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A Deserved Win – 20 Observations from Flyers 3, Penguins 2
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The Flyers deserved that win. They were the better team for about 56 of the 60 minutes in a 3-2 victory against the Yinzers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
More than anything, the moment didn’t look too big for them. They seemed completely settled and confident right from the puck drop, carved out some quality 1st period chances, and laid a handful of big hits on the Yinzers.
They looked like a team carrying a quiet type of assurance as a road underdog.
At one point, it seemed like it might be one of those games where the opposing goaltender goes on a heater, and you get stuck with a tough result. But they broke through against Stuart Skinner halfway through the second, weathered a bit of a storm at the end of that period, and then completely outplayed the Penguins in the third.
Some observations from the Game 1 win:
1) The Penguins’ all-yellow uniforms are so bad. They should never wear those again. Going through social media, it appears as though their fans feel the same way.
2) It was good to see Rasmus Ristolainen put Bryan Rust on his ass 30 seconds into the game. A tone setter. Of course, he took a penalty a minute later, so an eventful start to his first playoff game ever. Welcome to the postseason!
3) Doesn’t get much better than that early chance for Christian Dvorak. What a pass from Porter Martone. A goal there would have SILENCED the Yinzers.
4) Flyers’ first penalty kill was solid. One good look for the Penguins with Egor Chinakhov trailing and firing from the high slot, but they looked really comfortable and didn’t give Pittsburgh much of anything at all.
5) Kris Letang’s old ass with the tripping penalty on Tyson Foerster after a picked pocket. Surely these guys’ legs aren’t what they used to be.
6) Obviously a pretty easy call on the disallowed Flyers power play goal. Both replay angles showed the contact from Dvorak on Skinner way before the puck went into the net.
7) DIRTY-ASS SIDNEY CROSBY RIPPING OFF JAMIE DRYSDALE’S HELMET!
8) Denver Barkey had some great moments towards the end of the 1st. That cross ice pass for Matvei Michkov was close, then the centering pass for Noah Cates followed by some dirty work in the corner. He was making things happening with some direct and uptempo play.
9) Chinakhov being interviewed after the first period:
Taylor Starling, looking badly beaten up but still enthusiastic with an interviewer saying, “It was really tough — I enjoyed it. It was definitely a different ball game, but I had a blast. So, thank you.”
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10) Trevor Zegras with a huge chance to start the second. Then Cates. I’m telling you, they can catch these slow and old dudes on the rush.
11) Another breakaway, this one for Owen Tippett. Skinner another save. Nothing doing on these clear cut chances, then go figure they put some traffic in front of the net and get the first one to go:
12) Crosby flopped for a penalty shortly after the opening Flyers goal –
“Penalty on Philadelphia #6, two minutes for touching the Golden Boy.”
13) There were a couple of moments in this game where Coots looked like Usain Bolt. Was he saving it all year long, or are the Penguins just that old and slow? The captain played with a lot of jam on Saturday night.
14) Kind of a shit goal for the Penguins’ opener. The Flyers were on some long shifts and kind of backed up in their own zone. Dan Vladar makes the initial save, puck bounces back out, Sanheim and Cates can’t get there, and Malkin’s old ass goes five-hole. Really annoying. It felt like the Flyers were starting to run out of steam towards the end of the second and needed to get to the intermission.
15) I present to you, cause and effect:
16) Neither team’s power play was anything to write home about. There was a high stick on Martone about five minutes into the third and the Flyers didn’t put a shot on target in those two minutes. TK did put a one-time pass into the slot for Dvorak, who didn’t look like he was ready for it.
17) Man, what a goal from Sanheim. Stepped up, skirted a Yinzer, put it on his left, and bang bang! –
18) Barkey got himself a clean look in the third period, stopped by Skinner. They carved out so many good chances and he stuffed all of them. The only two that got by him had traffic in front, until Martone fired a LASER:
19) Flyers did such a good job of getting sticks on pucks, bothering passing lanes, and making hustle plays overall. There wasn’t any part of the game where you thought they were getting outworked, outside of maybe the end of the 2nd when they were struggling to get out of their zone. It was really impressive how calm and collected they played for most of this game.
20) Finally – Dan Vladar played a nice game. The second goal he can’t do much about, just an unlucky bounce and the puck falls right to Rust in the slot. But Vladar was steady throughout and made a huge save with just a few seconds on the clock to preserve the W.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com