Recapping the Six Games of the Pens-Flyers 2011-12 Season Series
Follow me on Twitter @JohnToperzer
Philadelphia beat the Pens, 3-2, on December 8 at Wells Fargo Center. Daniel Briere, Wayne Simmonds and Scott Hartnell all scored to give the Flyers a commanding 3-0 lead midway through the second period.
James Neal netted a power-play goal at the 14:10 mark of period 2, with Evgeni Malkin and Matt Niskanen picking up assists. Malkin then scored eight minutes and 21 seconds into the final frame but the Pens would get no closer.
Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win: Marc-Andre Fleury allowed three goals on 29 shots in a losing effort.
Pittsburgh played without the services of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang. Crosby collided with Chris Kunitz and tussled with the likes of David Krejci and Milan Lucic three days earlier. The Penguins centerman had played in the team’s eight previous contests, compiling two goals and 12 points.
Letang also missed the game. He suffered a broken nose and concussion Nov. 26 in Montreal and would not play again until Jan. 19. Paul Martin led the Pens with 29 minutes of time on ice against the Flyers.
Tyler Kennedy and Harry Zolnierczyk drew the game’s only fighting major.
*****
December 29 marked a homecoming of sorts for Jaromir Jagr and Max Talbot. Penguins fans had the date circled when the schedule was announced and intended to give Jagr an earful. The former Pittsburgh superstar scorned the Pens in favor of Philadelphia after spending three seasons playing in Russia.
Jagr had the last laugh in this contest, scoring a go-ahead second-period goal while helping to lead the Flyers to a 4-2 win at CONSOL Energy Center. Kimmo Timonen (1,1) and Jakub Voracek (0,2) registered Philly’s only two-point nights while Talbot added an empty-net goal.
Tyler Kennedy scored one goal and assisted on another. Jordan Staal got things started with a goal 44 seconds into the game, but the night belonged to Jagr and Talbot. Interestingly, both players would finish 2011-12 with 19 goals apiece.
Crosby and Letang again sat out and the likes of Alexandre Picard and Justin Williams suited up for Pittsburgh.
Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals on 22 shots; Sergei Bobrovsky continued his CONSOL excellence, limiting the Pens to two goals on 26 shots.
There were no fights in the game.
*****
The Pens moved into a tie for fifth-place with the Flyers when they won, 6-4, at Philly on February 18. Jordan Staal scored a shorthander and Matt Cooke notched two goals, including a rare 3-on-5 goal against Ilya Bryzgalov. The Flyers $50 million man was pulled after surrendering three goals on 13 shots. Sergei Bobrovsky didn’t fare much better, giving up another three goals on 17 Pittsburgh attempts. The win was Pittsburgh’s first after two losses to its cross-state rival.
Sidney Crosby sat out his third straight game against the Flyers, but Matt Cooke was all the Pens needed. Cooke finished with three points, including two goals, and was named the game’s No. 1 star.
Jaromir Jagr scored two goals from the right circle on nearly the exact same shot 18 seconds apart, giving Philadelphia a short-lived lead. His first goal came during 4-on-4 play and the second, 4-on-3. Pittsburgh would do well to watch the 40 year-old in similar situations in the postseason, should they arise.
This contest also highlighted the current situation of after-the-whistle confrontations and scrums. Looking back, Braydon Coburn cross-checked Evgeni Malkin early on with no call and then did it a second time for a Pittsburgh power play at 4:07 of the first period.
Deryk Engelland then laid the hammer down on Claude Giroux as Scott Hartnell fed Giroux with a sucker pass at the Pittsburgh blue line. Engelland hit Giroux and his own defensive partner, Kris Letang, so hard that they both fell to the ice. Engelland’s clean shoulder-to-shoulder check set the tone for the remainder of the day.
From that point on, it seemed as though coach Dan Bylsma also had the confidence in Engelland to split up Letang and Brooks Orpik – who registered a plus-4 rating in the win. The aforementioned Letang saw his first action against Philly, going plus-2 in a team-leading 23:24 of ice time.
Fleury made 27 saves, including a beautiful pad save on Giroux during a second-period power play, for his first win in three decisions against the Flyers.
Pittsburgh scored five goals in the final 25 minutes of the game.
Malkin led Giroux in the point race, 70 to 68, after the Penguins win.
ROOT’s Bob Errey had one of the best lines of the season. After Hartnell engaged Malkin, the Penguins superstar stayed on the ice. “Malkin, he’s one of those the guys, he hears something in the basement he’s not going to run away, he’s going to go down to see what that noise was.”
Hartnell engages with Joe Vitale late in the third, too. “Hartnell’s just trying to bulk up his penalty minute total up,” Errey said. “I guess maybe they’ll give him a 10. He’s happy with that, he’s had a great year.”
*****
The two teams met exactly one month later, on March 18, at Wells Fargo Center. Sidney Crosby made his first appearance in the six-game regular-season series. The Flyers won, 3-2, in overtime. One tick remained when Scott Hartnell beat Marc-Andre Fleury, ending Pittsburgh’s 11-game win streak.
The Pens led 2-0 heading into the third on goals by Craig Adams and Evgeni Malkin. A power-play score 31 seconds into the third by Kimmo Timonen and a goal four minutes after that by Hartnell knotted game at two goals apiece.
