SORE LOSERS

The Flyers Flyered-up the end of Thursday night's 5-4 loss to the Penguins, and let's just say The Tanger wasn't too happy with the behavior of one Scott Hartnell. Was it a bite? Hartnell says no, but I think everyone reserves the right to be skeptical.

Yes, it was your typical Pittsburgh-Philadelphia game: ample penalties (Geno Malkin alone took four), hard hits, multiple "Crosby sucks" chants, nine goals, and flying fists - in other words, it was much more entertaining than the Pens' snoozefest with Phoenix just a night earlier.

Despite those four penalties, Geno Machine-o took home the game's #1 star with a goal and an assist. Alex Goligoski, Jordan Staal, and Bill Guerin each found the back of the net for the first time this season, and once again, Tyler Kennedy, Mr. Clutch, got the game-winner. Is there a new Mr. October in sports?

Jeff Carter wasted a four-point night for the Flyers, who lost for the first time this season despite holding Sidney Crosby pointless (and for the second night in a row - gasp). So much for Chris Pronger putting the Flyers on top, although that was a sweet misconduct he notched at the end of the game.

Each team is now 3-1, and the Pens suit up for action next on Saturday night at Toronto.

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By the way, I forgot to link this the other day, but Mark Madden did a list of the Pens' top rivalries earlier this week (scroll down his page for the post), and the Flyers landed at #1. I must say, this is one tough list to compile. I could see the case for any of his top-3 to lay claim to the #1 spot.

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GAME, SET, MATCH.

PENGUINS 5
FLYERS 3

As hockey fights go, it was forgettable. Max Talbot, after a goat-worthy turnover that led to Mike Knuble's first-period goal, got his A&L Motors-loving tail beat by stereotypical Flyer goon Daniel Carcillo. But from a momentum point of view, what Talbot did in sparking his team can never be measured. All that we can definitively say is that before the fight, the Penguins were down 3-0. And after the fight, the Pens began chipping away and gradually took the lead back from Philadelphia, finishing off the Flyers with a Sidney Crosby empty-netter with 28 seconds left. For their efforts, the Penguins get a ticket to Round Two, and the Flyers leave their fans with the parting gift of watching a handshake celebration on home ice. Couldn't have happened to a nicer fan base.

From the individual-effort angle, Marc-Andre Fleury had himself quite a game, despite his stats showing three goals allowed. He shut out the Flyers over the last 36 minutes of the contest, finishing with 22 saves on 25 shots, including a biggie on Jeff Carter in the third period. The only iffy goal he allowed was the Flyers' second, by Joffrey Lupul, towards the tail-end of the first period. It was the strong performance the Pens needed in goal.

The stars also rose to the occasion on this afternoon, with two goals from Crosby (one being the empty-netter), and a two-assist, first-star game from Geno Malkin. As Flyers coach John Stevens said of the dynamic duo, "I just thought Malkin and Crosby almost looked like they took the game over, to be honest with you".

Sergei Gonchar stepped up after a quiet series with the eventual game-winning goal, his first of the series. And getting goals from non-traditional sources such as Ruslan Fedotenko and Mark Eaton were part of the solution to a team mired in a recent goal-scoring funk.

So the Penguins move on in six games, like many prognosticated, while the Flyers make tee times for Sunday morning while guaranteeing chants of "1975" for at least one more season. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago the Pens were on the outside looking in, and now are a quarter of the way to the Stanley Cup. That experience with adversity certainly came in handy on Saturday, with a comeback for the ages that may ultimately define their season. Although for a group that lost Crosby and Fleury for great lengths last season and then qualified for the Cup Finals, they've proven that no task is too large.

This was a hard-fought series, one that looked like it could've gone either way at a number of points. Luckily for Dan Bylsma and his team, they came out on top. Future rounds will certainly challenge this team's resolve, but through six games, they have shown the heart of a potential champion.

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FLYERS SHOW SIGNS OF LIFE

FLYERS 6
PENGUINS 3

It goes without saying that Pittsburgh was disappointed with the outcome of Sunday's Penguins-Flyers playoff tilt in Philadelphia. That's a given. But while the 6-3 Flyers victory shouldn't exactly be celebrated in the Steel City, it shouldn't be thought of as the first nail in the coffin of the 2008-09 Penguins, either.

In any loss, fans will look for someone to point the finger at, and anyone from the invisible Petr Sykora to the five-goal-allowing Marc-Andre Fleury to the unpopular suits at NBC will take their share of the blame in some way, shape, or form. But sometimes, you must give credit to the opponent, and much as I hate to say it, this is one of those instances. The Flyers were simply the better team on an emotional day that started with a Kate Smith video rendition of "God Bless America" and ended with the final 0.9 seconds being ticked off the clock to prevent any more Carcillo-esque incidents from occuring.

