A Night at the Fights

This rivalry is fueled by a number of things, not the least of which is the fact that Pittsburgh has given Philadelphia the boot from the postseason each of the last two years. It has to feel good for the Pens entering this contest however finally at full strength with Chris Kunitz reconvening with his mates on Saturday night against the Panthers for the first time in nearly six weeks. The locker room always has a vibe of brotherhood between the guys on the team, but captain Sidney Crosby commented on how it feels to have the entire ensemble of talent back together saying: “It’s nice to have the whole group here back at it. When guys come back sometimes it takes time, but we’re a pretty familiar group of guys here.” That familiarity is only going to continue to gel together as these guys log more ice time together down the stretch before the Oylmpic break puts a huge dent into the month of February. As for the competition tonight and on Thursday as the home and home shifts to Philly, the Flyers now have a new face behind the bench as their former head man John Stevens lost his gig following a 2-10 stretch that ultimately sealed his fate last weekend. Their new leader is not at all unfamiliar with the duties and responsibilities of a head coach in the NHL as former Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette took over for the recently departed Stevens nearly two weeks ago now. His new position came with the unenviable stipulation of an injured starting goalkeeper as Ray Emery has been and will continue to be sidelined for several weeks with an undisclosed abdominal injury.

That being said, Brian Boucher has been hot of late only allowing one goal last night in the Flyers victory over a quality opponent in the Boston Bruins. He will be up against the now shockingly steady Marc-Andre Fleury who resumes his goalkeeping duties after getting a much needed night off on Saturday when the Pens took down the Panthers. The power play continued to struggle for Pittsburgh but came through when it counted with Evgeni Malkin winning the game in OT with his rocket over the glove of Tomas Vokoun. Of the Penguins power play goal to emerge victorious on Saturday night, Head Coach Dan Bylsma said: “I hope it’s what we needed. We’ve had some good power plays but not scored. … Sometimes the only thing we hadn’t done was score a goal. (Saturday), I think you saw us squeezing our sticks a little bit more on the power play, and sometimes you need a goal to release that.” With the extra man tonight hopefully some of that momentum carries over for the Pens as the puck is on the ice and things gets started with a chance for the Penguins power play to continue those good vibes as Matt Carle takes a hooking penalty for the Flyers in the early going. A shot from the point by Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang moves the biscuit onto the tape of Sidney Crosby who wastes no time blasting it into the open corner of the net to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. The history of violence continues between these two clubs as Philly’s Aaron Asham and Mike Rupp for the Penguins tango in what seems to be a bit of wash. The ensuing faceoff spurs an encore of sorts as Eric Godard drops the gloves with Riley Cote in an entertaining extended bout that was arguably one of the year’s best to date. This is getting out of hand quickly as a third fight erupts between Daniel Carcillo and Craig Adams where Adams takes a handful of heavy punches and looks to have been out hit in that particular tussle.

Finally it appears a hockey game may break out in the middle of this brawl as Crosby gets a puck to the pads of Boucher who lets it creep between his legs and into the crease where Bill Guerin pounces on it and buries it into the twine for a 2-0 Pittsburgh lead. Philadelphia threatens for the first time on the night midway through the opening frame as Jeff Carter flies down the right wing and rings a shot off of the post to the right of Fleury who stops two more shots on the following rush as the Flyers begin to bring some offense. Pittsburgh is caught with their hand in the cookie jar as Malkin takes a tripping penalty to give the Flyers a chance with the man advantage. Philly quickly capitalizes off of a faceoff win and a shot from the point that deflects twice before being tucked behind an already committed and down Fleury by Carcillo as the score narrows to 2-1. The action continues fast and furious as Malkin is penalized again this time for a trip to put the Flyers back on the power play. And on that power play the Penguins shorthanded weapon strikes again as Jordan Staal carries the puck into the Philadelphia zone and zings a wrist shot by the glove hand of Boucher to restore the two goal bulge for the Pens at 3-1. Fleury is called upon to fight off a few pucks before Pittsburgh finishes off the penalty kill and will carry their 3-1 advantage into the second period of action.

