Flyers give coach John Stevens extension thru 2010/11.
August 16, 2008
The Philadelphia Flyers signed coach John Stevens to a two-year contract extension on Thursday that will keep him with the team through the 2010-11 season.
The 42-year-old Stevens led the Flyers to a remarkable turnaround that included an appearance in the Eastern Conference finals in his first full season as coach.
“We knew it was just a matter of time before we got it done,” Stevens said. “I love being part of this organization and the direction that the team is heading.”
The Flyers posted a 42-29-11 record last season — a 20-win improvement over the 2006-07 season, in which they finished with the league’s worst record. Philadelphia lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals.
“John is very deserving of this new contract,” general manager Paul Holmgren said. “He is a very energetic coach who brings a lot of enthusiasm and passion to the game, and we look forward to working together over the next few years.”
Stevens has a career record of 63-71-22 since being promoted from assistant coach in October 2006.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Flyers RW Joffrey Lupul signs multi-year extension.
July 24, 2008
Forward Joffrey Lupul and the Philadelphia Flyers agreed to a four-year extension on Monday, keeping him with the Eastern Conference finalists through the 2012-13 season.
Lupul had 20 goals and 46 points in 56 regular season games for the Flyers last season, and had 10 points in 17 playoff games. He missed 26 games with a sprained ankle and a concussion.
“With the way that the salary cap is structured, we felt it was an opportunity to lock up another one of our young players and move forward,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. “He is one of our young, core players that we are really high on and we look for good things to come from Joffrey.”
Lupul has 77 goals and 84 assists for 161 points and 156 penalty minutes in 293 regular season games. He was acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers last July.
“It is not something that I was really expecting this summer,” Lupul said. “The Flyers kind of reached out to us after July 1. It was a great surprise and I am really thrilled. I have one year left on my contract and then these additional four more, so five more years with Philadelphia is great.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Philadelphia extends Flyers GM Paul Holmgren’s contract.
July 9, 2008
Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren agreed to a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the end of the 2011-12 season.
Holmgren led a remarkable turnaround in his first full season as general manager, helping the team with the worst record in the league in 2006-07 become a Stanley Cup contender before falling in the Eastern Conference finals to the Pittsburgh Penguins this past season.
“I am very proud of the job that Paul has done,” team chairman Ed Snider said. “He totally revamped our team and brought us back to respectability.”
The Flyers went 22-48-12 in 2006-07, but Holmgren engineered an offseason makeover, signing free agent Daniel Briere and trading for Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith. Holmgren also presided over the emergence of some of the team’s young talent, including 2003 first-round pick Mike Richards, who led the team with 75 points, and Jeff Carter, who recently signed an extension.
Philadelphia followed the raft of offseason changes by going 42-29-11. It finished fourth in the Atlantic Division with 95 points and earning the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Flyers beat the third-seeded Washington Capitals in the first round and dispatched the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens in six games before losing to Pittsburgh.
“I am positive he will continue to improve our team and to make sure that we are in contention for the Stanley Cup,” Snider said.
Holmgren, who coached the Flyers from 1988 to 1992, became interim general manager when Bob Clarke stepped down in October 2006.
The Flyers also announced on Monday the signing of free agent forward Arron Asham to a multi-year contract. Asham, originally a third-round pick by Montreal in 1996, had six goals and four assists in 77 games for the New Jersey Devils last season.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Philadelphia Flyers RW Sami Kapanen retires from the NHL.
June 4, 2008
Philadelphia Flyers right wing Sami Kapanen retired from the NHL on Tuesday and plans to return to Finland and play for a team he owns there.
The 34-year-old Kapanen spent the last five seasons with the Flyers and tallied five goals and three assists in 74 games last season. He added two goals in 16 postseason games as the Flyers went to the Eastern Conference finals.
Kapanen, a native of Vantaa, Finland, is a part-owner of KalPa Kuopio, the team he plans to play for next season. Kapanen got his start with KalPa in 1989.
“It’s time to move on,” Kapanen said at a news conference. “The plan is to play (in Finland) hopefully a couple more years, obviously depending on my health.”
