xganarchy

as brutal as Asham's attack on Schenn was, I think Neal's actions were even worse. The hit on Couts was so cowardly, he didn't have the puck and Neal left his feet with one intention.

Hey Rick, I'm actually hoping you guys get into the playoffs over the Caps. I'm tired of the Ovechkin hype (not so much this year, with the down year he's having...). With that said, I hope the Flyers can get a win tonight and get some momentum carrying into the playoffs. Good luck.

What!! LOL Okay, so the next time there's a scrum, you'd be fine with Rinaldo throwing off the gloves and punching Malkin/Crosby/Stall in the face a few times before even getting the gloves off? C'mon now.... I think a lot of fans are PO'd that one of our skill guys was injured when the game was pretty much over at that point. Of course we would want our players to play to the final buzzer, but that doesn't make us any less PO'd. Lavi was PO'd for the same reason. One of our best playoff performers was put out by a 4th line scrub (who coincidentally had a borderline knee on knee hit on one of our better defensemen earlier) when the game was already decided. Looking at the situation from a neutral standpoint, many would say what happened is just part of the game and will provide for a great first round matchup. Others have said it's one of those unspoken rules, like not running up the score when ahead by 3-4 goals at the end of a game.

One issue I had with the end of the game was Asham suckering Schenn when he hadn't even dropped the gloves. Just b/c the Flyers were skating over to Vitale doesn't mean they were going to jump him. They were sticking up for their teammate, which happens ALL the time, even for clean checks. And there IS a difference between "legal" and "dirty".

And wasn't it Kunitz that injured Timonen (with a dirty check) that put him out for a while during the playoffs a few years ago? Dirty Pens....

Ok, fair enough, I guess I would say "embellishment" rather than "dive". The whole game was chippy/dirty with a lot of different players, not just the Pens OR just the Flyers. The refs are mainly to blame IMO for letting it get that far.

Yeah but look at the response from a little crosscheck. Guys get crosschecked like that in front of the net all the time. I know, different area of the ice, but the force at which Crosby went down and the way he immediately was looking all around just makes me think the "crosscheck" was blown out of proportion a bit.

He's not making fun of concussions, he's simply stating that everyone has to play Crosby with kid gloves now or the NHL will screech to a halt if he gets hurt again (according to the Pens/refs)

Vitale is a nobody, which makes you wonder...do you take HIM out, or return the favor to Crosby or Malkin?

That's DEFINITELY good to see. I think those extra little bumps, chirping, Hartnell-type behavior is what this team has to concentrate on against the Pens. It really throws them off their game. Perhaps Richards was more concerned with trying to "match" the hype of Crosby? This team is out there to play THEIR game and it seems almost have fun.

I get your point, it seems like more recently when the Flyers have gotten under the Pens skins, getting them off their games, they've been more successful. I wouldn't run around trying to take Crosby out, but EVERY opportunity, lay into him. I see too many guys pull up when they have the chance to really nail someone.

not to mention Hartnell didn't really do anything MEAN to the guy, just had some fun with him and his get up

How about during the scrum when Asham started throwing at Schenn before Schenn even had his gloves off? So Crosby got his little payback there as well. We need to lay him out next game.

That goal was all on Carle, not on Bryz. Bryz came out to provide a bit of a "pick" for Carle. I think the team kept trying to be too "cute" instead of just dumping it in. The smothering (boring) defense of Tampa just kept standing up at the blue line. The Flyers only dumped it in a few times, but the majority of the time they kept trying to deke their way in or trying a quick pass right at the blue line and would turn it over or go offsides. I hope our playoff matchup wasn't watching this game, we'll definitely be out in the first round if so...

"mid-scrum" should be spelled "mid-scrotum"

Count me in on the Wellwood bandwagon, he's looked GREAT, he really stood out to me against Pittsburgh, his speed is incredible. This team is looking so deep right now, we don't even have Harry Z in the lineup anymore and we've still got young guys who can step up!

Oh, and Kunitz was on top of Hartnell from :54 seconds to 1:25 or so...about 30 seconds of shrugging off the linesmen and elbowing, facewashing, kneeing Hartnell while he's on the ice. Compared to what, Hartnell pulling away from a linesman (while standing) for 4-5 seconds, attempting to facewash Letang. Your boy Kunitz was over the line, no excuses.

face rub? He was ramming his padded elbow down on Hartnell's helmet-less head! And like i said in my other post, I'm still not 100% sold that Hartnell was "punching" a Pens player on the ice, it just looked like a giant pileup at that point IMO

at least us Flyers fans aren't the only ones who thought that Kronwall hit was "iffy", to say the least.

I hardly think Hartnell AND Giroux were going after Letang. Letand and Giroux were tied up and Letang started jabbing at Hartnell, Giroux continued to just grab on to Letang and Hartnell gave a few weak shots back. Nothing big there. And I'm just not seeing Hartnell "repeatedly punching" a Penguin who is down, it looks like 3-4 guys were all on the ice together and Hartnell was getting back up. On the Youtube vid it wouldn't show the seconds at the bottom so I couldn't pinpoint the moment.

An example of why the announcers enfuriate me: (Couturier on the PK intercepts a pass, has a partial breakaway and a Pens defenseman gets back and breaks it up) WHAT A PLAY by Orpik!!!! He got back just in time to break up that short handed chance. What a show of grit and determination! (Malkin steals the puck, coming in on Bryz and broken up by Grossman) Malkin showing those phenomenal skills with the steal and a good scoring chance!!!! Grossman JUST managed to put a stick on the puck, but WHAT SKILL shown by Malkin, we can see why he's leading the league in points this season!!

I don't think anyone is saying it was unfair to be unhappy with Bryz's play, but for those who wanted to buy out or try to trade him or any other number of unlikely scenarios should be glad we didn't. In the end we're all Flyers fans and want the best for the team, right? I had hope Bryz would snap out of his funk and revert to the type of goaltending we saw from him with other teams (as we all did).

..........Rick??

I was a big supporter of Bryz, and repeatedly wrote i thought he'd eventually snap out of it, but he was doing so bad for so long even i had my doubts. I think we all did. I'm just glad he's dominating but i'll feel better when he plays this way consistently

c'mon man, get real. I know it's upsetting in your team's situation, but it was a borderline call that I could have seen go either way. IMO, i think 1 game would have been more than enough, but it's done with. Good luck getting in the playoffs, I'll be pulling for you guys just to stick it to Shanahan.