Game 4 Observations

[B21]

If you don't like a closely called game this one wasn't for you. I can certainly understand why it was called close. That said, at least they called it close from start to finish. Consistency. Good or bad depending on your preference but at least it was consistent.

The penalty on Rinaldo in the first was a ticky tack call but so was the interference penalty called later on Park. They also missed Schenn's high stick (whacked Fleury in the helmet; incidental but obvious...and still a penalty).

I see Kennedy getting killed for the hit on Grossman. I can't find a replay of it but it looked clean at the time. If not, makes up for Rinaldo's uncalled punch in the season finale i/m/h/o.

Apparently Michalek milked it after Rinaldo did his thing in the 2nd. Maybe...but Rinaldo did cross check him and give a two-handed "punch" while he was down. More than a shove. Normally, that's not worthy of a misconduct but in this game (proven in the 3rd) it was.

Also, anyone getting on Michalek for milking it, please feel free to address the following:

The high stick on Sullivan. The stick was in Giroux's midsection and he did the old head snap. I recall Simmonds taking issue with Letang doing the same.

Interference on Malkin. He had his stick between Courturier's legs. Courturier acted like he was shot and drew the call. Probably a penalty anyway if Courts goes down but definitely some embellishing going on.

Interference on Kunitz. A dive by Coburn...total flop.

Cross-check on Orpik. Again...a dive by Briere. If Rinaldo's shot on Michalek was "milked" this was 10 times worse.

That's four "dives/acting jobs" that drew calls in the first period. Led directly to the 5 on 3. I know my team does it too but clearly the Flyers are not above it either.

As for the offsetting misconducts in the 3rd, that certainly makes Rinaldo's more "justifiable". Nothing those guys did was grounds for a misconduct. But Cooke? All he did was get cross checked while he was down...and he goes? It is what it is...but still.

Oh, I am all for a good face wash but Simmonds did it twice during that scrum while a Pen was talking to an official. Not a hangin' offense but something that if it were Crosby he'd be on the cover of the Daily News in a clown suit. Just sayin'...

All the penalties called in the 2nd seemed legit. ROOT showed replays of all. Giroux did get his stick up, Grossman definitely tripped Letang, Read definitely punched Depres and Carle did hold Tangredi's stick. The Too Many Men may have been iffy. No good angles.

My $.02.

[B21]

Oh - in no way do Flyers fans have any reason to be worried yet. Sure...lost in this series is how bad Bryzgalov has been since Fleury has been exponentially worse. Fleury looked like he found his game in the 2nd and 3rd periods but he also looked good early in Game 1 and we know how that turned out.

[Irishjim]

one reason why fleury found his game cause the flyers were on the PK almost the entire 2nd. hard to let in any soft goals when you see no shots.

[flyerrod]

If you don't like a closely called game this one wasn't for you. I can certainly understand why it was called close. That said, at least they called it close from start to finish. Consistency. Good or bad depending on your preference but at least it was consistent.

The penalty on Rinaldo in the first was a ticky tack call but so was the interference penalty called later on Park. They also missed Schenn's high stick (whacked Fleury in the helmet; incidental but obvious...and still a penalty).

I see Kennedy getting killed for the hit on Grossman. I can't find a replay of it but it looked clean at the time. If not, makes up for Rinaldo's uncalled punch in the season finale i/m/h/o.

Apparently Michalek milked it after Rinaldo did his thing in the 2nd. Maybe...but Rinaldo did cross check him and give a two-handed "punch" while he was down. More than a shove. Normally, that's not worthy of a misconduct but in this game (proven in the 3rd) it was.

Also, anyone getting on Michalek for milking it, please feel free to address the following:

The high stick on Sullivan. The stick was in Giroux's midsection and he did the old head snap. I recall Simmonds taking issue with Letang doing the same.

Interference on Malkin. He had his stick between Courturier's legs. Courturier acted like he was shot and drew the call. Probably a penalty anyway if Courts goes down but definitely some embellishing going on.

Interference on Kunitz. A dive by Coburn...total flop.

Cross-check on Orpik. Again...a dive by Briere. If Rinaldo's shot on Michalek was "milked" this was 10 times worse.

That's four "dives/acting jobs" that drew calls in the first period. Led directly to the 5 on 3. I know my team does it too but clearly the Flyers are not above it either.

As for the offsetting misconducts in the 3rd, that certainly makes Rinaldo's more "justifiable". Nothing those guys did was grounds for a misconduct. But Cooke? All he did was get cross checked while he was down...and he goes? It is what it is...but still.

Oh, I am all for a good face wash but Simmonds did it twice during that scrum while a Pen was talking to an official. Not a hangin' offense but something that if it were Crosby he'd be on the cover of the Daily News in a clown suit. Just sayin'...

All the penalties called in the 2nd seemed legit. ROOT showed replays of all. Giroux did get his stick up, Grossman definitely tripped Letang, Read definitely punched Depres and Carle did hold Tangredi's stick. The Too Many Men may have been iffy. No good angles.

My $.02.

And Pittsburgh were angels and committed NO infractions (other than the ones the refs HAD to call) from the second period on..... You are half right on the "tightly called" by the way.....no b!tches about the penalties called on the Flyers, just sayin' if you are going to call it that tight, it has to be both ways and it most obviously was not.....

I did notice it took a win to bring you crawling back to try and stick up for your b!tches...