Kapanen said the injuries he has struggled with in recent seasons and his decreased playing time led to his decision to return home. He hopes to play at least one more full season of hockey before retiring from the sport.
“I don’t want to leave the game on terms of disappointment and bitterness,” he said. “I want to go out having fun and playing the way I grew up playing hockey.”
A two-time All-Star, Kapanen had 458 points (189 goals, 269 assists) in his 12-year career with the Flyers and the Hartford Whalers-Carolina Hurricanes. Hartford drafted him in the fourth round of the 1995 entry draft.
“I know he wants to continue to play and I think it’s great he wants to play in Finland,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. “I think it’s important for these guys to play as long as they can.”
Kapanen is a three-time Olympian, playing for Finland in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 games.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Penguins advance to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals.
May 18, 2008
Sid and The Kids are off to the Stanley Cup finals, thanks to a dominating run by a younger-than-young Pittsburgh Penguins team that has taken only two seasons to transform itself from one of the NHL’s worst to one of its best.
Ryan Malone, the one Penguins player with firsthand memories of the team’s two previous Stanley Cup appearances, scored twice and set up a third goal and Pittsburgh routed Philadelphia 6-0 on Sunday to win the Eastern Conference finals.
The Penguins, dominating Game 5 from the start with Malone and Evgeni Malkin scoring in the first 10 minutes, will play the winner of the Detroit-Dallas series for the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings take a 3-2 series lead into Dallas for Game 6 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.
“It’s unbelievable just to realize we’re four wins away,” defenseman Ryan Whitney said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that these next few games are the Stanley Cup finals.”
Marian Hossa had a goal and three assists and Sidney Crosby, the 20-year-old captain of a team that was the Eastern Conference’s worst two seasons ago, added two assists. Jordan Staal, only 19, scored his third goal in two games and fourth of the series. Pascal Dupuis, an Atlanta teammate of Hossa’s before the two were dealt to Pittsburgh at the trading deadline, also scored.
Pittsburgh, one of the youngest teams to play for a championship in any major pro sport, goes for the Cup for the first time since 1992, when Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux — long before he bought the team — led the Penguins to their second title in two seasons. Malone was the only current Penguins player who was there, along for the ride as the 12-year-old son of then-Penguins scouting director and former player Greg Malone.
“Never, never would have thought it,” Ryan Malone said of someday playing for the Cup himself. “I don’t think I realized until my junior year of college (at St. Cloud State) I would have a chance to play pro hockey. … It’s pretty special, pretty special and I definitely feel privileged.”
By the time Dupuis made it 6-0 about four minutes into the third period, the Penguins were conjuring memories of their first Cup run in 1991, when they beat Minnesota 8-0 in Game 6 of the finals to secure their first Stanley Cup.
Crosby was presented with the conference championship trophy, but it remained on the presentation table at mid-ice as neither Crosby nor any other Penguins player touched it. By superstition, most teams decline to handle any trophy unless it’s the Stanley Cup.
Crosby said, “We all realized it’s not the one we want to be holding.”
“We want the big trophy,” Hossa said.
For the overachieving Flyers, it was a disappointingly bad finish to an unexpectedly good season. Last in the NHL overall standings last season, they made a series of productive offseason moves to rebuild in a hurry and not only made the playoffs, but upset third-seeded Washington and top-seeded Montreal before losing in the first all-Pennsylvania conference finals.
“We’re not happy with the score, but in the end if it’s 2-1 or 3-1, we still lost,” defenseman Derian Hatcher said. “The botttom line is they beat us and they’re a good team. We’re not going to make excuses, we lost to a good team. For where we were last year to this point, the team has made a huge turnaround.”
The Flyers fell behind in the series 3-0, just as Ottawa and the New York Rangers did in Pittsburgh’s previous two series, as the Penguins needed only 14 games to reach the Cup finals. They are 12-2 in the postseason and 8-0 in 47-year-old Mellon Arena, the NHL’s oldest arena but one that will host at least one more finals before the Penguins move into a new arena across the street in about two years.
Intensive arena negotiations with local and state leaders took years to complete before being finalized 15 months ago, and ownership flirted with moving the club if a building deal wasn’t done.
