact was felt. Sizing up a Pascal Dupuis rebound,
Crosby beautifully backhanded it over goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s shoulder for a 1-0 Penguins lead.
Crosby had beaten Flyers defenseman Nick Grossmann to the puck, and he paid for that as
Grossmann buried him on the scoring play. That would prove to be perhaps more significant
than the goal, since Crosby showed no ill-effects whatsoever off the hard hit and fall to the ice.
Meanwhile, the ear-splitting noise level inside CONSOL increased a couple of more ballistic
measures after the goal. That happened again when it went to 2-0, as dangerous defenseman
Letang made a blind backhander of a pass to Jordin Staal, creating a 2-on-1 fast break.
Staal got it over to Tyler Kennedy, who easily beat Bryzgalov at 7:49.
Counting their schizo stretch drive, the Flyers have now allowed the opposition to score first in
11 of their last 13 games, and gain a 2-0 lead in eight of their last 13. Not many times have they
let it go to 3-0 though.
“We have to stop it. I know we have to reverse it,” Briere said. “But at the same time, this was a
pretty special win.”
First, Dupuis scored off assists by Steve Sullivan and Crosby to make it 3-0 in the final minute of
the first period. It got louder into intermission.
And Bryzgalov said bears in the forest scare him? What about a crazy crowd, several of whom
came appropriately costumed.
“There were like 70 bears,” Jaromir Jagr said. “I was scared, too.”
“I think we were a little in shock at first,” said Brayden Schenn, one of six rookies in the Flyers’
starting lineup. “We just had to weather the storm in the first period and we did in the first
period. Then we battled our way back.”
The Flyers found a friend, however, in a striped zebra linesman. At least that’s how the
Penguins fans and broadcasters saw it.
They howled out loud that Briere was offside when he started the Flyers’ comeback with a goal
6:22 into the second period. It happened when Schenn (goal, two assists) sent Briere in alone
and the Flyers’ “Mr. Playoffs” beat Fleury to cut the lead to 3-1.
Claude Giroux was largely invisible the first two periods and Jagr’s appearances consisted of
missing on a breakaway and interfering with Crosby a couple of minutes into the third period.
“He hit me on shoulder first there,” Jagr said. “He didn’t have to do that. He can beat me any
time skating.”
The Flyers kept hitting back and at the 9:17 mark, Briere took a pass from Schenn and
backhanded it home to cut the Penguins lead to a single goal.
“I think I surprised Fleury with a quick shot. Probably a goal he’d like to have back,” Briere said.
“But I’ll take it.”
Schenn would then complete the regulation comeback, tipping home a great power-play pass
from the point by Scott Hartnell at 12:23.
All the while, Bryzgalov (25 saves) and the Flyers’ penalty-killers kept the skilled Penguins at
bay.
“Pittsburgh is a great team. They have great players,” Bryzgalov said. “What we did today was
unbelievable.”
Little experience, yet Flyers' rooks are hungry
Staff Report
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – When teams get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, the landscape between
rookies and veterans tends to change.
The gap between experience and inexperience widens.
Can anyone imagine where the Flyers would have been this season without the contributions of
a dozen rookies, five of whom were pretty much regulars?
They carried the Flyers with a league-high 64 rookie goals.
“I remember my first time I made the playoffs,” Scott Hartnell recalled. “So much adrenaline,
excitement. You’re playing for the Stanley Cup. There’s 16 teams left.
“Being all the way there and losing — going all the way to the conference final and losing to
Pittsburgh, there’s only four teams left at that point.
“You’ve got to go through good teams and hopefully being there a few times in the playoffs will
rub off on these young guys, but it’s a great feeling for them to have.”
Trying to share some of their veteran wisdom, Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr did a lot to talking to
one rookie, in particular, this season -- Zac Rinaldo.
“The [veterans] give us a lot of confidence,” Rinaldo said. “Like Jags and especially, Hartnell.
Hartnell has been a big inspiration for me this year.
“He walked me through a lot of different situations I went through. Without the vets, I don’t
think our rookies would have been as strong without the leaders we had in the room.”
Tonight in Game 1, the Flyers are expected to dress six rookies. On the other side of the ice, the
Penguins have 11 players on their roster who were part of the 2009 club that won the Stanley
Cup.
In theory, that should represent a huge advantage for the Penguins, because playoff pressure is
very different from regular season pressure and the Pens have already been through the war
and won out.
But does it matter?
“Not to me,” Rinaldo said. “I think it is to our advantage. Rookies are younger, fresher, more
energy. It works to our advantage to have more rookies than them.”
Fellow rookie Matt Read says the veterans have been quietly reassuring them without placing
pressure on them.
“They tell us this is the most important time, the greatest time of your life, being in the playoffs,
and that it’s a dream come true to lace up the skates in a Stanley Cup playoff game,” he said.
“They say, enjoy it, take as any other game and don’t allow your nerves to override. Just have
fun with it.”
Coach Peter Laviolette won a Stanley Cup with a rookie goalie in Cam Ward in 2006. He knows
about these things.
“That is one of those questions I don’t know if I really have an answer for,” Laviolette said. “I’d
be guessing. If you are asking me if I like our team and the young players that we have and have
had in place all year and have answered the bell all year … they have.
“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this group. The guys who don’t have the playoff
experience, we really like them as players. We think they have done a terrific job over the year.
“How does that compare to them? I am not sure it really matters. We’re gonna go in there and
expect to play a good game and win.”
Flyer rookies have played 445 games this season. Penguin rookies have played 63.
“We’ve got less guys that have won a Cup before,” Claude Giroux said. “It means we’re more
hungry than them, I guess. Guys here want to win the Cup.
“That’s pretty much every guy’s dream in life. It’s a lot of work just to get into the NHL. When
you are here, it’s a lot of work to get to the final. The guys are pretty excited.”
Has Laviolette talked to them about the differences?
“We didn’t go, ‘Oh my God, it’s your first playoff series,’” he said. “I don’t think that would help
them.
“Our younger players have been used and utilized in every situation imaginable until this point
from being part of HBO and the Winter Classic and never once has there been any lack of
confidence from the staff or teammates.”
Pens are home but advantage might not exist
Staff Report
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Much is made of home-ice advantage in the NHL playoffs.
After all, there’s something comforting about knowing that, if a series were to go to a Game 7,
it would be played in front of the home crowd. Players constantly acknowledge how important
it is to have their fan base behind them with so much at stake.
But if you ask Jaromir Jagr, the key to a series isn’t the potential for a Game 7 on home-ice at
all.
“Home-ice advantage is if there’s a Game 7, but there’s not always a Game 7,” Jagr said. “I
remember one coach, and I think he was pretty right about it. We were down in the series 3-2,
and he said, guys, 60 or 70 percent of teams who win in Game 6 win in Game 7. I think he was
right about it. I think the key is Game 6.”
As it turns out, history agrees with the Flyers’ veteran winger.
Since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, road teams are 12-12 in Game 7s. That means that, in reality,
there’s statistically actually no home-ice advantage at all.
To go a step farther, 50 of 90 playoff series completed since the lockout have been clinched by
the visiting team. Flyers fans following the team in recent years have plenty of examples to
refer to: the comeback victory over Boston in Game 7 in 2010; the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup win
the same year, in Philadelphia.
But if the key to this series is truly Game 6, the Flyers have to hope they can create their own
version of the home-ice lift. Should this series against the Penguins go six games, Game 6 will
be played a week from Sunday. In Philadelphia.
