First thing’s first, let’s be honest here for a second. The Flyers came out and earned this one tonight. It didn’t matter that the shots went 35-20 in favor of the Pens, either. Brian Elliott (who stunk like a fresh piece of dog shit in Game 1) came out tonight and played his balls off while the rest of his teammates in front of him capitalized on their opportunities. It’s as simple as that. Sure, this game would’ve probably turned out a little differently had Patric Hornqvist not hit two posts in the 1st period and Sid not fed one across the goal line early in the 2nd on the PP, but tis is life in the playoffs. Sometimes you get all the breaks like the Pens did in Game 1. And sometimes you don’t get any.
With that said, what the fuck. I’ll be the first to admit I thought this thing was only going four games after the Pens WALLOPED the Flyers in Game 1. Hand up. I ate the horse shit this time.
Apparently you only get one win for beating your opponent 7-0 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Who would’ve thought. My only explanation for this one is it’s Friday the 13th and some bizarre shit went on tonight. The Pens played a relatively solid game, and the scoreboard has nothing to show for it. Give Philly some credit, though. Tonight was the first time they’ve prevented the Penguins from putting up a 5-spot all year. All it took was Brian Elliott standing on his head for 60-minutes of hockey.
So here we are all nodded up at one a piece after two games. It’s a best-of-five series from here on out. If you’re worried after tonight, it’s time to get a little real as they say. Shit like this happens. That’s why they play a seven game series.
A few notes:
- The Crosby/Malkin lines were dominant in terms of puck-possession tonight.
Flyers total shot attempts at even-strength against Crosby/Malkin (18 minutes total)
Three. (3).
They get one on Elliott and the dam might just burst again.
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) April 14, 2018
- Matt Murray’s postseason shutout streak came to an end tonight at a resounding 225 minutes and 48 seconds. There’s basically one goal he could’ve prevented all night, and that was the third goal when Travis Konecny rocketed down the ice past Ruhwedel like the goddamn roadrunner and beat Murray glove-side (*gulp*).
Matt Murray's shutout streak is over at 225:48, a Penguins' postseason record.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 13, 2018
Not sure what else Ruhwedel is gonna do here other than try to hop on Konecny's back and hope. Unreal speed. pic.twitter.com/cLAJXZtlii
— nerd king geoff (@geoffwithano) April 14, 2018
- Tim Peel and his crew were fucking god-awful. No idea how this gets called an embellishment on Patric Hornqvist. This is easily a 5-minute major any day of the week.
Apparently this is embellishment from Patric Hornqvist. pic.twitter.com/0B1DPgVlSK
— Peep (@PeepsBurgh) April 14, 2018
- Horny played his balls off tonight (lol). He had one goal with about two or three other legit scoring chances. He was also all up in everyone’s grill the entire night like a motherfucking pest. Probably the only real highlight of the night for the Pens. Some processed based analysts may disagree.
Hornqvist finishing it just as you draw it up pic.twitter.com/bQk1X8Oa3d
— nerd king geoff (@geoffwithano) April 14, 2018
Bob Errey: "…and we got WWF going on beside the net." pic.twitter.com/ouNcwmLm2N
— Peep (@PeepsBurgh) April 14, 2018
- The Pens are still going to win this series.
.
.
And that’ll do it for Game 2. Stay tuned for the full recap in the am from Geoff (@G_Off817) per usual.
Go Pens.
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Follow Peep on Twitter: @PeepsBurgh
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