Now, the Penguins have won their past 16 at home dating to the regular season, not losing there since a shootout loss to San Jose on Feb. 24.
What a transformation for a Penguins team that had four consecutive last-place teams from 2002-06, allowing the franchise to draft key components such as Crosby, the 21-year-old Malkin and 23-year-old goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. In any other major pro sport, most or all would likely be in college or the minors due to their age.
Fleury, like Crosby a No. 1 draft pick when Greg Malone was running the Penguins’ draft, made 21 saves in yet another impressive performance and is 22-4-1 since late November.
“I think there was a great head scout there at the time,” Malone said, laughing, referring to his dad’s contributions.
Greg Malone didn’t get to watch his son’s big game Sunday, as the Coyotes scout was in Phoenix for organizational meetings.
Malone got a power-play goal with only 2½ minutes gone off Crosby’s pass from the right point, then created the Penguins’ second goal midway through the first. He outfought goalie Martin Biron for the puck behind the net, with Biron losing his stick, then made a backward pass so Malkin could reach around and stuff it inside the post.
“They came out strong and we didn’t match their intensity, I don’t know what is was, it was one of those games where they had it and we didn’t,” the Flyers’ Mike Richards said.
The Penguins are winning with a commitment to defense that often was lacking with a franchise that has long had a preference for goal scorers such as Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr rather than goal stoppers. They’re also winning with a coach, Michel Therrien, who was hired by previous management and, despite overseeing the fourth-best single-season turnaround in NHL history only last season, was given only a one-year contract extension.
“They have strong goaltending and good forwards and their defense is underrated,” Richards said. “They play a very good defensive game.”
Philadelphia welcomed back All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who missed the first four games of the series with a blood clot on his left ankle, but even he couldn’t make a difference as the Penguins put this one away early. They led 3-0 before the midpoint of the second period as Hossa scored his ninth of the postseason. By then, the sellout crowd of 17,132 was alternating its familiar “Let’s Go Pens” chants with “Go Home Flyers.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Flyers avoid sweep by Penguins in 2008 Eastern Finals.
May 16, 2008
A fast start by the Philadelphia Flyers gave way to a very nervous ending.
When it was over, they were still alive and happily facing what many figured was an unlikely return trip to Pittsburgh.
Joffrey Lupul scored the first of Philadelphia’s three first-period goals Thursday night and the Flyers extended the Eastern Conference finals for at least one more game with a 4-2 victory over the Penguins.
“We have the momentum right now, but we have to come out in Pittsburgh like we did tonight,” forward Mike Richards said. “We still have a desperate situation here. We know the mountain that we have to climb. As long as we take it slow and not try to win it in the first 10 minutes and play a full 60 we could have success.”
The Penguins’ smooth ride toward the Stanley Cup Finals got a bit bumpier and will now include a Game 5 on Sunday.
Just as they did after taking a 3-0 lead over the New York Rangers in the second round, the Penguins were beaten in Game 4. Pittsburgh wrapped up that series at home in its next chance, shaking off its only other loss in the playoffs (11-2).
Jordan Staal scored twice in the third period to get the Penguins close, but Lupul sealed the Flyers’ first win of the series with an empty-netter in the final minute.
“They had a good first period, and we didn’t,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “That was really the difference. We fought hard in the second and third … but it was just too little, too late.”
The Flyers followed the lead set Wednesday by the Dallas Stars, who stayed alive in the West finals by avoiding a sweep against Detroit.
This is all new for Philadelphia, which had been swept the five other times it trailed 3-0.
The Penguins are 7-0 in the playoffs at home and have won 15 straight. They defeated the Flyers 4-2 there in the first two games of the series.
“We want to finish it off,” Crosby said. “I don’t think you go into every series expecting to win four in a row.”
Only two NHL teams have recovered from an 0-3 deficit to win, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders, who rallied to beat the Penguins. Pittsburgh has led all three series this year 3-0, including a first-round sweep of Ottawa.
Richards and Crosby each earned roughing and slashing penalties and were sent to the dressing rooms before the final seconds ticked off.