“It’s going to be exciting for everybody,” Jagr said. “But I think for all hockey fans, that’s what
they want to see, this kind of series.
Jagr excited to be back in the playoffs
Staff Report
PITTSBURGH -- The circle of life is pretty much complete for Jaromir Jagr.
He began his career in Pittsburgh, won two Stanley Cup before he turned 21, became the toast
of the town, sulked, got traded a couple times, moved to Russia, and then came back to North
America last summer as a free agent to sign with the Flyers.
Now, the big, friendly Czech faces the very team in the Stanley Cup playoffs that catapulted him
to hockey immortality (see story).
“I'm not going to think about it. I'm just going to play my best hockey in the playoffs and I want
to help this team to win,” Jagr said when asked whether Game 1 will be an emotional for him
on Wednesday night.
“It's my goal. I came here, I came back from Russia to have a chance to play in playoffs and go
far in playoffs. I'm sure we are going to face a great team in the first round, but you cannot do
anything about it. All you have to do is you have to beat them.
“They have a great team offensively, no question about it. They've got the top two guys,
[Sidney] Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin. And the other guys are pretty good. [James] Neal can
score goals.
“[Kris] Letang is great on the power play. It's going to be a tough series. They're going to be the
favorites. A lot of experts are saying they are the best team in the league. It's going to be a
great challenge for our team.”
This is one of those “wow” series where you wish these two clubs could meet in the middle or
end of the Eastern Conference playoffs rather than at the start. But as a result of the NHL's
division winners being guaranteed a top-three seed in the conference playoffs, one of these
teams won’t playing in May.
“Obviously, but it doesn't matter,” Jagr said. “We have to win right now. That's the way the
schedule in the NHL is right now.
“When you look at the points, probably it shouldn't be those two teams playing against each
other in the first round. But we can't do anything about it. One team is going to go home.”
The last two times these teams met in a playoff series, the winner went to the Stanley Cup Final
-- on both occasions, it was the Penguins.
“It's a rivalry,” Jagr said. “The defense is probably taking it too personally that me and Max
[Talbot] play for Philadelphia. It's always been like that. It's always been Pittsburgh against
Philadelphia.”
Penguins fans will boo Jagr every time he touches the puck this evening. Just like they now boo
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette for his recent tirade on the bench and shouting match with Pens
assistant coach Tony Granato
“No, it was for him,” Jagr said of the boos in the arena.
Because he has been away from the NHL playoffs for three years, Jagr said he intends to cherish
every moment this spring for however long its lasts.
“Every great play means a lot,” he said. “You can change a series with one great play, or you can
lose it with one bad mistake. That's why it's so crucial to play 60 minutes every game no matter
what the score is.”
Sound advice from someone whose career has come full circle.
Jackson's Five: Factors that will decide Flyers-Pens
A series that somehow seemed inevitable is finally upon us. The next chapter of hockey's Battle
of Pennsylvania promises to be a classic. Two up-tempo teams, full of talented players and
intriguing characters with a large dose of animosity thrown into the mix. There are storylines
galore. This should be fun.
There are also many important issues and factors that will help determine the eventual survivor
of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. Here are five that come to mind:
Antagonism with discipline
There's no question that Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby pose a serious challenge to any
opponents' checking scheme. They are both game changers of the highest order. However,
unlike some supremely gifted performers, they do not shy away from getting involved in the
behind-the-play or after-the-whistle shenanigans that sometimes develop during a game.
Malkin, in particular, has shown a tendency to take some frustration penalties when he is
harassed and checked tightly. The Flyers' plan should be to try and get the Penguins' dynamic
duo thinking about anything but dominating the game with their skill. Get them irked... or riled
up. Be physical with them whenever possible. This could at least slow them down some.
Stopping them entirely is just about impossible, but this approach could contain them some.
It comes with some risk though as there is the danger of taking penalties and giving a
potentially explosive Pittsburgh power-play a chance to become a factor. Thus, the Flyers will
need to agitate, but do so with a disciplined approach.
The impact of the guys in striped shirts
After watching the line brawl that erupted when these teams met in Pittsburgh a couple weeks
back, you have to imagine the referees are going to try and exert their influence early on in the
series to try and set a tone and prevent mayhem. This flies in the face of the usual theory that
officials "let them play" come playoff time.
The question will be how long the referees stick to that plan and how it affects the series. Both
clubs have good power-play units. In fact, they ended the season with the same percentage.
But the Penguins had better penalty killing efficiency. A constant stream to the penalty box
would thus probably not benefit the Flyers.
Let’s hope the calls are not the focal point of the series and that it's the players who determine
the winner, not the decisions of the officials.
Let the line-matching begin
One of the interesting aspects of a playoff series is the chess match that goes on between the
coaches as they try to get favorable matchups. This particular series has some fascinating
possibilities along those lines.
Can Peter Laviolette get Sean Couturier's line out consistently against Malkin's trio and how will
the 19-year-old do in slowing him down? Will Dan Byslma opt for Jordan Staal's line to
counteract the Flyers' potentially explosive top line? If so, are the Flyers comfortable with
Danny Briere's line (provided he is good to go) against Crosby's unit? Will an “under the radar”
line that could include Matt Read, Jake Voracek and Eric Wellwood become a factor?
So many questions and Game 1 will only serve to answer a couple of them, while in all
likelihood producing several more queries for the rest of the series. It makes for great intrigue,
that's for sure.
Trading places
Penguins fans love to remind cross-state Flyers fans about the three Cups their club has won
since the Flyers last took the trophy home. It will have to be at least a little disconcerting
though to those Pittsburgh fans that key members from each of the two eras of Cup winning
greatness in the Steel City now ply their trade in orange and black.
Jaromir Jagr was an important cog in the back-to-back Penguins’ championships in the early
'90s. Meanwhile, all Max Talbot did was score the only two goals in the seventh and deciding
game of the Penguins' Stanley Cup Final conquest in 2009.
From the reception they get at the CONSOL Energy Center to the role they play in the series,
many eyes will be on Jagr and Talbot beginning Wednesday night.
Bryz vs. Fleury
A recent headline in a Pittsburgh paper read "Flyers lack ace in net like Fleury." It's
understandable that folks in Pittsburgh feel that way. In fact, most observers throughout North
America probably agree with the sentiment. It comes with the territory when one goaltender
has a Stanley Cup ring as a starter and the other, while having a ring from his days in Anaheim,
is remembered more now for some uneven playoff performances with the Coyotes the last two
springs.
Having said all that, it should be noted that Ilya Bryzgalov actually owns a substantially better
postseason save percentage than Marc-Andre Fleury (.917 to .910). And there's no question
that Bryzgalov was the hotter of the two from the beginning of March through the end of the
season.
Thus, it might be a mistake to give the goaltending edge so quickly to the Penguins just yet. You
might want to see how this plays out. What is certain is that if either club gets a decided edge in
this comparison, that club will be in the driver's seat to advance to the second round.
Somewhere up there, the legendary Gene Hart is saying "Buckle your seat belts, ladies and
gentlemen!" It might be a good idea. This is likely to be a bumpy ride. With the history, the
buildup, the storylines, the animosity and the usual playoff intensity in the mix, the next two
weeks could produce some unforgettable moments. One state of Pennsylvania entry will have
their season end far too early. Another will go on, although probably with substantial war
wounds to show for their victory.
Let the latest installment of the Battle of Pennsylvania begin!
