Digityman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 PREVIEW 6:30 AM EDTFor teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, the success or failure of a season is judged on what they do in the playoffs rather than the regular season. In one of the toughest first-round playoff clashes in recent memory, the clubs with the second- and third-best records in the Eastern Conference will square off right off the bat. Tonight's game in Pittsburgh starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NBC Sports Network.The Flyers went 4-2-0 in the regular season series against Pittsburgh. That has little to no bearing on the impending playoff matchup, beyond the fact that Philly enters with confidence that the team can come back on the Penguins should Pittsburgh take the lead in any given game. In the first meeting (home) of the regular season, the Flyers roared out to a 3-0 lead and then held on to win 3-2. In the second game in Pittsburgh, the Penguins scored first but the Flyers surged to ultimately win, 4-2. The third game in Philly saw the Pens go out to a 1-0 lead, the Flyers rebound for a 2-1 lead (behind two closely spaced goals by Jaromir Jagr), the momentum seesaw to a 3-3 tie after two periods and then Pittsburgh control the final stanza for a 6-4 win. The teams also played three times down the stretch. The next game in Philadelphia saw the Penguins take a 2-0 lead into the third period only for the Flyers to rally to tie the game on goals by Wayne Simmonds and Scott Hartnell and then win it in the final second of overtime on a Hartnell goal. In the chippiest game of the season series, played April 1 in Pittsburgh, the Pens again jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see the Flyers come back for five unanswered goals before Philly skated off with a 6-4 win. The final game of the regular season, April 7 in Pittsburgh, had no bearing on the final standings. The Penguins had already wrapped up home ice in the impending series by virtue of their four more shootout victories giving the club enough points to offset Philly's advantage of one more regulation/OT win. In the game itself, the Penguins took leads of 1-0 and 2-1. The Flyers twice came back to tie the score before goals by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sealed the victory for the Pens.Goaltending is paramount in any playoff series. Ilya Bryzgalov had a frustratingly uneven regular season and is currently nursing a chip fracture in his right foot, but he closed out the stretch drive by winning NHL First Star of the Month honors in March and playing well in his final start (second game after his return from the foot injury). Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury had the more consistent season of the two goalies. For the Flyers, apart from the goaltending, it all comes down to gap control, puck management and scoring depth. Malkin and Crosby are the two biggest individual "superstar names" in the series, with Claude Giroux third. But the playoffs are about attrition and depth, not just big names. Both clubs are very deep through their top lines but Philly's scoring depth runs about nine players deep in terms of guys who can be the difference makers in any given game.Discipline is also paramount. The Flyers need to be aggressive and yet avoid offensive zone penalties and retaliatory stick/roughing infractions. That is easier said than done, especially in the first game of a series. Philly and Pittsburgh both clicked on power plays at a 19.7 percent rate during the regular season but the Penguins were the better penalty killing team. Both clubs also have several shorthanded scoring threats. On the injury front, the Flyers will be without James van Riemsdyk (foot surgery) at least until the latter part of this series if it goes six or seven games. Andrej Meszaros (back surgery) is still several weeks away from being able to return. In a somewhat surprising move, Peter Laviolette's practice lineup this week had rookie Marc-Andre Bourdon and veteran Andreas Lilja starting over veteran Pavel Kubina.PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)FLYERSHartnell - Giroux - JagrSchenn - Briere - SimmondsTalbot - Couturier - VoracekWellwood - Read - RinaldoCarle - TimonenGrossmann - CoburnLilja - BourdonBryzgalov[bobrovsky]PENGUINSKunitz - Malkin - NealSullivan - Crosby - DupuisCooke - Staal - KennedyAdams - Vitale - AshamMartin - LetangOrpik - MichalekStrait - EngellandFleury[Johnson] Meltzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertmega Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Did I miss something here? Kubina is hurt? I mean he isn't a Norris caliber defenseman but anything is better than Lilja... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 What happened to Kubina? hurt again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Did I miss something here? Kubina is hurt? I mean he isn't a Norris caliber defenseman but anything is better than Lilja...I would rather play Gus than Lilja..he's terrible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertmega Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 @orange_crushI would rather have to Modry, Kukkonen, Parent, Bartulis, Vaananen, Tollefsen and Picard before that scrub Lilja. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 @orange_crushI would rather have to Modry, Kukkonen, Parent, Bartulis, Vaananen, Tollefsen and Picard before that scrub Lilja.just seeing Modry's name makes me laugh..don't forget Krajec 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertmega Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 @orange_crushKrajec. Man I forgot all about him. Yeah those were the dark days of our 3rd pairing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarsippius Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 From what I read, Kubina's so-so play is what's keeping him out of the top 6 tonight.....still like to have that right handed shot from the point. Lilja is no better than average at best, IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 speaking of Picard I just seen him play in Wilkes Barre for the Pens recently..man that guy gets around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 From what I read, Kubina's so-so play is what's keeping him out of the top 6 tonight.....still like to have that right handed shot from the point. Lilja is no better than average at best, IMOthey actually think Lila is better than Kubina..wtf..put Gus in there.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarsippius Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I think you'll see Gus later in the series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I think you'll see Gus later in the seriesI think Gus made alot of progress as the season went on.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 they actually think Lila is better than Kubina..wtf..put Gus in there..I tend to agree. Kubina has not looked very good lately, including very slow of foot. And I assume they want size and experience and Lilja has both of those over Gus. Otherwise you'd have an all-rookie 3rd pairing of Gus and Bourdon, which I don't think is ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I tend to agree. Kubina has not looked very good lately, including very slow of foot. And I assume they want size and experience and Lilja has both of those over Gus. Otherwise you'd have an all-rookie 3rd pairing of Gus and Bourdon, which I don't think is ideal.wouldn't having a rookie 3rd pairing go along with the theme of the team? these kids can play... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 wouldn't having a rookie 3rd pairing go along with the theme of the team? these kids can play...I'd be okay with it, since its great experience that will serve them well in the long run. And I love Gus, you know that. But the gaining of experience, particularly on D, often comes with mistakes, some of which end up in the net. So, I can understand why Lavy would go with a vet. And Bourdon has outplayed Gus down the stretch. He's great actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange_crush Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I'd be okay with it, since its great experience that will serve them well in the long run. And I love Gus, you know that. But the gaining of experience, particularly on D, often comes with mistakes, some of which end up in the net. So, I can understand why Lavy would go with a vet. And Bourdon has outplayed Gus down the stretch. He's great actually.I agree Bourdon has played really well.. I would expect when the game gets tight Lavy will shorten his bench to 4 dmen anyway...which he did mostly during the cup run in 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingswede Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 HOW DIRTY WILL THIS SERIE NOT BE??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Giroux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hartnell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Jagr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 JV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyS Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 @orange_crushI would rather have to Modry, Kukkonen, Parent, Bartulis, Vaananen, Tollefsen and Picard before that scrub Lilja.Do not mention the name "Modry" in this forum again.Worst. Flyers. Playoff. Defenseman. Ever. Period.Give me 6 Lilja's rather than that scrub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMMOnation Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 nice job by Bourdon giving up on the play when he kept the puck inside the Penguins zone while the crowd was screaming offside. Literally just coughed up the puck thinking it was offside, and led to the 2 on 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Live game chat --> http://www.hockeyforums.net/index.php/chat/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doom88 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 nice job by Bourdon giving up on the play when he kept the puck inside the Penguins zone while the crowd was screaming offside. Literally just coughed up the puck thinking it was offside, and led to the 2 on 1.Fleury is making (damn good) saves, why can't Bryz??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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