“I think he thought I was trying to slash him, but I was just trying to move the puck forward,” Richards said. “He was probably angry that he wasn’t winning the hockey game and he tried to slash me. We can’t worry about getting undisciplined and running around like village idiots.”
Lupul got things going for the Flyers 8:27 in, and Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter scored power-play goals 7:02 apart to make it 3-0 in the first.
Martin Biron showed the form that backstopped series wins over Washington and top-seeded Montreal in making 36 saves. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots for the Penguins.
Staal, who returned to the Penguins following a one-day absence after the death of his grandfather, spoiled Biron’s shutout bid with 16:44 left. He scored again with 5:49 remaining to transform Wachovia Center from joyous to nervous.
After trailing 11-4 on the shot clock midway through the first, the Flyers broke out against the previously sharp Fleury and finished the frame with a 17-13 edge.
In Tuesday’s 4-1 loss in Game 3, Philadelphia managed only eight shots through two periods. The Flyers had 26 in the first 40 minutes this time.
Once they got the ever-elusive lead, the Flyers looked a little like the Penguins as they tried to clog up the neutral zone.
Pittsburgh has been doing that to perfection, allowing only 22 goals before Thursday.
In a period the Flyers had been waiting four games to unleash, Philadelphia scored three times to take control for the first time in the series. After netting five goals in falling into an 0-3 hole, the Flyers struck for three in a span of 10:23.
Not bad for a club that hadn’t been in front since the first period of Game 1, a lead that lasted only 1:21.
“It’s always nice to score first,” Richards said. “It allows us to play a little looser, and instead of playing from behind do things that we’ve had success doing.”
After going 1-for-9 on the power play in the first three games, the unit that was the NHL’s second-best during the regular season started to click. It took time for the Flyers to overcome the loss of top defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, who are out with injuries but could be back Sunday.
Randy Jones fired a shot as he glided along the blue line, and the puck bounced off Fleury into the slot. Briere squeezed his way past 6-foot-7 defenseman Hal Gill and swept in a rebound from his knees at 11:48.
Carter also scored from in close, banging away at a rebound of R.J. Umberger’s shot and finally knocking it past Fleury with 1:10 left in the period.
Philadelphia was successful in its first game with new lines. In an attempt to spark the offense, coach John Stevens moved Richards up to play with Briere and dropped down slumping forward Vaclav Prospal.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Flyers look to avoid getting swept by the Penguins.
May 15, 2008
A little more than two years ago, coach Michel Therrien - 11 games into his tenure behind the Pittsburgh Penguins bench - ripped his club for its evident indifference to defense.
Now, one win away from the Stanley Cup finals, the hard-nosed taskmaster looks back fondly on the night his club bought into the rough message he sent.
“When I came to Pittsburgh, the team was in last place,” Therrien said Wednesday. “When you’re in last place, there is a reason. They had good players, but the commitment, not only defensively, but the all-around commitment was not there.
“If you want to have some success, we had to change everything: the attitude, work ethic, and commitment, because we were going the wrong way.”
Not anymore. The Penguins are a stunning 11-1 in the playoffs and own a 3-0 lead for the third straight series. They can wrap up the Eastern Conference finals as early as Thursday when they face the Flyers again in Philadelphia.
The Wachovia Center had been a house of horrors for the Penguins, who lost four times there during the season. They broke through Tuesday with a 4-1 win made possible by Pittsburgh’s defense as much as its high-powered offense.
No one could have imagined a team boasting Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, would concentrate on playing a system based on forcing mistakes and protecting its end.
They even put the trap to good use. Pittsburgh cradled a 2-1 lead in the third period Tuesday before stretching it to a two-goal edge after another costly turnover by Flyers rookie Steve Downie.
Therrien might have been the biggest disbeliever in January 2006 when the Penguins were beaten by Edmonton for their eighth loss under his brief watch.
“It’s a pathetic performance,” he said then of his inherited club, that had allowed an NHL-worst 166 goals and got coach Eddie Olczyk fired. “Half of the team doesn’t care. … They’re doing the best job to be the worst defensive squad in the league. They turn the puck over, they have no vision. The guys don’t care. They pretend to care, but I know they don’t.”
