I don’t claim to prescient. And I’m sure as heck not right all the time. But I saw this one coming.
All of my pre-series concerns pretty much came to pass during our 3-2 loss to the Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal set Saturday night.
Chief among them, the Flyers would be more ready to engage in playoff-style hockey. Something they’ve pretty much been practicing for the past six weeks and change during their charge from the depths of the Metro.
Like native son Rocky Balboa, the Flyers came right at us from the opening bell. Per Rick Tocchet’s plan, the orange-and-black hit us hard and often, which seemed to fluster our guys a bit. Their buttoned-down style made it difficult for us to muster any sustained pressure while inducing more turnovers than a bakery, forcing goalie Stuart Skinner to stare down myriad odd-man rushes and breakaways.
We just never really got to our game while Philly executed theirs to perfection.
As Erik Karlsson offered in a postgame interview, “They just played better than us from start to finish.”
After softening us up through the first period, the Flyers got the jump on a surprise wrister by Jamie Drysdale from the right dot at 9:19 of the second period.
The Pens pushed back minutes later, thanks in no small part to an inspirational shift by Sidney Crosby. In a remarkable display of what makes him so unique, our 38-year-old captain almost single-handedly kept the puck alive in the Flyers’ zone with a combination of hard cycling and grinding in the dirty areas.
With our foes back on their heels, Evgeni Malkin bolted off the bench and finished what Sid started with a laser from the right circle.
To my eye, the goal had to be a bit deflating to the Flyers, who’d dominated up to that point without a lead to show for it. I was further heartened when the Pens finally began to tilt the ice their way over the opening 10 minutes of the third period.
Then the Red Sea parted. Travis Sandheim shrugged off the stick checking of forwards Elmer Söderblom and Anthony Mantha to exploit a giant hole in the Pens’ d-zone coverage. He then cruised unimpeded into the slot and beat Skinner glove side.
Try as they might, the Pens just couldn’t seem to apply any sustained pressure on Flyers’ netminder Dan Vladar. It was getting down to rug-cuttin’ time at 17:23 when Philly rookie Porter Martone charged into our zone before jamming on the brakes to shed a back-checking Noel Acciari. After turning back toward open space, the 19-year-old phenom wheeled in the right circle and beat Skinner with an absolute bullet high glove side.
Three-one, bad guys.
Despite the bleak circumstances, the Pens battled on with Skinner pulled. With a tick over a minute to go, Bryan Rust pounced on a blocked shot in the slot and wired the puck past Vladar.
The Pens had one final chance in the closing seconds. Mantha cut through the low slot with his patented power move and attempted to backhand the biscuit through Vladar’s five-hole, but the rangy netminder kept the wickets closed.
Game 1 to Philly.
Puckpourri
Shot attempts were dead even at 46-apiece according to Natural Stat Trick, as were scoring chances at 19-apiece. The Flyers had a 20-17 edge in shots on goal and a 9-8 advantage in high-danger chances.
The Pens shoved back sufficiently to gain a 41-40 edge in hits, but it really isn’t their game. Sean Couturier paced Philly with a game-high seven hits, Connor Dewar topped the Pens with six. He seemed to play with a burr under his saddle after getting the worst of a second-period collision with Owen Tippett.
Puck management was an issue. We committed 15 giveaways.
Geno paced the Pens’ attack with a goal and a helper to earn third-star honors. The first two stars went to Sanheim and Martone. The former engaged Sid in a spirited bit of whacking and hacking in the closing minutes. Each received a penalty.
Christian Dvorak had an early would-be goal erased for launching himself into Skinner.
Speaking of, Big Stu turned aside a ton of Grade-A chances early. Overall, I thought he was effective. The two third-period goals hurt, no doubt, but the only tally I’d like to have back was Drysdale’s. On that one, the big netminder awkwardly lifted his right pad just as the puck arrived, almost like a toll gate being raised.
On the flip side, I wasn’t especially awed by Vladar, who was well-insulated by his teammates. Geno’s goal came as the result of a juicy rebound. I think the rangy Czechian can be had, provided the Pens generate more sustained pressure in the coming games.
Our bottom-six languished a bit. The third line of Ben Kindel centering for Söderblom and Mantha had an expected goals for percentage of 8.29. Our fourth line featuring Acciari, Dewar and Blake Lizotte had an xGF% of 15.93. All six players finished a minus-1.
The Pens and Flyers return to action for Game 2 on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena. Needless to say, pretty much a must win for our guys.