The two headed Monster lives
No one knew which Pittsburgh Penguins team would take the ice on Wednesday night. Would it be the dominant back to back Stanley Cup Champions or the Penguins who play to the same level of bottom feeder teams show up? That question was answered 2:38 into the first period with Bryan Rust beating Flyers goaltender Brian Elliot blocker side to make it 1-0. The Penguins drew first blood in the war of Pennsylvania.
The battle roared on with the Penguins victimizing Elliot four more times before the Flyers finally decided to give him the hook in the second period. Flyers backup goalie Petr Mrazek entered the game facing a 5-0 deficit which meant he was just a finger in the dam. However, Mrazek was not able to plug the leak because the Penguins scored two more goals in the third period to make the final score 7-0. The Penguins came out flying with pressure and looked like the dominant team we hoped would show up. Granted, this is still a best of 7 game series so there is still plenty of hockey left to play. The hope is the Penguins can continue this brand of play heading into Game 2 Friday night in Pittsburgh. For the Penguins to remain successful against a team with no goaltending to speak of the top performers need to perform.
Sidney Crosby started his post season firing on all cylinders with a natural hat trick which caused the entire crowd to be stunned, excited, and loud. Crosby continued to put on a clinic by scoring out of midair. No one in the league matches Crosby's skill, professionalism, and drive. There are times when you wish he would shoot more but he is a selfless player who wants to spread the wealth. The Penguins play better when Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Hornqvist are all firing red hot. Malkin had a goal last night, beating the entire Flyers line when he came out of the penalty box. Not only was the crowd in Pittsburgh stunned after seeing multiple highlight reel plays but so were the Flyers.
The Broad Street bullies from the 70's would be embarrassed of the performance the modern day Flyers displayed Wednesday night. The Captain of the Flyers, Claude Giroux, said that was the worse game he has been part of. I think that might be an understatement considering a normally high flying and physical Flyers team were just dead. Wayne Simmonds, Flyers forward, is usually a thorn in the side of Crosby and an agitator. However, in game one Simmonds was barely heard from. The Flyers need to wake up and not look like orange and black safety cones to avoid a quick elimination. The electric energy in Pittsburgh will ignite the Penguins' fire and maybe the Flyers can rise from a warm smolder.