They surely do now.
“Defense wins championships,” said 6-foot-7 defenseman Hal Gill, brought in at this year’s trade deadline. “If we keep playing well defensively, we have the firepower and it’s going to be there.”
That style didn’t seem to take hold right away in 2006. The Penguins lost their next game, too - a 6-1 drubbing at Columbus. What looked like another poor performance appeared a whole lot brighter to Therrien.
“Sometimes you can’t judge a team with results,” Therrien said. “The next game, they looked like a team. They looked like they cared. Even if we lost that game … that was the little light at the end of the tunnel. They showed a little bit more character. I remember that game like we just played yesterday. That was the first step to get where we are right now.”
Not only have Crosby, a rookie then, and the rest of the stars accepted the game plan, they have embraced it.
Through 12 postseason games, the Penguins have allowed only 22 goals. It’s not merely Gill and rising goalie Marc-Andre Fleury who have led the charge, it’s all the guys up front, too. Fleury is fully recovered from his severe ankle sprain and has a stellar 1.75 goals-against average.
“We have always been helping our D and our goalie the best we can,” said Hossa, another trade-deadline acquisition who has eight playoff goals. “We’re going to have great opportunities offensively. Right now we’re concentrating on playing well defensively. We just have to keep doing it to be successful.”
Countless times, Penguins forwards have chased opponents and forced turnovers from behind. Fleury faced only eight shots from Philadelphia through two periods Tuesday, a credit to those in front of him. They forecheck, backcheck, and have quite a knack for blocking shots.
“We know if we take care of our own end, hopefully, our skill will take care of itself,” Crosby said. “You have to believe in it, and you have to believe in what you do is going to work. We do that.
“There are some times where you can go out there and you know you’re doing something right, but you’re not sure if it’s going to work. That’s not the case with us. We really believe in what we’re going to do and we’re going to have success.”
The Flyers are trying to do that while facing long odds. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders have erased 3-0 deficits and won series.
Philadelphia took to the practice ice Wednesday with new lines. Trying to maximize their offense, Mike Richards will move up to play with Danny Briere, who has struggled this series alongside Vinny Prospal.
“Danny and I have had success on the power play,” Richards said. “At the beginning of the year when we were put up together it seemed like we had some chemistry. We’ve got to find ways to get to the net, get more pucks to the net and find them. Hopefully, we can do that together.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Flyers are on the verge of getting swept in Eastern Finals.
May 14, 2008
Ryan Whitney’s wide smile told several stories.
He and the Pittsburgh Penguins are one victory away from the Stanley Cup Finals, and the path was paved by his goal that was three months in the making. Quick strikes by Whitney and Marian Hossa raised the Penguins to heights not reached since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr donned the black and gold.
Whitney and Hossa scored less than three minutes apart in the first period, and the Penguins held the Philadelphia Flyers to 18 shots Tuesday night in a 4-1 victory that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
“This might have been our best defensive effort all year,” Whitney said.
Another victory against their cross-state rivals, and the Penguins will advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since Lemieux and Jagr led Pittsburgh to titles in 1991 and ‘92.
“We’re five wins away from our goal, but this next game is so important,” said Whitney, who scored for the first time in 30 games. “They’re playing for their season.”
R.J. Umberger, born in Pittsburgh, answered with a first-period goal for the Flyers, but the Pittsburgh defense then locked them down. That made things easier for Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 17 saves after a pair of 4-2 home victories.
Ryan Malone scored with 10:02 left to make it 3-1 and silenced a crowd hoping to see Philadelphia get back in it. Instead, the Flyers can be eliminated as soon as Thursday. Hossa added an empty-net goal with 53.7 seconds remaining.
Pittsburgh, which recorded 25 shots, is 11-1 in these playoffs and has led 3-0 in all three series. Detroit holds the same advantage over Dallas in the West finals, and can advance with a victory Wednesday.
“I don’t think any of us saw this coming, we’re going to be honest,” Whitney said. “We thought it would be battles against all three teams, but this series is far from over.”
The Penguins, who lost all four regular-season games in Philadelphia, are the first team since the 1983 Edmonton Oilers and the fourth overall to win 11 of their first 12 in the playoffs.