Jagr expects hostile crowd in Pittsburgh
VOORHEES, N.J. -- It’s a popular storyline: Jaromir Jagr, who accomplished so much with the
Pittsburgh Penguins, returns to the city that once loved him wearing the jersey of the team’s
top rival.
Instead of receiving cheers for all he did during his 11 seasons as a Penguin, Jagr will be among
the most hated members of the visiting team during his stay in western Pennsylvania. And
that’s simply because he elected not to sign with the Pens last summer during free agency.
Well, that’s almost how this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series was set to play out.
“I don’t think I’m Public Enemy No. 1,” Jagr said with a grin. “I think Lavy [coach Peter
Laviolette] is right now. At least that’s what I saw last game.”
Laviolette, of course, was fined for his actions late in the Flyers’ win in Pittsburgh April 1. Those
“actions” included smashing and breaking Max Talbot’s stick against the boards, as well as a
screaming match with Pens assistant coach Tony Granato.
Truth be told, though, Jagr knows what to expect from the fans who will pack the CONSOL
Energy Center tonight. He knows they’ll boo him when he touches the puck. He doesn’t expect
any love for the Stanley Cups he helped bring to Pittsburgh or the amazing feats he
accomplished there. He got a small taste for how the crowd will react to him during the regular
season, but he knows it will only intensify as the playoffs continue.
And that’s OK with him.
“It’s not anything new to me,” Jagr said after Tuesday’s practice in New Jersey. “It happened
right away after 2000 when I got traded to Washington. It’s already 12 years. That’s exactly
what I expected.”
After weeks of speculation that he would return to the Penguins for his NHL comeback this
summer, Jagr surprised the hockey world by, instead, picking the Flyers. It was a matter of fit,
he said. The Flyers had room for him, they had a need for the kind of player he is.
By the way he talks about it, it seems Jagr didn’t expect the reaction he got when he turned
down his former team. He gets quiet and serious when he discusses the tumult that ensued
after he signed a one-year deal with the Flyers. He usually doesn’t make eye contact with
anyone as he rehashes it.
“It doesn’t matter what I did. Everything is in the past,” he said. “But whatever happened this
summer, I don’t think I did something wrong. I listened to what [the Penguins] had to say, my
agent talked to them. I said to my agent, I wanted to come back to the NHL, but I had no idea
about the teams and I had no idea who’s playing who and what kind of players teams got.”
Philadelphia, Jagr said, was just the best option for him.
But Penguins fans felt like they’d been dumped. Reporters from Pittsburgh in town to preview
the series peppered Jagr with questions about whether he predicts a “happy ending” between
himself and his former team could ever be possible. That’s likely something in the back of his
mind – but at least for the meantime, that’s where it has to remain.
“It’s not in my mind right now,” he said. “In my mind, it’s playoff hockey. To help this team to
beat Pittsburgh. It’s going to be tough, but that’s my main focus right now.”
As for how to do that, Jagr has a plan. Handling Evgeni Malkin, the NHL’s points leader (109)
and likely league MVP, must be the Flyers’ top priority.
“I think he’s the key guy for the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Jagr said. “It’s going to be tough to stop
him. We’re going to have to make sure we slow him down a little more than – slow him down, I
think that’s the right word to use. Because he’s going to get his goals and points, he’s that good.
There’s no question about it. Probably the best in the league.
“The longer this year is going to go on, I think he’s going to get better, because he’s so strong,
so skilled, so big. But it’s up to us.”
Game 1 Notes: Rookies, comebacks and OTs
PITTSBURGH -- Nothing ever amazes Jaromir Jagr. Not even 3-0 comebacks in a playoff game.
That’s Flyer hockey.
“It’s tough to come back; we were kind of lucky to win,” Jagr said. “We didn’t play very well. We
were too tired that first period. We didn’t make any plays.
“If you don’t make plays against a team like that and give them a chance to make plays... we
have to make sure to make plays and try to hold the puck. Once you give them the puck,
they’re too dangerous.”
The rookies
Brayden Schenn had a key goal during the comeback.
“My first year, Badger “Bob” Johnson, who died, said after 50 games, you’re not a rookie
anymore,” Jagr said. “I think 50 games is what you need in the NHL to feel comfortable.
“They all played the whole season and played great. Most of them, they have big
responsibilities on the team.”
Bourdon
The game wasn’t without its losses for the Flyers. Rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon
sustained an upper-body injury and played only 11:14 in the game.
The Flyers say Bourdon is day-to-day – which means he very well could be in the lineup for
Game 2 Friday night in Pittsburgh.
The Bears
There were bears all over the building. Brown bears, polar bears. Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is afraid
of bears.
A friend of his was mauled to death in Siberia by a bear.
“Yeah, there were like 70 of them. Where did they get the tickets?” Jagr said. “I was scared of
them, too.”
Overtimes
The Flyers are now 35-37 all-time in overtime playoff games. It was the Flyers fifth playoff OT
game overall vs. Pittsburgh and their fourth in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers are now 3-2 in overtime games vs. Pittsburgh and 3-1 in OT games in Pittsburgh. The
Flyers’ last playoff overtime win against the Penguins was the five-overtime, 2-1 win on May 4,
2000.
Keith Primeau won it.
The penalty
Jagr was obviously displeased when he was called for interfering with Sidney Crosby in the third
period.
He wasn’t upset because he didn’t believe he deserved the call, though – he did – but because
of who it was against.
“He got me first from behind,” Jagr said. “He’s quick enough, he doesn’t have to do that. He
could pass me anytime he wants to. He doesn’t have to do it. I held him back, too, but he did it
first. But if he wanted to beat me at skating, he could do it anytime he wanted to.”
Comebacks
The Flyers staged 10 comebacks during the regular season from a deficit of two goals or more
to earn at least a point in the game.
They overcame a 3-0 deficit in this one with all three Penguin goals coming in the first period.
According to Elias, this was the sixth time in franchise history that the Flyers have come back
from a three-goal deficit to win a playoff game.
Loose pucks
The game-winner was Jakub Voracek’s first playoff goal ever …
Brayden Schenn posted a goal and two assists for a three-point game. According to Elias,
Schenn is the first Flyers rookie to have a three-point playoff game since Ville Leino had three
assists on June 6 vs. Chicago (Game 5, 2010 Stanley Cup Final), and just the eighth Flyer ever to
post a three-point playoff game as a rookie.
Clutch Briere keys Flyers' late Game 1 rally
PITTSBURGH – Danny Briere’s playoff numbers were impressive before the Flyers’ miraculous
comeback win Wednesday at the Consol Energy Center. By the time he left the building, they
were even better.
In what fast became a seemingly hopeless game for the Flyers, Briere scored two goals and
lifted his team to within one after they’d fallen behind, 3-0, in the first period.
Briere was a huge part of why the Flyers fought back for a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1
against the Pittsburgh Penguins (see game recap) – and it was only his first game back after
returning from injury. Briere now has 98 points in 98 career playoff games, and 59 points as a
Flyer.
It’s reasons like that you simply can’t count Briere out in the postseason, even after a
particularly disappointing year. This is why they call him “Danny Playoffs.”
“He’s done it so many times in the playoffs, I don’t think it should surprise anybody,” coach
Peter Laviolette said. “He had a great night tonight.”
Only days ago, whether Briere would appear in the postseason at all was an uncertainty. He
took a rough hit from Penguins centerman Joe Vitale at the end of the Flyers’ victory in
Pittsburgh on April 1, and was deemed out indefinitely with an upper-back contusion.
