OH1FlyersFan

While it would be nice to count on a 1-0 lead as insurmountable, and the way Bryzgalov was playing the first two periods it seemed like it might be, the rest of the Flyers' players, Coburn aside, needed to at least try and help that become so.

I was hoping Bryz would be able to steal this one. And I agree, it would have been nice to have had some offensive and defensive support.

I know I will get blasted for this but I think game 6 is our only chance to win this series. I am already chalking up game 5 as a loss. Pittsburgh goes into game 5 in their barn with a HUGE confidence boost and all the momentum now. Game 4 drained every last bit of momentum from the Flyers. The Pens will also most likely have Martin back as well as Adams and Neal, their top playoff performer before tonight. On top of that Bryz and Bob will go into game 5 with zero confidence after getting lit up for 5 goals a piece. It is completely clear that we got pre-March Bryz for these playoffs and he is "lost in the woods" again and proving to be the worst 51 million dollars anyone has ever spent. He will get lit up again on friday night for another loss, book it. Flyers must win game 6 in Philly. If it goes to game 7, we lose and become a part of history again, but this time on the pathetic loser side.

I don't disagree. We need to win on Sunday. But what burns me up most about losing this series, if we do lose it, is that Pittsburgh will be joining the club of teams that have come back from 3 games down to win a series. Can't we just do one thing without Pissburgh matching us, or doing us one better??? Now we have to add a 4th team to that noteable, historic, and maybe even elite group and it's the Penguins? And because they beat us -- not any other team -- but they got in at the expense of the Flyers! That's hard to stomach. Really hard.

I bet he'd rather just take home Tyler Kennedy.

How does he get away with it? Two reasons:

• He's not a Flyer; and
  
• He's a Penguin and beloved of the League!
  

I'm gonna go ahead and creep back out onto the ledge to start the 3rd period with the Flyers having blown two leads and now trailing......

the stick caught him across the chest and stuck under his shoulder pads as it was riding up. no contact with the throat, no real damage done.

You know what actually bothered me more about this incident than the stick to the chest, was actually the way Asham went after Schenn when he was lying face down on the ice. The punch to the head and what looked like an attempt to slam/push his head down into the ice when he was in a vulnerable and unprotected position. That's what really pissed me off. Not so much the check.

I'm just afraid there might be a free buyout this summer and it won't be taken on Bryz and then he'll suck again and we'll be stuck with him. I expect he'll be here but if he sucks everyone will blame Homer for not buying him out. Bob just can't be our backup.

With our luck, we'll buy him out, he'll get picked up by the Leafs or Islanders and have the best 9 years of his career ever shutting the Flyers out every game he plays against them while going on to win 7 Stanley Cups for his next team. That's how things work out for the Flyers. It really is a curse. Hehe.

It think the team has to sacrifice JVR for a big time young dman and also draft a good dman in the draft this year. We have to realize Timmo has one year left ,and Pronger is not coming back, so we gotta stock up on defense.

AMEN!

Lavs was a few steps late w/ everything all night

I thought so too. I was looking for a timeout much earlier to settle things down. Like after we blew the second powerplay and Malkin came right out to score. The cracks were already showing. It's interesting we all saw the same thing - that after that first goal we knew it was going to be a bad night. When you've been watching a team as long as we have, you can definitely pick up on the nuances - when things are going to be good and when they are not!

Never again. I'd rather suit up myself. And I do NOT want to do that.

Compared to how Bryz and Bob did tonight, how could you be any worse? I'd be really ok with you suiting up just to shake things up a bit. Hehe.

@Lindbergh31. Good points. But it's precisely because of who the Pens are that we have to make sure we get focused for the next game. Because they are the favorites, because they are favored to go to the Cup Final. Teams like that will eventually right the ship, figure out the problems, get their confidence back, and then get very hard to beat. We need to get really serious about taking advantage of the three chances we have to steal this series or it will slip away -- for the very reason you mention......because anything short of going to the Final for the Penguins is a disaster. They are going to use all the skill and experience they have on that team to prevent that disaster from happening. And now they've smelled a little blood in the water.

I wouldn't bet against it. The same thought crossed my mind. The announcers made a big deal about how he didn't tap Bob on his way out to replace him in goal and how he was just sitting on the bench looking totally out of it. My thought was he's lost in his head and it's going to take a while to find his way out. But by then, this series will be over. Let's hope Bob can step up.