“I don’t know if we look at it as an accomplishment,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “We’re being consistent right now. We have a great attitude, but that’s the reward you get for making sure that you take each game seriously.”
History is on their side, too. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders have erased 3-0 deficits and won series.
“It’s pretty simple, we cannot lose again,” forward Joffrey Lupul said. “We are not going to quit. We are going to come out in Game 4 and play as hard as we can.”
The excitement and enthusiasm from the “Flyer-ed Up,” orange-clad fans was dampened by Whitney’s power-play goal 5:03 in, then extinguished when Hossa made it 2-0 only 2:38 later.
It was reminiscent of how Pittsburgh took out the Madison Square Garden crowd 62 seconds into Game 3 of the second round when Hossa scored against the New York Rangers.
“It felt a lot like that,” Whitney said.
The loudest noises that rained down at Wachovia Center came in the form of groans, first when Evgeni Malkin drew a questionable hooking call against Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher with a dive in the offensive zone, then when Whitney cashed in the Penguins’ third power-play goal of the series.
Hossa needed no help to further frustrate the Flyers. He stick-handled around Jeff Carter near the blue line, and sent a shot between the legs of Philadelphia defenseman Lasse Kukkonen, who screened Martin Biron as the puck sailed by at 7:41.
The goals came on the Penguins’ second and fourth shots.
While Crosby and Malkin and the rest of the Penguins passed the puck around as if they had it on a string, the Flyers struggled to generate offense. Given three power-play chances, of various lengths and manpower-advantages, in the first period, Philadelphia couldn’t muster a shot.
“Give them credit. They’re playing very well defensively and it seems that we’re reluctant to get the puck in deep and try to get by them,” forward Mike Richards said.
Philadelphia’s power play, the NHL’s second-best in the regular season, continued to struggle. The loss of top defense pairing Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn has proved costly. Timonen is likely out for the playoffs due to a blood clot in his foot, and Coburn missed his first game after being struck in the face by a puck Sunday.
The Flyers cut the deficit in half on Umberger’s 10th of the playoffs. The play was started by top-line forwards Daniel Briere and Vaclav Prospal, who were held without a point in the first two games. Prospal swooped behind the net and banked a shot off the right post. Umberger softly swept the rebound past Fleury with 9:01 left in the first.
In the next 29 minutes, the Flyers generated only three shots. They went into the third trailing 17-8 on the shot clock, but behind by only a goal.
Philadelphia’s best scoring chance in the second came when Richards got free after a turnover nine minutes in and was tripped up by charging defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who knocked away the puck.
With the score 2-1 and under 14 minutes remaining, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell hit the left post.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
2008 NHL Eastern Conference Finals Preview - Game 3.
May 13, 2008
Danny Briere laughed off questions about officiating and whether Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get more calls than they deserve.
He didn’t want to get too involved in criticism, especially now that the Philadelphia Flyers are down 2-0 to their cross-state rivals in the Eastern Conference finals.
Briere took an elbow to the back of the head from Malkin in the second period of Sunday night’s 4-2 loss in Game 2 at Pittsburgh. The shot left him dazed, and the Flyers forward missed a shift as a result of the unpenalized blow.
“That is something that should be called,” Flyers coach John Stevens said Monday. “We all know how the league is cracking down on blows to the head. If anybody knows that, it’s us.”
This season, Philadelphia’s Jesse Boulerice was given a 25-game suspension by the NHL, fellow forward Steve Downie was hit with a 20-game ban for a shot to the head of Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond, and Riley Cote sat for three following an errant elbow.
While Briere realizes that prominent players have gotten protection from officials as long as the NHL has existed, some consistency would be nice, too.
“I’ve never considered myself a superstar,” said a smiling Briere, who signed an eight-year, $52-million free-agent deal with the Flyers last summer. “Obviously, they might get protected a little bit more. That’s understandable, but when they do some of the cheap shots that they’re doing I think it would be fair for everybody that they get the same treatment in that regard.”
This is all stuff the Penguins have heard before.