Quite an eventful opening frame that felt like a mini game unto itself with the animosity and the fast paced skating up and down the ice by both teams comes to an end but it doesn’t feel like the violence is over with for the night. The five on five action has been dominated by Pittsburgh thus far tonight as the 2nd period gets underway and the Pens will be on the penalty kill again early as Ruslan Fedotenko is whistled for interference in front of the Philadelphia net. Fleury absorbs a pair of Flyers shots as he receives some assistance from his penalty killers blocking shots with both Matt Cooke and Jay McKee thwarting some Philly chances as well to drain the Flyers time on the man advantage. Compared to the opening period this middle frame has been quite the yawner with over six minutes gone by and only two penalty minutes accumulated compared to thirty by that same point in the opening stanza. Malkin draws a holding call on Kimmo Timonen as he streaks to the net making an inside out move to give the Pens another chance with the extra man. The Penguins come up empty on their power play opportunity, but some hard work following the penalty expiration on a shift by Tyler Kennedy as he throws a puck into the slot that connects with the stick of Rupp and is just barely fought off by Boucher to keep the Pens from lighting up the board again. A give away in their own zone for the Flyers forced by Crosby on the forecheck as Kunitz steals a puck on the right wing boards and he drills a shot off of the post resulting in a rebound chance for Crosby that is frozen by Boucher. A suspect penalty is called on Rupp for roughing as he checks Ryan Parent into the boards on an icing whistle giving the Flyers a power play to close the period. Fleury is standing tall trying to maintain this two goal lead for the Pens heading into the 2nd intermission as he flashes the leather on a Mike Richards shot. Another buzzer beating goal as a Staal outlet pass to Crosby gets passed to Letang whose shot comes off of the pads of Boucher before the originator Staal cleans up the garbage to give the Pens a 4-1 lead to carry into the final period.

Yet another goal from Pittsburgh in the final minute of a period and those can really demoralize an opponent while simultaneously invigorating the scoring team. The Penguins look to keep the momentum rolling as the 3rd period gets going with a continuation of the physical element present in this one with Kunitz demolishing Carter on an open ice collision. Fedotenko is called for a boarding call on a hit to Carcillo to try and avoid the mayhem that could ensue if this one turns into a hitting contest. On the power play the Flyers appear to pull closer as Carcillo puts the puck behind Fleury, but upon further review it is clear that he kicks the rubber over the goal line and the tally is taken off of the board by the official. Pittsburgh kills off the penalty and Scott Hartnell (definitely the most hated player by 99.9% of Pens fans) begins to mix things up with Letang and gets a penalty for taking Letang’s twig and tossing it away from him to which will put the Pens on the power play once again. Hartnell is out of the box and things appear to be mellowing out just a bit as the level of physicality is calming nearing the midway point in the final period. A fantastic setup play by Malkin skating between the circles draws two defenders’ attention away from a free skating man as Malkin leaves the puck for Fedotenko who just blisters a shot into the netting behind Boucher for a 5-1 Pittsburgh lead. Daniel Briere is called for a hooking penalty which will give the Pens another chance with the extra skater. The infraction is killed off by Philly as both Staal and Guerin skate to the bench on the same shift after taking pucks to their respective skates which really appear to have hobbled the two of them. The extracurricular activity continues as Godard is sent off for a roughing penalty getting tangled up with Carcillo as the game winding down.

The Pens kill off the Godard penalty in dramatic fashion as Malkin streaks in on Boucher off of a ricochet and flings a beauty of a shot by the padding of Boucher to make the final margin of victory for Pittsburgh a 6-1 score. Fleury didn’t miss a beat here tonight after his game off only allowing the one Flyers goal tonight on the power play as he and the Pens will look to duplicate this performance in Philadelphia on Thursday. With the bad blood that was stirred up in the early portion of this contest, Thursday’s sequel definitely has the feel of a Godfather follow up rather than Dumb and Dumberer. It never gets old watching the Flyers and Pens crush one another with the fans at Mellon Arena screaming at Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards while the patrons in Philly crush on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. A good rivalry is one of those things that just can’t be worn out and this pre-Christmas gift is something to be thankful for whether you are a Pens fan, a Flyers aficionado, or just a follower of the game of hockey.

Tags: Aaron Asham, Bill Guerin, Boston Bruins, Brent Johnson, Brian Boucher, Chris Kunitz, Craig Adams, Dan Bylsma, Daniel Briere, Daniel Carcillo, Eric Godard, Evgeni Malkin, Florida Panthers, Jay McKee, Jeff Carter, John Stevens, Jordan Staal, Kimmo Timonen, Kris Letang, Marc Andre Fleury, Matt Carle, Matt Cooke, Mike Richards, Mike Rupp, Olypics, Peter Laviolette, Philadelphia Flyers, Ray Emery, Ruslan Fedotenko, Ryan Parent, Scott Hartnell, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby, Tomas Vokoun, Tyler Kennedy