For those of us who had forgotten what it was like to celebrate a Penguins win, this was a great start to the season. They didn't dominate the game in any sense of the word, but the Pens showed they came ready to grind out wins, and held on to an early lead for about 53 suspenseful minutes. Philly threw everything they had at us, and we walked away with a nice win.
To the surprise of no one who has watched these teams play each other, the Pens came out firing. The NBC booth couldn't stop talking about the speed of the Penguins, and they certainly seemed to have an extra step in the first period. Paul Martin, last season's whipping boy, showed in his first shift that he came to play, chipping a puck off the boards between his legs to a streaking teammate for a quality chance. Crosby drew a penalty when two Flyers tried to slow him up along the half-boards, and we got our first look at the new power play line up. The first unit looked good, and Neal even made a really nice play at the point to knock down a clearing attempt with his glove. Malkin's shot from the outside hash marks is an ever-present threat, but it wasn't hitting the target yesterday.
Instead it was up to the rag-tag second unit to pick up the scoring slack, and they rose to the occasion. Brandon Sutter, who won over every Pens fan out there with what Emrick called a "perfect game," won the faceoff cleanly back to Niskanen, who passed up a clear shot to slide the puck to Martin, whose shot deflected off a Flyer stick and past Bryzgalov. For some reason, they credited Tyler Kennedy with the goal, which, thanks for the screen TK, but that was Martin's goal. If that game was any indication, Martin is ready to pull a Gonchar and change the entire fan base's opinion on him. Grab a seat on the bandwagon now before it fills up.
The Pens's second goal came on the NEAL PLAY, as Malkin won the faceoff back to him for a shot that Bryz never saw. Apparently, this play can't be game-planned for, because we saw it work about 25 times last season, and still teams get caught sleeping on it. It's a beautiful, deadly play, but I think my favorite part of it is the havoc it creates for the TV cameramen: they pull in close for the faceoff, pan back to follow the puck, and then whip back toward the goal in time to see the puck hit the twine. Neal's release is so hair-trigger that the replays never seem to catch the entirety of the shot; it leaves his stick and then appears a split-second later in the back of the net.
The excitement of this quick start was tempered by the fact that we knew this wouldn't be a blow-out, so we were in for a painful two-and-a-half periods of hockey. The refs called this one extremely tight - I don't think they wanted things getting out of hand, and we got a LOT of ticky-tack penalties on both teams. The Flyers were getting every chance to mount a comeback, most notably when Wayne Simmonds jumped on Simon Despres' back and drew an interference call. Despres looked really good in limited minutes, though. We also got to see Crosby play on the penalty kill, and he looked very comfortable. Bylsma ratcheted up the pressure by throwing Malkin and Neal out there with Crosby as the penalty expired, and they were definitely making things happen. I love to see Bylsma take advantage of the situation, choosing exactly the right moment to go all out trying to drive a dagger into a huge rival.
And, oh, those Flyers. They are so eminently hateable. A very short list of some of the things that I can't stand about them: Hartnell's face, Couturier's face, Rinaldo's constant fight-baiting, Giroux's face, Voracek wearing number 93, any mention of the Schenn brothers playing together, the way Kimmo Timonen's name gets stuck in my head like a pop song, Peter Laviolette's greasy, bizarrely balding-from-the-front hair, and Wayne Simmonds.
Hartnell and Giroux teamed up on a pretty goal at the start of the second that I missed because I was buying chicken wings, and I steeled myself for the inevitable comeback, but the Pens held the fort for the rest of the period. I finally got to see the Giroux goal during the next intermission, when the NBC brain trust of Mike Milbury and Keith Jones broke it down. They quickly, and rightly, pin the blame on Kunitz for losing Kunitz, and then follow that up by blaming it on Crosby for not skating back faster so he could yell to Kunitz to take Giroux. Yup, definitely Sid's fault there, nothing to do with a left winger trying to kick-save a perfect saucer pass.
.
The third period couldn't wind down fast enough. The Flyers were getting a lot of chances, but Fleury was locked in, making big stops without giving up any big rebounds. The legend of Sutter began as he took on the shutdown role against Giroux, and props also go to Craig Adams, who miraculously redirected a puck on our goal line, Dupuis and Cooke, who were able to keep the formidable Flyers PP goalless on five tries. The game ended on a sloppy note, as Malkin got called for an inadvertent high stick and then Giroux returned the favor with a momentum-killing tripping penalty. The Pens weren't giving anything up in the last two minutes, and pulling Bryz didn't do any good. Kunitz made up for his earlier blunder with an empty-netter to put this one to bed.
- A predictably physical game, but no fights. Again, the refs were being disuasive.
- Pens were strong in the faceoff, winning 35 to the Flyers' 27. Crosby (13/20), Malkin (7/12, and Sutter (8/14) can be thanked.
- Fleury officially took over first place on the all-time franchise win list. He earned it, too. Congrats, Flower, and remember that time I saw you at the airport in November? Me too.
- Eric Tangradi did not magically grow hands during the last week. To call him the weak link in his line with Malkin and Neal is like calling The Godfather III the worst of the trilogy. He looked lost, killed a few chances with bad passes and bad puck-handling. Don't want to dump on him, but if he can't show a ton of imporvement, fast, the Pens will have to look at other options.
- Mr. Glass was pretty much invisible all game. Showed some forechecking ability, but the jury's still out on him.
- Again, I think Despres made a good case to be put out there more often. Looked calm and collected out there, and I'm looking forward to see what he can do.
- Doc Emrick, referring to Flyers' rookie Scott Laughton, dropped a "no relation to Charles Laughton" reference during the broacast. I'll allow it.
-At one point, NBC showed a succession of shots of Penguins fans sprinkled in the Philly crowd. We got the obligatory "Flyers fan pretending to beat up the Pens fan," a super nerdy loooking guy playing on his phone, and some corny woman who seemed to be wearing gold lamé carpet squares as earrings. Not our shining moment, by any means, but at least no one got shot.
COMMERCIAL THAT'S STICKING IN MY CRAW
This new series of ads from Discover that played throughout the game, where Discover Card customers talk to Discover Card customer service people who look and act just like them, but are played by difference actors, are so puzzling. The tagline - "We treat you like you'd treat you" - doesn't clear things up; so does that mean they're meant to be understood as the same person? They're clearly not. Is this like a That Obscure Object of Desire experiment where two actors play the same character?
Nope. I've put more thought into this than is normal (as I am wont to do), and the message of this commercial can only be: "We know that, in a perfect world, you would only have to interact with people who look and act exactly like you. Here at Discover, we understand that unsettling brand of essentialism, and we'll make sure that when you call in, you'll be immediately answered by an eerie doppelganger who mirrors you in all visible aspects. At no point will you be faced with racial, cultural, or socioeconomic difference, just the way you like it." They don't explain how they get these folk to work at their Bangladesh call center, but still, SUPER CREEPY COMMERCIAL guys!
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