He only returned to practice two days ago. He’d said he felt good, but wasn’t confirmed for the
game until early Wednesday afternoon. The Flyers never even officially updated his injury
status until they established he would be in the lineup.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to be effective, but it worked out,” Briere said. “At the
end of the day, all that matters, though, is winning the game. You can play as well as you want,
you don’t win the game, it doesn’t matter. You get to celebrate with all your teammates –
that’s all it’s about.”
Briere’s line with Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds was the best of the Flyers’ lines all
night. They spent much of the game on the ice against Sidney Crosby’s notorious line, but
connected nonetheless. With Briere’s help, Schenn finished with a team-high three points (goal,
two assists).
“He’s a playoff performer,” Schenn said of his linemate. “He’s a great player. It’s nice to have
him back coming off injury. Two huge goals for us, and we need that veteran leadership.”
Of course, Briere’s first goal was mired in a bit of controversy. He caught a puck from Schenn as
he charged up ice – with his head up, he made sure to say during his postgame interview – and
failed to notice he was clearly offsides. The referees, as it turns out, failed to notice it, too.
Briere only learned of the oversight when reporters told him after the game.
The game is Briere’s third multi-point game in his last six. He now has 11 points in that stretch,
a marked improvement from his figures not that long ago. In fact, during a 29-game stretch
from January to March, Briere had just one goal, and that one was an empty-netter.
But as is said, the playoffs truly are a second season.
“Everybody said he’s a different player in the playoffs,” Jaromir Jagr said. “And he proved that
today.”
Without saying it in so many words, Briere admitted his second goal was a lucky one, a goal
Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury would probably like to have back. But two seconds
after that goal, Briere drew a penalty on Brooks Orpik (the Flyers’ only power play of the night)
that led to Schenn’s game-tying marker.
Briere’s job is far from finished, of course. The Flyers’ Game 1 win was certainly a statementmaker, but they’ll need to win three more to escape the series alive. They’ll need to win 15
more to bring home the Stanley Cup.
For now, though, Briere will get to enjoy his role in his team’s remarkable comeback victory for
a couple days.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying was, we’ve
done it all year. Let’s start with a goal. You never know what can happen.”
Bryzgalov overcomes Penguins (and bears)
PITTSBURGH – As omens go, it didn’t seem foreboding. It was closer to cuddly, actually.
Outside the CONSOL Energy Center, quite a few Penguins fans paused to take pictures with a
guy (gal?) dressed in a white bear costume. It had a grinning cartoon head, oversized paws, the
whole campy package. It wasn’t exactly a scary sight. It looked like a scene that might play out
at an amusement park – kids and adults wrapped their arms around their giant furry friend.
Except, like Yogi, this wasn’t your average bear. The life-sized stuffed animal was decidedly proPittsburgh. It had a sign that said, “welcome to the woods.”
Before the puck dropped, the bear made its way inside and joined another bear – a brown one.
The two of them sat not far behind the Flyers’ bench and ended up on the giant video
scoreboard that hangs above center ice. The crowd liked that.
"You know, I'm not afraid of anything," Ilya Bryzgalov said in advance of the Flyers’ first-round
playoff series against the Penguins. "I'm afraid of bears – bears in the forest.”
These bears were in downtown Pittsburgh, which doesn’t have too many trees. But you get the
idea. It was a good night for the bears and the Penguins – at first. Then it was not such a good
night for them. At some point, after falling behind by three goals in the first period, Bryzgalov
and the Flyers did what they have done so many times this season: they made a crazy
comeback. In an improbable twist, the Flyers beat the Penguins, 4-3, in overtime on Wednesday
to take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (see game recap).
“We’ve been in that situation before a couple times this year,” Bryzgalov said. “Pittsburgh is a
great team, you know. They have great players. What we did today was unbelievable.”
He was right. It was unbelievable.
Sidney Crosby scored the first goal a little under four minutes into the game. The second goal
was a two-on-one: Jordan Staal found Tyler Kennedy, and then Kennedy found the back of the
net. The third goal came courtesy of Pascal Dupuis, who took a pass from Steve Sullivan and
somehow pushed the puck past Bryzgalov.
All of that happened before the first intermission. Bryzgalov allowed three goals on 13 shots in
the first period. They weren’t all his fault, not by any stretch, but three goals should have
signaled the end for the Flyers.
Instead, Danny Briere scored twice, while Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek each scored once.
And while all that was happening, Bryzgalov started looking good – really good. After that ugly
first period, he stopped all 15 shots that came his way. It was a remarkable transformation to
watch. In one evening, Bryzgalov morphed from a guy who let three pucks sneak behind him to
a guy who kept every puck in front of him.
“I thought our goaltender really made some brilliant saves, and not only on the power play but
five-on-five,” Peter Laviolette said. “Everyone really dug in a little bit. Our game got better…
When we did have opportunities come at the net, Bryz made the saves.”
There were all sorts of storylines going into the series, but one of the biggest was obviously
which Bryzgalov would show for the playoffs. If it was the early-season Bryzgalov, the one who
was “lost in the woods” and babbled about “humongous big” existential nonsense for the
benefit of the drooling HBO masses prior to the Winter Classic, it was generally agreed that
Flyers were probably in trouble. That Bryzgalov wasn’t very good, and he certainly wasn’t worth
the $51 million contract the Flyers gave him during the offseason. But if the other Bryzgalov
appeared – the one who was the NHL’s First Star of the Month in March, posting a 1.44 goals
against average and a .947 save percentage – that would make things awfully difficult for the
Penguins.
It seemed simple enough. With the good Bryzgalov, the Flyers could beat anyone in the
playoffs, including the Penguins. With the not-so-good Bryzgalov, they seemed destined to be
on vacation or playing golf before too long. In Game 1, the Flyers got a little bit of the latter
Bryzgalov – but they also got a whole lot more of the former Bryzgalov.
“After the first period, you’re down three goals, in their own building, that’s not easy,”
Bryzgalov said.
While Bryzgalov was talking to the media, an unknown teammate with a sense of humor let out
a “Bearzzzz” – you know, instead of “Bryzzzz.” The joke was loud enough for everyone to hear,
and a lot of people laughed. The guys (gals?) in the bear costumes obviously weren’t in the
locker room when it happened. It was for the best. They probably wouldn’t have found it
amusing.
Clutch Briere keys Flyers' late Game 1 rally
PITTSBURGH – Danny Briere’s playoff numbers were impressive before the Flyers’ miraculous
comeback win Wednesday at the Consol Energy Center. By the time he left the building, they
were even better.
In what fast became a seemingly hopeless game for the Flyers, Briere scored two goals and
lifted his team to within one after they’d fallen behind, 3-0, in the first period.
Briere was a huge part of why the Flyers fought back for a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1
against the Pittsburgh Penguins (see game recap) – and it was only his first game back after
returning from injury. Briere now has 98 points in 98 career playoff games, and 59 points as a
Flyer.
It’s reasons like that you simply can’t count Briere out in the postseason, even after a
particularly disappointing year. This is why they call him “Danny Playoffs.”
“He’s done it so many times in the playoffs, I don’t think it should surprise anybody,” coach
Peter Laviolette said. “He had a great night tonight.”
Only days ago, whether Briere would appear in the postseason at all was an uncertainty. He
took a rough hit from Penguins centerman Joe Vitale at the end of the Flyers’ victory in
Pittsburgh on April 1, and was deemed out indefinitely with an upper-back contusion.