The lesson in this game for Pittsburgh is not to be goaded into bad retaliatory penalties. Skilled players -- Kris Letang, Chris Kunitz, James Neal and Evgeni Malkin – totaled eight of the Pens’ nine minor penalties against the Flyers. Kunitz, in particular, has seemed to draw more than his fair share of bad penalties.
Ilya Bryzgalov started for Philly and made 38 saves. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 of 27 in what proved to be one of the tougher losses of the year.
Again there were no fighting majors for the third time in four meetings.
Sidney Crosby was kept off the scoreboard in 17:37 of ice time in his second game against Philadelphia.
Craig Adams (1,1) and Kris Letang (0,2) each had two points.
*****
The fifth and last of the meaningful matchups took place on April Fool’s Day in Pittsburgh. Jakub Voracek notched two goals and an assist, Claude Giroux had three points (1,2) and Flyers coach Peter Laviolette earned a $10,000 fine for his confrontation with Pens assistant, Tony Granato (who was fined $2500).
The third period featured these penalties.
01:12 PIT Chris Kunitz : Interference - 2 min
09:09 PIT Matt Cooke : Slashing - 2 min
18:57 PHI Brayden Schenn served by Jaromir Jagr : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PHI Wayne Simmonds : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
18:57 PIT Deryk Engelland : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
18:57 PHI Pavel Kubina : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PIT Arron Asham : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PHI Marc-Andre Bourdon : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PIT Craig Adams : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PHI Danny Briere : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PIT Joe Vitale : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
18:57 PHI Brayden Schenn : Roughing - 2 min
18:57 PHI Zac Rinaldo : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
18:57 PIT Arron Asham : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
18:57 PHI Jakub Voracek : Delay of game - bench - 2 min
18:57 PIT Paul Martin : Delay of game - bench - 2 min
18:57 PIT Matt Niskanen : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
After the game, Philadelpia coach Laviolette leveled a number of charges against Bylsma, specifically calling him "gutless," per
csnphilly.com.
Because guys hadn't played twelve minutes and it's a gutless move by their coach. And you know just. You know it's got us that it took exception to -- To hit them. You know a -- ten guys joined together near the center ice and you know I've. My together coached in light to. Do it and took a stick and broken over the glass and that's -- up -- our bench. And that's pretty much what ensued.
Flyers assistant Craig Berube also reportedly called Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby the two dirtiest players on the Penguins.
NBC analyst Mike Milbury spoke on Philadelphia radio, according to
ESPN.
"Little goody two shoes [Crosby] goes into the corner and gives a shot to Schenn. Schenn was late to the party, he should have turned around and drilled him right away, but I guess better late than never," Milbury said.
"So you know, Crosby gets cross checked, big whoop. He said after he came back from his 35th concussion, 'I'm not going to do this anymore, I'm not going to get into this scrums, I'm going to stay away from that stuff.' He couldn't help himself because there's a little punk in Crosby.
"He's not the perfect gentleman. He's not the sweet kid you see in interviews with his hat pulled down over his eyes."
Joe Vitale leveled Daniel Briere with a clean check that Laviolette took offense to and Brayden Schenn unnecessarily cross-checked Sidney Crosby.
Steve Sullivan scored two goals for the Penguins, Kunitz had a goal and an assist while both Malkin and Crosby chipped in with two helpers.
Sergei Bobrovsky improved to 5-0 at CONSOL, stopped 35 of 38 shots; Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 25 shots.
*****
Pittsburgh won for the first time at home against Philadelphia, 4-2, in the season finale April 7. Evgeni Malkin scored his 50th goal and Pascal Dupuis ran his point streak to 17 games. Brent Johnson got the win after replacing Fleury midway through the game. Sergei Bobrovsky suffered his first loss at CONSOL, giving up four goals on 23 shots. Philadelphia kept Claude Giroux out of the game but Pittsburgh played both Malkin and Sidney Crosby.
*****
Tweets
Pens Inside Scoop @PensInsideScoop
Pens coach Bylsma: Niskanen skated this morning. Lineup will be game-time for Game 1 -SK
Josh Yohe @JoshYohe_Trib
Pens working extensively on power play this morning.
Shelly Anderson @pgshelly
#Penguins practicing six-on-five, as with the goalie pulled. Fairly unusual to work on that.
*****
Penguins Practice Lines
Kunitz-Malkin-Neal
Sullivan-Crosby-Dupuis
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Asham-Vitale-Adams
The seven defensemen rotated.
Penguins Power-Play Units
The first unit: Letang, Crosby, Malkin, Neal and Kunitz.
The second unit: Martin, Sullivan, Cooke, Staal and Kennedy.
Matt Cooke returned to practice Tuesday.
Matt Niskanen (shoulder) skated before practice and is a game-time decision.
*****
RINK LINKS
Big Screen viewing returns to CONSOL Energy Center for Round 1, the
Penguins' Web site reports.
Dupuis re-invents game to assume scoring role, the
Penguins' Web site reports.
Crosby regaining his hockey instincts, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Sullivan, Neal appear ready to go, according to the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Jagr on reconciliation with Pens: "Not in my control," per the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Tested Flyers coming together at right time, the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
*****
Treasure Life!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»