Last round, the New York Rangers were upset about calls whistled against them. Their biggest gripe was the penchant of Pittsburgh’s players - especially Crosby - to embellish falls to draw a referee’s whistle.
No matter. The Penguins shook off that talk and eliminated New York in five games. Pittsburgh is 10-1 in the playoffs.
“I read some comments about John Stevens, about how he’s disappointed about some calls,” Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said Monday. “At the same time, we’re disappointed about some calls, as well.
“That’s playoffs. There are times you’re going to get a call, there’s times you’re not going to get a call. It’s not about complaining. It’s about playing the game. You hope to get the calls. It doesn’t happen all the time.”
Pittsburgh went 2-for-6 on the power play Sunday and took advantage of a questionable hooking call against hulking Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher who got his stick caught up with Malkin.
Philadelphia vowed to keep up its physical play because the Flyers feel they have to carry an edge if they have any hope of advancing to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1997.
“Big Hatch was trying to do the right thing there,” Stevens said. “If our players take penalties with their intention to do the right thing with effort on the play, we’ll live with the call.”
What they can’t live with is limited production from the line of Briere, Vaclav Prospal and Scott Hartnell. The trio is pointless in the series and a minus-7.
The Penguins practiced at home Monday and then endured delays as they tried to make it across Pennsylvania on a very stormy day. Upon arrival, they will face arguably the most volatile fans in the league.
Game 3 is Tuesday night in Philadelphia, and Game 4 is Thursday.
“I would say it’s a pretty tough place to play,” Crosby said. “At the same time, in the playoffs it makes for a great atmosphere. … They’re just a tough crowd. They’re not afraid to say anything.”
For the first time in these playoffs, the Flyers are returning home for a Game 3 in a 2-0 hole. In series wins over Washington and Montreal, Philadelphia shook off losses in the opener to race out to 3-1 edges. Washington won twice to force a Game 7. Montreal went out in five.
“The real important thing is that we feel we have another level and we’re going to hit that level (Tuesday) night,” Hatcher said.
The breaks that seemed to go Philadelphia’s way in the past now appear to favor Pittsburgh. A pair of 4-2 road losses have the Flyers facing what amounts to a must-win contest Tuesday.
“We’re 0-2 right now, and I don’t think we’ve played very well,” said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, who praised the officiating in the already-physical series. “We played better in the second game, but I think we have to play better if we expect to win a game.”
Both teams held optional practices on Monday, and Crosby took the opportunity to take a spin on the ice before hopping on the plane.
“Going home, they want to play well,” Crosby said. “Every game is important, but they want to make sure that they win this next one, there is no doubt.”
Philadelphia defenseman Braydon Coburn spent his morning visiting an ophthalmologist and undergoing tests to determine if he sustained any eye damage when he was struck in the face by a deflected puck Sunday.
The Flyers don’t believe his left eye was damaged, but it was swollen shut. Coburn didn’t break any bones, never lost consciousness, and didn’t suffer a concussion when he was hit early in the first period. He did, however, lose quite a bit of blood from a cut that required over 50 stitches to close.
That made his flight home Sunday night unpleasant as he had lightheadedness and vomited, Holmgren said. A final determination has yet to be made, but Coburn is expected to be out at least for Game 3. Ryan Parent, who played 22 regular-season games and dressed for the playoff opener at Washington, will likely take his place in the lineup.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Flyers lose to Penguins in Game 2 of Eastern Finals.
May 11, 2008
Losing on an Evgeni Malkin goal, or Sidney Crosby goal, the Philadelphia Flyers might understand.
Losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins on fourth-line forward Maxime Talbot’s goal will be very difficult for the Flyers to deal with, especially in a series that is fast slipping away from them.
Talbot, a checking line forward on a team renowned for its stars, scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Penguins took a two-game lead in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Flyers 4-2 on Sunday night.
Crosby and Marian Hossa also scored and Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal in the final minute as Pittsburgh came back to win after twice giving away leads.
Pittsburgh won the first two games at home for the third consecutive series, with Game 3 set for Tuesday night in Philadelphia. The Flyers won each of their first two playoff rounds after losing Game 1, but this is the first time they also lost Game 2 on the road.