He only returned to practice two days ago. He’d said he felt good, but wasn’t confirmed for the
game until early Wednesday afternoon. The Flyers never even officially updated his injury
status until they established he would be in the lineup.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to be effective, but it worked out,” Briere said. “At the
end of the day, all that matters, though, is winning the game. You can play as well as you want,
you don’t win the game, it doesn’t matter. You get to celebrate with all your teammates –
that’s all it’s about.”
Briere’s line with Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds was the best of the Flyers’ lines all
night. They spent much of the game on the ice against Sidney Crosby’s notorious line, but
connected nonetheless. With Briere’s help, Schenn finished with a team-high three points (goal,
two assists).
“He’s a playoff performer,” Schenn said of his linemate. “He’s a great player. It’s nice to have
him back coming off injury. Two huge goals for us, and we need that veteran leadership.”
Of course, Briere’s first goal was mired in a bit of controversy. He caught a puck from Schenn as
he charged up ice – with his head up, he made sure to say during his postgame interview – and
failed to notice he was clearly offsides. The referees, as it turns out, failed to notice it, too.
Briere only learned of the oversight when reporters told him after the game.
The game is Briere’s third multi-point game in his last six. He now has 11 points in that stretch,
a marked improvement from his figures not that long ago. In fact, during a 29-game stretch
from January to March, Briere had just one goal, and that one was an empty-netter.
But as is said, the playoffs truly are a second season.
“Everybody said he’s a different player in the playoffs,” Jaromir Jagr said. “And he proved that
today.”
Without saying it in so many words, Briere admitted his second goal was a lucky one, a goal
Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury would probably like to have back. But two seconds
after that goal, Briere drew a penalty on Brooks Orpik (the Flyers’ only power play of the night)
that led to Schenn’s game-tying marker.
Briere’s job is far from finished, of course. The Flyers’ Game 1 win was certainly a statementmaker, but they’ll need to win three more to escape the series alive. They’ll need to win 15
more to bring home the Stanley Cup.
For now, though, Briere will get to enjoy his role in his team’s remarkable comeback victory for
a couple days.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “Sitting here after the first period, all we were saying was, we’ve
done it all year. Let’s start with a goal. You never know what can happen.”
Hartman: Philly pulls off sports trifecta
What a night for Philadelphia sports. Wednesday's trifecta with the Flyers, Phillies and Sixers all
playing and winning is what makes this the greatest sports city in America.
I'm sure there was plenty of channel-changing between one team to another. I didn't have that
luxury, covering the Sixers in Toronto, but I can tell you that people in the Sixers' team travel
party were interested in how the Flyers and Phillies fared.
While the Sixers won two straight games for the first time in a month, improving their playoff
status, the Flyers' playoff opener kept us all riveted to our smartphones. We headed to the
team bus when the Flyers were down 3-1. Quickly we learned it was 3-2, then 3-3.
During the break leading to overtime, someone in the bus yelled out "How did Roy Halladay
do?" Seven strong innings in a 7-1 victory. "The guy gave up a run?" Yes, everyone almost
expects perfection from Roy Halladay.
"Jakub Voracek scored!" yelled out CSN Sixers associate producer, Beth Ely, as we were waiting
in a customs line at the airport.
"That's awesome for Mr. Snider" said Doug Collins, showing respect for the Flyers' chairman.
This is a great time for Philly sports fans. The results won't always go the way they did
Wednesday, so enjoy each and every step, no matter how you end up following the teams.
Flyers pull off wild comeback in Game 1 win
PITTSBURGH – They wanted to intimidate the Penguins with their physical play.
They wanted to get good, early matchups on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Flyers also wanted a quick start on the road, where they were the NHL’s best this season
with 25 victories.
None of which happened on Wednesday in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal
series.
Nonetheless, the Flyers prevailed doing what they have done better than anyone all season
long – coming from behind.
Jakub Vorcek’s shot at 2:23 of overtime gave the Flyers a stunning 4-3 victory at CONSOL Energy
Center.
“It was a lucky bounce to me,” Voracek said.
Indeed, the puck ricocheted off Penguin defenseman Kris Letang directly to Voracek in the slot.
The Flyers had a frantic, dominating, third-period comeback to force overtime.
“We started skating better in the second and at our best in the third,” said coach Peter
Laviolette. “When you’re skating, things happen.”
His club trailed 3-0 very much like two years ago in Boston during Game 7, yet stormed back to
win again.
“Nobody knows why [it happens], but I can’t imagine what it might be if we had a good start
and play the right way for 60 minutes,” Voracek said.
Danny Briere triggered the comeback. Playing like a man possessed, he had a goal early in the
second period and finished with two, giving him 98 career playoff points in 98 games.
“On an individual basis,” Briere said of his performance, “this was a top-five game.”
His second marker, approaching the midway point of the third period from the left circle past
Marc-Andre Fleury, made it a nail-biter at 3-2.
At 10:41, the Flyers got their first and only power play. Rookie Brayden Schenn stunned the
sold-out crowd with a tip-in goal from Scott Hartnell to tie the game, setting up yet another
dramatic finish between these two bitter rivals.
“We were a little in shock after that first period,” Schenn admitted. “We had to weather the
storm and we didn’t that period. But we battled our way back with a couple goals from Danny
B.”
Through regulation, the Penguins were 0 for 3 on the power play, while the Flyers had one
power play, one shot and one goal.
That’s all it took.
“Our penalty kill gave them nothing,” Schenn said. “When it’s 3-0, power plays can be gamechanging goals but the PK stepped up for us and (Ilya) Bryz had a good game.”
All the talk about quick starts went to naught from the Flyers’ perspective as the Penguins
buried the Flyers in the first period.
“It was more a realization for them on how we want to play,” Laviolette said. “We said it
before. We have a certain identity that we have success with. We know we can score goals. We
know we can win hockey games playing a certain style, a certain brand.
“The first period we did too much standing, too much watching and we became targets to hit.
We just didn’t move well enough.”
You look at the Flyers’ first period versus the third and the difference was startling.
At the outset, the Penguins stretched the ice and scored twice on their first six shots against
Bryzgalov, who was making his first start here as a Flyer.
The biggest difference was transition. Everyone knows how fast the Pens are, but they were
routinely beating the Flyers to loose pucks to get rushes up ice. Also, the Flyers twice got stuck
with tired players on the ice because of forced icings.
Crosby had a brilliant opening goal at 3:43. Letang’s point drive went off Pascal Dupuis in the
crease, and Crosby beat defenseman Nicklas Grossmann to the rebound, lifting it high over
Bryzgalov’s glove hand just under the cross bar.
Dupuis finished the regular season with the longest point streak in the NHL – 17 games. He
picked up on that to start the series.
Four minutes later, the Pens made it 2-0 as Letang got to a loose puck in the Flyers’ end and
caught Jordan Staal in full stride up the right side two-on-one against Andreas Lilja.
Tyler Kennedy buried Staal’s pass across the slot. With the building erupting at that point,
Laviolette burned his timeout (7:49) to settle things down.
Pittsburgh was 23-2-3 this season when Letang registered a point. He had two in the first period
alone.
Pittsburgh had far too many open looks on Bryzgalov that period, while the Flyers managed just
one – a Jaromir Jagr breakaway where the Czech winger appeared to shoot it off Fleury wide of
net.
In the final 36.9, Steve Sullivan blindly backhanded a puck into the crease off Bryzgalov, who
didn’t realize it was there. Dupuis saw it and knocked it out of the air into the net.
The Flyers appeared to be toast. But how many times have they looked “done” this season?