[sarsippius]

@flyerrod

Well he did wait a day and a half after the series went 3-0, but to be fair he did pretty much rip his team in his return post and he didn't wait until a Pens win

@B21

No, I don't like a closely called game. Consistently bad is still bad, put the goddam whistle away and let them play. You can keep control of a game without making the kind of BS phantom calls we saw last night. As far as the game, if you could call it that, I would guess I've been to 75-100 Flyers playoff games over the past 35 years, and never EVER have I witnessed the home team take such a beating. Goaltending? Pathetic. Defense? Never heard of it. The Flyers were fortunate that the Pens **** themselves after the Flyers won Game 1 in OT, they won games 2 and 3 so nobody paid heed to the fact the Bryz was sucking a*s again and the defense couldn't cover D!ck Clark with a dropcloth. The Flyers better wake up or they're going to have a problem

[flyerrod]

they won games 2 and 3 so nobody paid heed to the fact the Bryz was sucking a*s again and the defense couldn't cover **** Clark with a dropcloth. The Flyers better wake up or they're going to have a problem

I don't think anyone here (on this site) had any disillusion about the flyers defensive/goaltending issues. I think Bryz is having problems with his ankle still, guessing by his horrible lateral movement and the defense has Lilja and what appears to be an injury slowed Kubina playing absolutely horrible.

I was giving credit to him(B21) for showing up again and poking him for waiting for a win to come back too....hence the smiley face after the comment.

[sarsippius]

@flyerrod

WIP is saying Bryz has a hip issue now.....game 2 in Pittsburgh they showed him kinda shaking out his right leg during breaks in the action....so either he pissed himself that night or he's he had this problem for at least the last couple games.....I find either to be equally plausible at this point!

[B21]

And Pittsburgh were angels and committed NO infractions (other than the ones the refs HAD to call) from the second period on..... You are half right on the "tightly called" by the way.....no b!tches about the penalties called on the Flyers, just sayin' if you are going to call it that tight, it has to be both ways and it most obviously was not.....

I did notice it took a win to bring you crawling back to try and stick up for your b!tches...

Well if you took the time to read you see I mentioned that the first call on Rinaldo was ticky tack and that I was not sure of the accuracy of the too-many-men call. Also said the same about the non-call on the hit on Grossman. Is that not enough or are you one of those fans that does not think the calls were fair unless it's 3 to 1 in your teams favor? Oh - based on what they called on the Pens in the 1st period....when your boys were trying out for Oscars all over the ice...then yeah, it kinda was tightly called both ways when you look at the whole game. After the first the Pens seemed to adjust. Flyers didn't. So your ticked off about one period of hockey where your guys took a lot of penalties that were called correctly.

Perfect example of that adjustment....about midway through the 3rd, Kunitz had Timmonen dead to rights as he was skating around his own net with the puck (de ja vu, eh?) and didn't even bother to make a hit. Maybe he kinda had an idea how the game was being called and the slightest hint of a penalty, be it tick tack or some good acting, was going to be called. 9 times out of ten he at least attempts to play the man. Knowing how the game had been called, he played the puck.

Check out what Kerry Fraser said about the officiating in this one, particularly the misconduct on Rinaldo.

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/kerry_fraser/?id=393648

By the way (and as sarsippius pointed out). It didn't take a win to "come back". I posted a pretty scathing review of my team a day and a half later. It was a long post....took that entire day and a half to write.

[B21]

@flyerrod

Well he did wait a day and a half after the series went 3-0, but to be fair he did pretty much rip his team in his return post and he didn't wait until a Pens win

@B21

No, I don't like a closely called game. Consistently bad is still bad, put the goddam whistle away and let them play. You can keep control of a game without making the kind of BS phantom calls we saw last night. As far as the game, if you could call it that, I would guess I've been to 75-100 Flyers playoff games over the past 35 years, and never EVER have I witnessed the home team take such a beating. Goaltending? Pathetic. Defense? Never heard of it. The Flyers were fortunate that the Pens **** themselves after the Flyers won Game 1 in OT, they won games 2 and 3 so nobody paid heed to the fact the Bryz was sucking a*s again and the defense couldn't cover D!ck Clark with a dropcloth. The Flyers better wake up or they're going to have a problem

I don't mind calling a tight game in this instance after what happened in Game 3 but even this one was a little "too tight" even after Game 3. Still, I do have to give the officials credit for maintaining that consistency and giving the teams a chance to adjust, What would have been more frustrating would be if they had started to let things go in the 3rd. Clearly they didn't. I'm mean....misconduct for Cooke for getting cross checked while down on the ice? It happens.

You hit the nail on the head with Bryzgalov. Hidden under the chaos of the 1st three games is that, while Fleury was awful, Bryzgalov wasn't much better. I still think 3-0 is too big of a hole but if he doesn't turn it around I don't see the Flyers getting through the next round.

[sarsippius]

@B21

IF...IF IF IF the Flyers end up in round 2 and get the Devils, I could see a good series happening there. They just don't matchup well with the Rangers

I don't want a home game Sunday, but my gut tells me we'll be on NBC at 3pm...oh Jebus let me be wrong!!! But Bryz didn't even freakin move on goal #5, deer in headlights look again like he was for the first 2/3 of the season. Not a good sign. A tightly called game tonight will work against the Flyers, maybe the Pens losing their minds in game 3 (causing the refs to whistle everything except a Malkin elbow) is working to their benefit....we shall see.

[B21]

@B21

IF...IF IF IF the Flyers end up in round 2 and get the Devils, I could see a good series happening there. They just don't matchup well with the Rangers

I don't want a home game Sunday, but my gut tells me we'll be on NBC at 3pm...oh Jebus let me be wrong!!! But Bryz didn't even freakin move on goal #5, deer in headlights look again like he was for the first 2/3 of the season. Not a good sign. A tightly called game tonight will work against the Flyers, maybe the Pens losing their minds in game 3 (causing the refs to whistle everything except a Malkin elbow) is working to their benefit....we shall see.

The 5th goal (Letang's) was the head scratcher. It was a nice shot but he didn't one time it and Bryz had a pretty good view of Letang. He really didn't even try to make a save.