puckhead23

Flyers/Pens will be an awesome series

mike_eagles

Nothing beats hockey in May when your team is still in it! The battle of Pennsylvania starts Friday night.

The minor league teams for both franchises (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Philadelphia Phantoms) are also playing in their playoffs. The Penguins team is in my area and I love wearing my Flyers and Phantoms stuff to work That series is tied 1-1.

It should be an awesome series. Flyers won 5 out of 8 in the regular season this year. My prediction - Flyers in 7 games......

Snickers99

I'm going with Pens in 6...long series, that's for sure. I don't think 7 because I've watched this Pens team...when they lose, it pisses them off and they really kick it in during the next game. The last time they lost two times in a row was late February...one in OT, one in a shootout. The last time they lost back to back games in regulation was mid February, and before that, you'd have to go back to mid December.

In the West (which I admit I don't know much about), I'll go with Detroit in 6. I really want Dallas to make it, but Detroit's on a roll.

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mike_eagles

Baby Pens won last night in Philly.... Do they get any coverage in Pitt Snickers? They are up 2-1 in the series

Snickers99

Yeah, they do. There's usually a story with each playoff game and the paper does a pretty good job keeping people updated throughout the season. Pittsburgh is a pretty cool hockey town. Most papers in other cities don't bother with the farm team. We even got a playoff game or two on TV a few years ago when the Pens didn't make the playoffs. We even get some news on the Wheeling Nailers (next step down), but that's probably because they're only an hour away.

I think it's awesome the Phantoms play in the old Spectrum. How easy for the Flyers when they need a call up?! With the Pens, the poor guy usually ends up driving across the state.

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mike_eagles

miamipuck

The Pens/Flyers series comes down to can Malkin be stopped. Please do not give me this Sidney Crosby crap. Malkin is far and away the best player in the eastern conference and was the difference in the Rangers series, besides their (Rangers) stupid mistakes.

My guess is the Pens beat the crap out of the Flyers but I am still wondering how a mediocre team like that is in the conference finals. Anyway, it should be interesting watching the Detroit juggernaut go against whomever comes out of the east <cough> <cough> Pens <cough> <cough>.

Detroit will have the backline that can match up against the Pens forwards, no other team has that. Although, I still do not think much of Osgood. Like they say though you have to actually play the games first.

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mike_eagles

The Flyers weren't supposed to match up against the speed and scoring of the Canadians. And where are they now, at your local golf course..... The Flyers are the underdogs, exactly where they want to be as the other 2 series.

My guess is the Flyers will bring the physical game and try to bang the hell out of the Pens forwards. Puck possesion in the Pens zone, get the cycling going and look for the open shots.

Biron is going to have to come up huge again as he did against Montreal. Everyone is talking about the 2 big Pens scorers. No one is mentioning the Flyers are getting scoring from 3 lines. They had 8 players score over 20 goals this year. You can't key on one line. I really think this matchup is a lot more even than people are giving it credit for.

Big blow is Kimmo Timonen is out with a blood clot in his foot. Huge blow, he would be out there matched up against Crosby. Having not missed a second of the Flyers postseason, someone has always stepped up when the other was down. Look for a bug series from Umberger again. He scored the first goal in each of the games against Montreal.

Whatever happens, sit down and watch some playoff hockey at his best. Cross state rivals who truly do not like each other. Great stuff!

Snickers99

Freakin great game last night. What a sick shorthanded goal by Malkin. The guy was a force all night. Miami is on the right track w/Malkin. When Crosby was out with the ankle, Malkin took over. Crosby came back, Malkin kinda went into a shell. Well, a superstar shell, but he is a better and different player when Crosby is not in the lineup. Say what you want...come up with reasons why, but it's true. Finally, in the last Rangers game, Malkin started taking over. And he took over the game last night. Malkin is a different player than Crosby...hard for me to say which is better. Crosby will stick handle around you, Malkin will just go thru you (or stick handle...whichever he decides at the moment). It's a nice problem to have! Although Crosby is putting up points, he doesn't seem like he's doing a lot. Of course, if Hossa would finish all the great feeds Crosby's been giving him, Crosby would have a lot more points.

The Flyers had the tempo and the game early. Then the Pens woke up and slowly took control of the game. Mike, I don't know if it showed on TV, but it was amazing how the Philly D started backing up when we had the puck (my seats are in the end zone and the play comes right towards me). They let the Pens enter the zone with no problems most of the night. You can't do that against the Pens. They will eat you alive with passes and cycling.

It'll be interesting to see what adjustments are made for Sunday night. I think Sunday will be a big indication on how the rest of the series goes.

Puck...don't know if you saw it (I think they show it on Versus), but the Pens are doing what the Sabres did. We got the big screen outside Mellon Arena showing the game. A couple thousand fans show up to watch outside. Kinda cool, but it makes a tough parking situation even tougher. And last night, we had fireworks after the game! It's just great when a sports team does well in your city. The whole city is behind them and you can feel the buzz. Pens jerseys all over the place.

Kinda ticks me off because now I got people coming up to me at work all the time..."how 'bout them Pens??!?!??!". Yeah, where were you when we were 29th in the league? My ass was at the game. You were probably waiting for fucking Steelers camp to open so you could call in sick and go watch football practice. Seriously, the Steelers get a couple thousand people showing up at camp to watch the pratices.

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mike_eagles

Yes I agree the Flyers were backing up on D way to much. It was mentioned on versus too. The Malkin goal was one hell of a shot. But man he got rocked a few seconds before that. It was the Flyers fault for leaving him open like that. He was shaking the cob webs from the hit and look what I have the puck, he woke up and scored


You know what sports are like in Philly. The whole area is crazy. Of course the baby pens won the series so they move on. Was hoping all the local fans who couldn't spell hockey 5 years ago would go away. It is not you Snickers, but I have a bad taste in my mouth for Pit fans in MY AREA. Not the true fans. They all suck and have no idea what they are talking about.