The second period began ominously with Claude Giroux picking up a rare boarding call. When
the penalty ended, he sprang from the box and set up Hartnell off the rush, but Fleury made a
key stop.
Bryzgalov was solid over the final two periods with 15 of his 25 overall saves.
A minute after the Hartnell save, Schenn broke up a Pens’ rush and rifled a pass up the middle
to Briere.
He streaked in on Fleury, got him to go down, then wristed the puck over him at 6:22 for the
Flyers’ first goal of the series.
Replays showed Briere was offsides, though Briere said he didn’t think that was the case.
“It’s hard to tell when things happen at game speed,” Laviolette said.
Alas, it does not make up for Leon Stickle’s missed call to the Flyers in the Game 6 against the
Islanders in 1980.
Though the Flyers had a much stronger middle period, they continued to be outshot, 23-13,
after 40 minutes.
Laviolette liked what he saw from Briere’s unit and double-shifted them much of the time,
going up against Crosby’s line.
“The third period, we started to play good hockey and felt good about the overtime coming
up,” Laviolette said.
“I don’t know if that’s to be expected. With this group, just based on the fact it was a loud
building, it was a completely different environment from anything we were used to all year.
“We had not seen that type of energy in [this] building. I could tell it was playoff hockey.”
Flyers vs. Penguins: Philly's best rivalry
Written by
KEVIN CALLAHAN
Move over Eagles-Cowboys, Sixers-Celtics and Phillies-Mets or Braves, the best Philadelphia pro
sports rivalry now is Flyers-Penguins.
Even without the bare-knuckle brawling on the ice, no other rivalry in Philly rivals the intensity
and disdain these days of when the puck drops between the Flyers and Penguins.
Now, toss in the fighting between these two hockey clubs, which is as much a part of the game
as the blue lines, and the best rivalry in Philly gets, well, even better.
The rivalry heated up even more April 1 in the Flyers’ 6-4 victory when the two teams — and
coaches — turned to borderline pro wrestling.
Now, all this is fine as long as the Flyers win the series. If the Flyers take four games in the next
two weeks against Pittsburgh, then all the fighting and despising is OK. That’s hockey, after all.
That is what you expect to happen in the best pro rivalry in Philly.
But the Flyers don’t need to beat up the Penguins. The Orange and Black just need to beat
them.
The Flyers don’t need to win the fights, or even start them. They just need to score one more
goal in four games.
This rivalry is so good now that the Flyers just need to win, and no one will blame them for not
beating up the Pens, too.
Yeah, fighting is popular, especially in Philadelphia, where the only two Stanley Cups arrived
here on the blood, guts and fists of the Broad Street Bullies.
Even today, before games at the Wells Fargo Center, the marketers show fight scenes on the
big video board above the ice.
And when the players drop their gloves at the Wells Fargo Center, the bell sounds as if a bout is
breaking out between Ali and Frazier.
They show replays of the fights on the video board like game-winning goals.
So, yeah, fighting is accepted, encouraged and fun in hockey.
But winning is more fun. The Flyers and their fans can’t lose sight of the goal.
“The first team that wins four games is going to move on, whether it is bad blood or defensive
skills or it is a good defensive series,” Max Talbot said after practice Tuesday at the Skate Zone.
“You just need to win four games, and you will do everything it takes to do it.” There is tangible
danger of wanting to set a physical tone for the series by throwing fists and dealing mindless
hits at center ice to the head. There is a balance between being tough and tough-headed.
The Flyers need to play tough, but smart. The Pens are too skilled with the puck to give them
man advantages.
“Obviously, they are pretty good offensively. We’ve got to make sure we are hard on them and
be disciplined,” Flyers star Claude Giroux said.
“We know they are going to score goals on power plays. They are one of the best power plays
in the league, so we’ve got to make sure we stay out of the box — and when we do get a
penalty kill, we’ve got to make sure we are sharp.”
After practice, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was asked if he expected dirty and chippy play from
the Penguin star players, and he calmly replied: “I don’t know.”
But, Laviolette knows his team can’t take chippy penalties.
The Flyers coach also was asked about there being no “love lost” between the teams, and he
wisely wouldn’t take the bait.
Really, it is all fine. This is the best pro rivalry in Philadelphia now. The bad blood between the
teams and coaches and fans, it is all really just fine.
As long as the Flyers win.
Young & Restless
Flyers confident they can beat more experienced Pens
By RANDY MILLER
This was no night on the town, just a relaxing dinner for two Flyers.
Sean Couturier, out with an older teammate who is also his landlord, was still scanning the
menu when a waiter approached to take drink orders.
Danny Briere asked for a glass of wine.
The waiter turned to Couturier, who was tempted to do the same but chickened out.
“I would like to have a glass of wine with a meal now and then, too, but I can’t,” Couturier said
with a grin. “I don’t have an ID.”
Couturier has a way to go. He celebrated his 19th birthday last December. Brayden Schenn,
another Flyers rookie, won’t be legal until turning 21 in August.
The other Flyers can have a drink if they want, but a bunch of them might have some real
trouble growing playoff beards worth bragging about, not that it matters to them or teammates
who have a few more years on them.
The Flyers reshaped their team in a big way last summer, trading away proven stars Mike
Richards and Jeff Carter to begin a youth movement that would inject new talent and added
enthusiasm into a franchise on a mission to end its decades-long Stanley Cup drought.
On the outside looking in, the feeling was that these Flyers might need a season or two to ripen
into something special, but that has not been the case.
The Flyers topped 100 points and are in the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Other than perhaps goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, the play of their youth will determine whether
they can beat the more experienced and favored Penguins in a best-of-seven first-round series
that opens tonight in Pittsburgh.
The Flyers made it this far using 12 rookies. Six of them are expected to suit up for Game 1 at
Consol Energy Center — forwards Matt Read, Zac Rinaldo, Eric Wellwood, Couturier, Schenn
and defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon.
“I know we have a lot of rookies,” Briere said. “They’ve been through a lot this year, but yeah
it’s another step. It’s going to be a little more intense.”
Talk to NHL players who have been in their share of playoff wars, and they’ll tell you these
games are different from the regular season. They’re usually more intense, more physical and
low scoring.
Those who’ve never experienced playoffs at this level usually go through an adjustment period
that could take anywhere from a couple of shifts to a couple of periods to a couple of games.
“The playoffs are a different game,” Flyers top scorer Claude Giroux said. “But I think we’ve got
guys who have character. I think guys are going to work hard and do what they’ve got to do to
win, like they did all season. Obviously, they’re young players, but they don’t play like rookies.
That’s why we’ve been successful this year.”
The Flyers’ first-year guys have been productive, too. Forward Matt Read led all NHL rookies
with 24 goals and was fourth with 47 points. Couturier finished 10th among rookies with 27
points and was third in plus-minus with a plus-18.
Schenn contributed 18 points, Wellwood added nine in 24 games and was plus-12, and
defenseman Erik Gustafsson was a plus-12 in his 30 games.
Together, the rookies scored 64 goals and 129 points in 445 combined games, all totals that
were by far the most in the NHL this season. The 445 games were the highest total for a Flyers
team since their club record 480 in 1968-69, the franchise’s second season.
“I think it’s fun for us young guys to get some opportunities, and we’re making the most out of
it,” Couturier said. “We’ve contributed in different ways, and I think that’s what makes us a
success.”
It’s just not the Flyers rookies who will be pretty nervous tonight. Right wing Jakub Voracek, just
22 and part of the return from the Carter trade, has just four games of playoff experience.