We'll see if the Flyers can rally like the Penguins did after Game 3. And all credit to them. They deserved to win, we got exactly what we deserved. The Flyers' collective head was not in the game.

The problem with this being only one game is that it can quickly turn into 2 - especially now that the Penguins are taking this huge momentum boost back home. And then at 3 games to 2, who knows.

Our goaltending worries me. Not so much when our offense is firing on all cylinders, but you can't count on that every game - our goalie is going to have to steal one of these. Maybe his one steal was game 1. He needs to keep us in the game. That's not happening. But for our offense, and some poor goaltending by Fluery, we'd be done. Letting in 3.96 goals per game, now take that average up with the 5 he let in tonight, is going to kill us. If Fleury finds his game, it's going to get really, really tight.

I thought this post was about our goaltending........

Rinaldo gets 30.

Flyers totally weren't focused. Despite the great start. When they didn't score on that second power play to start the game, I got a little nervous. Then the wheels came off. What's up with Bryz?

My prediction: Flyers win the series 4-2. They lose on Friday in Pittsburgh because they're rattled and can't recover from this loss. Goaltending is in flux, Bryz can't get his head screwed on straight. That's my biggest concern. Best chance to clinch the series is back in Philly on Sunday. If the Flyers don't win there, Pittsburgh comes back to win the series 4-3. But right now, I'm predicting Flyers win it, 4-2.

If the Flyers actually were the Slap Shot stereotype the league would like them to be, they could legitimately spend the next two games doing absolutely nothing but beating the living snot out of Crosby, Malkin and Letang like a cat with a ball of yarn and STILL win the series at home in Game 6.

They are, of course, not that team.

13 to go.

I would click "agree with" if I could find the button. Great post!

the rule allows for the league to revoke the suspension at their discretion. in malkin's case, it was not wanting to influence a playoff game with a technicality. adams does not have anywhere near the impact malkin does, and i can't see the league extending that deference to a 4th line mucker.

I agree. It shouldn't extend that deference to a fourth liner. And not to dredge up past League decisions, but it should not have deferred in the Malkin case. You're either an instigator or you are not. It should be applied consistently. I don't like the fact the league has discretion. Creates too many opportunities to play favorites. Or creates the perception of playing favorites.

That ship sailed years ago.

You're right. The S.S. NHL Consistency hit an iceberg years ago and went down quicker than the Titanic with all hands.

adams got an instigator with less than 5 minutes. supposedly, that's an automatice 1 game suspension.

But Malkin doesn't get suspended in Detroit for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals despite drawing an instigator penalty in the final 19 seconds of a 3-1 loss to Detroit in Game 2. I'd bet money that Adams gets a pass too - if the NHL is going to be consistent with how it assesses penalties (or doesn't) to the Pengiuns. If the League is going to be inconsistent with such penalties, then he should get a game suspension.

B21 is a Pens fan and a longtime poster from the philly.com board. He's just sticking up for his team. The guy is a good member of this board and is far from a troll. I for one like having fans of other teams, as long as they're respectful, which he is.

Just shades of Buffalo Rick, then. Not a full blown troll. Good to know. I liked arguing with Buffalo Rick and Kuato too. I guess after a while I just found it a little wearisome which is why this board is so refreshing. Listening to this guy kinda reminded me of the old days. I'm sure he's a great guy.

you know 4-5 phantom make up calls are gonna happen friday. flyers will have to pot 6 goals to get out with a win

You pretty much called that. The game winner was the 6th goal.

So is B21 really BuffaloRick? Maybe he's just taken up that torch. Ah, the good old days. Just like being back on the Philly.com Board with all the trolls. Hehe.

Flyers 8 Penguins 5

This is shades of John Stevens. Bylsma may show even less emotion during the game than old coach John did.

LOL! Thanks for my 15 minutes.

Issuing a official statement and answering a question in an interview are two completely different things.

"... Campbell told The Canadian Press in an interview."

Let me ask you a question...if the interviewer asked Campbell "So Colin, what are you thoughts on Flyers fans?" and Colin replied "They are a bunch of whiney b i t c h e s who are bitter over 37 years of futility and because I turned down their GM job...." does that become the league's official stance on Flyers fans?

I would answer "yes"!! But then, I thought that already was the League's official position on the Flyers. Even though @irishjim didn't go so far to admit to a League Conspiracy in his original post, which I totally agreed with, I'll do it here - the League, led by Bettman and Campbell, are conspiring against the Flyers!