The game played out exactly how the Penguins didn't want it to play out, with the Flyers jumping out to a 2-0 lead before you could even settle into your seat. So much for jumping on Philly and silencing the capacity crowd. The first period also featured 20 minutes in fighting penalties dished out as a result of Chris Kunitz-Scott Hartnall and Kris Letang-Darroll Powe:

The resilient Pens would battle back from that early hole to tie the game 2-2, thanks to a late first-period goal from the red-hot Evgeni Malkin and a quickie to start the second period from Rob Scuderi. But they simply didn't have success keeping up with the Flyers, who would score three times before Malkin found the back of the net on a third-period power play. The Penguins played from behind for all but seven minutes of the game on Sunday. That makes winning a difficult proposition.

The Flyers benefitted not only from their usual goal-scoring suspects, like Simon Gagner, Jeff Carter, and Mike Richards, but also from guys like Jared Ross and Claude Giroux, who combined for nine goals in the regular season, all by Giroux. And whenever players of that ilk can contibute to the cause, the road to victory becomes a whole less congested.

On the other hand, the Penguins, although not playing their best game, clearly had their chances, as a tie score early in the second period would indicate. But the Pens had a hard time getting things going on Sunday, with a 1-for-7 effort from the power play, three trips to the penalty box for Kunitz, and a mediocre combination of defense and goaltending.

All is certainly not lost, with the exception of the opportunity to sweep an utterly unlikable franchise like the Flyers. The Penguins will regroup, re-focus, and recharge their batteries, and if all goes as planned, they'll return to Pittsburgh with a chance to close out the series on Thursday night.

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THE NEWS

Here's what's happening in the world other than Koz stirring everyone up with his claim that Pavel Bure was the greatest pure goal scorer of our lifetime.

--Big win in PA for Hill-Rod (her name, not mine) yesterday.

--Anyone catch President Bush on Deal or No Deal? It actually resulted in low ratings.

--ESPN is having a live fake draft today. You'll have to tell me how it goes.

--Even though the Pirates were being one-hit by Ricky Nolasco (who?) through five innings, they got back on the winning side with a 3-2 win over Florida.

--Nate McLouth's hit streak finally ended at 19 games with an 0-for-2, two walk performance. Luckily, three of the Pirates' nine starters (not counting the pitcher, which would've made FOUR) had batting averages of .194 or lower going into the game, so the slack was easily picked up. Or not. They were a combined 0-for-9.

--Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez visited with the Steelers and Mike Tomlin earlier on Tuesday. Mel Kiper has him projected as a late-round pick at best.

--In addition to their MLB-worst pitching and fielding, the Pirates are now last in the league in attendance too. All we need now is to drop a few spots in the batting category and we'll have the quadruple crown of failure.

--Here's video of a sad, sad Capital fan pelting Flyer Jeff Carter in the head with a bottle last night. I'd feel bad for Carter, but he is a Flyer.

--The Ottawa Senators refuse to panic despite trailing four-games-to-none.

--The Sporting News says Pitt will be nasty in 2008. I agree.

--What links draftee-to-be Chris Long and Jared "Subway" Fogel? I don't even want to imagine.

--Hooray! The NFL finally has an agreement in place with Matt Walsh!

--Gary Roberts might not play on Friday.

--The Steelers are looking at backfield depth in this year's draft.

--Highly-touted Luca Caputi was signed to a three-year entry level contract by the Penguins.

--Penn State RB Austin Scott (whose charges were dropped last Friday) is hoping to get drafted this weekend.
--What's a mouthy Chad Johnson worth?

--Joe Frazier's fight-worn robe from the Thrilla in Manila is up for auction.

--Your Spelling Bee broadcast update: Mike and Mike are out, Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews are in.

--Huey Richardson was ranked by ESPN as #15 on the list of biggest busts ever. 1989 #1 pick Tim "Taser" Worley checks in at #25. Penn State was represented by #20 Curtis Enis (Bears, 1998), #22 Blair Thomas (Jets, 1990), #24 Tony Sacca (Cardinals, 1992), #29 Todd Blackledge (Chiefs, 1983), and #32 Andre Johnson (Redskins, 1996). West Virginia's Reggie Rembert was ranked #41 (Bengals, 1990).

--In the list of Top 50 draft steals: L.C. Greenwood, 8th; John Stallworth, 16th; Mike Webster, 22nd; Hardy Nickerson, 27th; Hines Ward, 33rd; and Greg Lloyd, 37th.

--OJ Simpson wants to join the cast of The Apprentice.

--I erroneously identified a referee in last week's Steeler basketball game as local wrestler Bill "Powerhouse" Hughes, when his name was actually Mark Mizerak. My apologies.

Just to further clarify who Powerhouse Hughes is, you can visit the CWF website and meet Bill and the rest of the CWF Superstars. Their next event will be at The Brownson House in Washington, PA on Saturday, May 10th.

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