Wayne Simmonds, 23, an import from Los Angeles in the Richards trade, has only six
postseason games on his resume.
As for the Penguins, everybody knows they’re loaded.
Sidney Crosby, arguably the game’s best player, is healthy after missing a bunch of games the
last two seasons because of concussion symptoms. Evgeni Malkin won the scoring title and is a
shoo-in to be the league’s MVP, too. Kris Letang is one of the game’s best defensemen. MarcAndre Fleury is a premier goalie. James Neal is a 40-goal right winger on Malkin’s line and led
the league in power-play goals.
The Penguins have a huge edge in experience. They still have 11 players from their 2009 Stanley
Cup championship team. Eight of them also were part of a 2008 club that lost in the finals.
Meantime, there's been so much turn over on the Flyers that they'll be suiting up just six
players from their 2009 Stanley Cup Finals squad, seven if left wing James van Riemsdyk returns
from his broken foot for the second round or later. Also, only five Flyers have won a Cup Jaromir Jagr (1991 and 1992 Penguins), Pavel Kubina (2004 Tampa Bay Lightning), Bryzgalov
(2007 Anaheim Ducks), Andreas Lilja (2008 Detroit) and Max Talbot (2009 Penguins).
"Obviously they have the experience over us, but you what, we've got a lot of young guys who
are going to give it our all," Simmonds said. "We're confident in what we have in here. We're
ready to go. I think we can play the game any way. We can be a tough team. We can score goals
with the best of them. I don't think having a lot of young players really is going to matter."
In this series, Couturier probably will have one of the toughest tasks during a lot of his shifts in a
shutdown role. Malkin scored 50 goals and 109 points this season, but didn't go wild offensively
during the times he was shadowed by Couturier, who is on his way to becoming one of the top
two-way centers in hockey.
"You gotta know where Malkin is on the ice and not give him too much space with the puck,"
Couturier said. "I think that's the best defense."
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has been using his youngsters in key roles all season long, and
nothing will change against the Penguins. He believes they're ready for a bigger stage because
they've handled themselves so well when counted on during the regular season to be more
than bit players. They've played on power plays, killed penalties and took big faceoffs.
"I have absolutely no doubt that they're going to play a good hockey game for us," Laviolette
said. "They've done it all year in every situation. They've prepared for this, and let's be honest,
we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in if it weren't for those guys and the way they've
contributed through the course of the year. I think there's a lot of confidence, not just from me,
but from their teammates and our organization."
Giroux must lead way against Pens
KEVIN CALLAHAN
VOORHEES — Claude Giroux earned the Flyers’ Most Valuable Player award this season, but he
isn’t carrying the Bob Clarke trophy and the extra pressure of winning the award into the
playoffs.
The third-year pro certainly doesn’t feel like he has to win the best-of-7 series against
Pittsburgh by himself.
“We have a new team this year, and one of the reasons we have been successful is we’ve had a
new guy stepping up every game,” Giroux said after practice Tuesday at the Skate Zone.
“We have forwards who can play against anyone on the other team, and that makes us pretty
dangerous.
“When we got four lines rolling and everyone is going, everyone is skating hard and everyone is
unselfish — that is when we are at our best.”
However, Giroux also understands his team needs him not only to score, but to be the leader
he has been against the Penguins, who have home-ice advantage starting tonight.
“Obviously it is his skill that stands out on the ice, but what you really appreciate when you
work with him on a daily basis is his competitiveness,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.
“He is one of the hardest-working guys. He is passionate about winning, passionate about his
team. He has not only really developed into a good player but a terrific leader for this team.
“He is a big part of why we stand where we are today.”
Giroux, though, isn’t the only young guy playing a huge role in this series. Although the
Penguins still have a dozen players who won a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh, the Flyers play a half
dozen rookies in prominent roles.
“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this group,” Laviolette said. “The guys who don’t
have the playoff experience, we really like them as players. We think they have done a terrific
job all year.
“How does that compare to them? I’m not really sure. I’m not really sure it matters,” Laviolette
added. “We expect to play a good hockey game and we expect to win.”
Rookies Zac Rinaldo, Marc-Andre Bourdon, Brayden Schenn, Matt Read, Sean Couturier and Eric
Wellwood are the half-dozen rookies expected to see significant ice time.
Bears fill the seats in Pittsburgh
Costumed fans greet Bryzgalov
RANDY MILLER
PITTSBURGH — Penguins fans dressed as bears were everywhere.
There was a polar bear in a front-row seat, a brown bear just to his left.
“There were like 70,” Jaromir Jagr said with a laugh after a Flyers’ 4-3 overtime win. “That was
good.”
Word apparently traveled across Pennsylvania pretty quickly that Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov
had answered a question earlier in the week about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ firepower by
saying the only thing that he was afraid of was “the bear in the forest.”
Bryzgalov looked like he was afraid of Penguins early into his Flyers playoff debut, but he shook
off a bad first period and turned his night into a winning one.
The Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 2:23 into overtime on a goal by Jakub Voracek, and
Bryzgalov’s play after the first period was a big reason.
Bryzgalov stopped just 10 of 13 shots in the first 20 minutes, but all 15 the rest of the way,
some of them on terrific saves.
“I knew what I had to do,” Bryzgalov said. “ I had to come back in the net and continue to
work.”
• Praise for Lavy: Flyers coach Peter Laviolette screamed at Penguins assistant Tony Granato for
the trigger-pull to a late-game incident two weekends ago, then started a postgame news
conference by calling Penguins coach Dan Bylsma “gutless.”
Bylsma finally responded before Game 1 of the Flyers/Penguins playoff series ... and his
comments were over-the-top complimentary.
Sort of.
Bylsma talked about Laviolette winning a Cup in Carolina and having a lot of success over his 2½
seasons with the Flyers, then concluded, “I’ve got a lot of respect for Peter as a coach and what
he’s done, regardless of the name calling.”
What had Laviolette upset was veteran center Danny Briere suffering a back injury with 1:03
remaining, the Flyers up three goals and the Penguins having their tough guys on the ice.
• Jagr’s future: When turning 40 in February, Jagr said that he’d decide whether to play in the
NHL next season after seeing how he did in the playoffs.
It didn’t take that long.
“I want to play next year, for sure,” said Jagr, who returned to the NHL this season after playing
the three previous seasons in a Russian league. “I want to play because I love the game. I know
I’m going to play. I don’t know where I’m going to play. But it doesn’t matter because I love the
game. I’m here right now and just want to get ready for this playoffs.”
Asked if returning to the Flyers next season is an option, Jagr said, “If they’re interested, we can
always talk about it. But this is ... after playoffs over then we can talk about stuff like that. Right
now there are a lot more important things than me.”
• Bourdon injured: The Flyers played most of the third period and overtime without rookie
defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon, who was lost to an undisclosed upper-body injury and listed
day to day. If Bourdon can’t play in Friday’s Game 2, Pavel Kubina will be back in the lineup.
• Empty netters: The Flyers improved to 35-37 all-time in overtime. They’re 3-2 in OT against
the Penguins, 3-1 in Pittsburgh. ... The Pens now are 6-1 all-time at Consol Energy Center, the
only loss coming in last week’s meaningless season finale. ... Defenseman Nick Grossmann, who
suffered a knee injury in the same game Briere was injured, returned and logged 20:25 of ice
time. ... Jagr has joined Twitter because he “was bored.” His Twitter handle is @68Jagr. ... The
Flyers will practice in Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. today
Penguins' Crosby has seen it all
RANDY MILLER
PITTSBURGH — The crowd smooshed together in front of Sidney Crosby’s locker was five deep,
and there was a lot of jockeying for position as the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar took
questions following Wednesday’s morning skate.