“We’ve played in a Game 7 where if you lose, you go home,” said goalie Martin Biron, who made 34 saves. “Game 3 isn’t like that, but it’s as close as it’s going to get. I think we played pretty good, but we can play better. … It’s all about desperation and urgency.”
The Penguins’ game winner came from a player who had missed the previous three games with a broken right foot.
“It’s something special — I was happy as a kid just to be back out there,” Talbot said. “It was extra special to get the game-winner.”
Gary Roberts, who will turn 42 later this month, carried the puck behind the net after the Flyers’ Steve Downie turned it over the blue line, and defenseman Derian Hatcher went with Roberts. That left Talbot open in the slot, and Roberts put a backhander onto his stick for Talbot’s second playoff goal, at 8:51 of the third.
“He yelled for it, and I knew there was two D-men on either side of the net, so I kind of figured he was wide open so I threw it in front,” Roberts said.
Fitting that a player known as Mad Max scored the game winner in a peculiar game in which an apparent Pittsburgh goal didn’t count and the Flyers scored short-handed and on the power play but couldn’t score at even strength. And Crosby, one of the NHL’s biggest stars, got only his third power-play goal in 5½ months.
“It’s frustrating,” the Flyers’ Mike Richards said. “They got a couple of bounces.”
Still, Crosby said, “That has been the story for the playoffs so far, those guys have stepped up. And by ‘those guys,’ I mean, the guys on the third and fourth line have come up with some huge goals. They create a lot of momentum for us.”
Downie, scratched for Game 1, was inserted to give the Flyers more of a physical presence, but will be remembered for giving up the puck up on the decisive goal.
“Turnover, can’t happen,” coach John Stevens said. “That’s a costly turnover there.”
Philadelphia, desperately trying to avoid going down two games against a team with Pittsburgh’s speed and talent, had tied it at 2 when Richards intercepted Evgeni Malkin’s risky cross-ice pass on a power play, got loose on a breakaway and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a wrist shot with 24 seconds remaining in the second period. Despite allowing the goal, Fleury played another strong game by making 30 saves.
When Richards scored, the Penguins were pressing for a two-goal lead after Hossa’s power-play goal at 13:43 of the second made it 2-1. Hossa scored nine seconds into Hatcher’s interference penalty on Malkin. Hatcher also was off, for crosschecking, on Richards’ goal — Flyers’ second short-handed goal in 14 playoff games and the first allowed by Pittsburgh in 11 games. Pittsburgh is 10-1 in the playoffs.
“I’d like to see some consistency (in the officiating),” Stevens said. “We’ve got a couple of stars on our team, too. Derian Hatcher’s been around the league for a long time and he knows how to defend. I can’t be mad at Hatch.”
Crosby went six games without a goal before getting one in the Penguins’ 4-2 victory in Game 1, then put them up 1-0 with a power play goal midway through the first period — only the second game in 41 games dating to Nov. 24 that he scored with a man advantage.
Crosby’s shot from the right wing boards eluded goalie Martin Biron through a tight opening inside the near post for his fourth playoff goal. Crosby’s only three power-play goals in the past 5½ months are against the Flyers; he had two against them April 2 in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins thought they scored the second goal, too, as Sergei Gonchar’s backhander from along the goal line with the teams skating 4-on-4 late in the first deflected off Biron’s stick and Hatcher’s helmet and appeared to land down on its side across the goal line before Biron pushed it back.
Crosby, whacking at the puck from the side of the net, immediately put his right arm up to celebrate. But no goal was signaled on the ice, a call that stood because the NHL said its TV replays did not definitively show the puck crossing the goal line
The Flyers, apparently catching a break, tied on Jeff Carter’s power-play goal at 5:46 of second, his fifth goal but only his second on 10 games.
Philadelphia, already without top defenseman Kimmo Timonen (blood clot), played most of the game with five defensemen after Braydon Coburn was struck in the face by Hal Gill’s shot less than two minutes into the game. Coburn, struck near the left eye, left the ice bleeding and did not return.
“He got a really bad gash in his forehead across his eye,” Stevens said. “It’s pretty swollen and we’ll have to reevaluate him when we get home.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.