At one point, a television cameramen from Pittsburgh couldn’t get a clear shot, so he tried
pushing a reporter from Philadelphia in front of him out of the way.
Turning back for a look, the reporter said, “Where do you want me to go?”
Having the best view of the exchange, Crosby stopped talking midsentence, broke into a smile,
and said, “Playoffs — the intensity is starting already!”
Crosby knows the Penguins’ first-round series with the Flyers will be emotional and physical —
after all, there’s been a lot of old and new bad blood between these long-time Pennsylvania
rivals who aren’t fond of one another — and No. 87 knows he’ll be the biggest target.
The Flyers threw the first punch, overcoming a three-goal deficit to steal a 4-3 overtime victory.
Crosby scored 3:43 into the game for a 1-0 Penguins lead and assisted on a goal late in the first
that put the Flyers in a 3-0 deficit, but a big comeback made his night a frustrating one.
“We slowly got away from our game,” the Penguins’ 24-year-old captain said afterward. “It’s
really what it was. We slowly got away from things and let them get back into it.”
A moral victory for Crosby was he at least escaped a big hit, which probably will be coming at
some point.
“Obviously, Crosby is one of the premier players in the league,” tough Flyers right wing Wayne
Simmonds said. “You hit him whenever you get a chance.”
Crosby always gets a lot of verbal abuse when playing in Philadelphia, but the Flyers coaching
staff and players joined in over the days leading up to this best-of-seven Eastern Conference
showdown series. New York Rangers coach John Tortorella even hammered away at Crosby and
fellow Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin last week, calling them “whiners.”
Crosby laughed it off during his morning interview.
“I don’t really need any extra motivation to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s not anything that
really changes the way I approach a game or anything like that. Those are tactics that I’ve seen
for a long time, way before I got to the NHL. Some things never change, and that’s one of
them.”
Crosby sat out 102 games over the past two seasons due to concussions, but has looked like his
old self when healthy this season, scoring eight goals and 37 points in 22 games, including six
goals and 25 points in 14 games since making his latest return on March 14.
Despite all that production and feeling 100 percent healthy, Crosby doesn’t feel that he hasn’t
played like he’s capable.
“I think from a fan’s perspective,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said, “it would be tough to look
at him and say, ‘Wow, he’s not at the top of his game.’ He’s got 1.68 points a game. That’s
pretty darned good for everybody in the world. So he’s doing a lot of good things.
“I think as a coach who has seen him play a lot, there may be one or two things where you say
that’s not where he wants to be or he normally is. And the person who probably knows that
most is him. I know there are some things that probably mentally he checks off more doing the
game than he would if it were going naturally, and that’s probably the thing that he notices the
most. He probably doesn’t look different to anybody else, but in his mind he’s maybe thinking
about those things a little more.”
When healthy, Crosby has been a Flyers killer throughout his career with 27 goals and 66 points
in 39 games, a goal and three assists coming in three games this season. On a bigger stage, he
now has seven goals and 10 assists over 12 games playoff games against the Flyers.
Now it’s Crosby taking on the Flyers again, so the name-calling and perhaps more presumably
will commence.
“It’s not a new thing and it’s not something that came out of the woodwork that names have
been used,” Bylsma said. “Most of the names, the nicknames, for Sidney Crosby have originated
out of Philly and their fans and so forth, so it’s not anything new. Frankly the start of this series
makes it go away. It’s about playing hockey.”
Crosby seconds that.
“That’s there in every playoff series, somewhat,” he said. “Maybe not to this extent, but
nobody ever remembers really what’s said. You always remember who wins the series.”
Voracek's overtime goal brings Flyers back from 3-0 deficit
RANDY MILLER
PITTSBURGH — Here was the scene around noon Wednesday:
Flyers right wing Jakub Voracek sat on a bench in front of his locker soaking it all in. The Flyers
dressing room was filled with media making its way to some of Voracek’s star teammates —
first Scott Hartnell and then Jaromir Jagr and then Claude Giroux.
Voracek sat there by himself, then shared with a reporter standing nearby that he wouldn’t be
nervous before one of the biggest games of his life because he doesn’t get nervous.
A few hours later, the 22-year-old Czech was the man of the hour, the biggest hero in a room
full of them after the Comeback Kids improbably and incredibly did it again.
The Flyers trailed the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 after one period, 3-1 after two, and won anyway.
Voracek won it for the Flyers, his goal 2:23 into overtime finishing off their latest ridiculous
comeback, this one producing a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of a best-of-seven playoff series that they
already completely control.
“That was my first playoff goal, probably the biggest goal of my career,” said Voracek, whose
only previous postseason experience came when he was a rookie for the 2008-09 Columbus
Blue Jackets.
The Flyers were ambushed by the Penguins in the opening period but somehow withstood it
and, against all odds, fought and fought and fought their way back.
“To be honest, when we were down 3-0, we knew it was going to be tough to come back,” said
Voracek, who won it for the Flyers by banging in a loose puck from the right crease.
The Flyers have been stealing points after putting themselves in holes all season, and while they
keep saying that they can’t get away with that in the postseason, they did it anyway.
“It’s not winning hockey, that’s for sure,” Flyers winger Scott Hartnell said. “We’re not
supposed to get these wins. We were pretty lucky. We’ll take it.”
During the regular season, the Flyers overcame deficits of two or more goals 10 times to earn
points. Three times they earned points after trailing 3-0.
“It’s one game,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “They did a lot of what they’ve done all
season ... which is keep coming back from deficits. They kept chipping away. They don’t stop.”
Game 2 will be Friday in Pittsburgh, and if the Flyers win that one, they’ll head home with an
opportunity to sweep the Penguins, who entered this series as favorites.
The Flyers’ comeback began with a lucky break, a goal that shouldn’t have counted.
Center Danny Briere, back in the lineup and back in his usual playoff form, scored the first of his
two on a breakaway 6:22 into the second — even though he was offsides by a few feet when
taking a pass from Brayden Schenn.
Briere struck again 9:17 into the third to make it a 3-2 game, this goal coming on a wrister from
the circle.
Suddenly back in the game and armed with momentum, the Flyers promptly went on their only
power play, and Schenn turned his first career postseason game into something special by
scoring 12:23 into the third for a 3-3 tie.
Hartnell, the Flyers’ top goal scorer this season with 37, made a shot-pass from above the right
circle to Schenn, who timed his redirect perfectly and pushed it past Penguins goalie MarcAndre Fleury.
An overtime goal later, and the Flyers had stolen a big one.
“We can’t keep doing that,” Briere said. “It’s the playoffs. We got away with it tonight, but I
think we all understand that it can’t keep happening.”
Briere standing out in the playoffs was old-hat. He had just 16 goals over 70 games in a
frustrating regular season that included a long scoring slump and time missed with a
concussion, but he’s been a prime-time postseason performer throughout his career.
With these two goals, he now has 44 in 98 career games.
He’s done it so many times in the playoffs, I don’t think it should surprise anybody,” Flyers
coach Peter Laviolette said.
Early on, it was all Pittsburgh as Ilya Bryzgalov had a rough start in goal in his Flyers debut.
Right on cue, Laviolette immediately used up his one time out after Pittsburgh’s second goal to
change the momentum, but the Flyers’ fell farther behind before their comeback began.