(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)
We basically looked like Sid up there when FSN went out. And when the Flyers scored. And when Geno scored. And then when he didn't. And then when the Flyers scored again. And then when the Flyers scored again. And then when the game was over and we know it's back to Philly and NBC. You get the point. The Pens had a chance to wrap this series up at home in front of a whiteout crowd and failed to do so. Miserably. But you knew that already.
The Pens came out strong and had quite a few good scoring chances, including a wide open net in which Tyler Kennedy tried to put in a wrap around but hit the side of the net. That missed opportunity would basically tell the story for how the rest of the evening was going to go unfortunately. Somehow Martin Biron looked good and the Pens couldn't get one past him. Technically Geno got a puck past Biron, but it was called no goal because he kicked it in. Talk about bad luck. While that non-goal call was right, why couldn't it have just hit his stick?! Although we had to wait a while to see it because FSN went out because of a lightning strike (coincidence? we think not). Although for anyone who didn't see that non-goal, you should know that Geno did not try to soccer it into the goal and get away with it. He was trying to kick it to his stick but he unfortunately did not get his stick on it before it went behind Biron.
The Pens had a few other chances that just did not go their way. The Flyers seemed to get all the bounces to go in their favor. But bad bounces aside, the Pens just did not play well. How do you get on the verge of winning a series against your cross-state rivals at home in front of a whiteout crowd and play so poorly? We're still clueless on that one.
We don't feel the Flyers really played all that well either. They obviously played better than the Pens and capitalized on a few more chances, but it's not like the Pens were beaten on. Well maybe we should rephrase that, the Pens were beaten on, just by themselves and not the Flyers. Although we should also note that we missed a good portion of the second period so if we sound nuts, please excuse us.
With the series now at 3-2 and it heading back to Philly, it's not exactly the best situation. The Flyers obviously now feel they have a good chance of winning this series if they can force a game 7. Each team has won at the other's arena, so anything can happen. We just hope the Pens fix their problems and come out with some purpose in game 6 or we're in for some trouble.
- The Pens' third line played well as usual lately. Their puck possession is nuts. They created many of the scoring chances the Pens had. Now if T.K. only buries that wrap around, who knows where we'd be.
- Were we the only ones that felt Philippe Boucher did not play well. If we heard right, he was involved in two of Philly's goals. He turned the puck over for one of them for sure. He just didn't look good to us and we miss Kris Letang. If Letang is not hurt, he really needs to play next game. And as for Satan, he was just there. Kind of like Sykora lately. We'd rather see Sykora because we know what he can bring to the table and we feel it's better than Satan. We were really hoping that Satan would surprise us but he didn't.
- The Pens' defense needs to step up a bit more and there needs to be way less turnovers. How many times have we seen turnovers at the blue line lead to goals? Too many. And please just get pucks on net and stop trying to make the perfect play. It leads to turnovers too often.
- Please don't let Biron shut you out.
Headed back to Philly for game 6 on NBC. What's worse than Philly and NBC? Not a whole lot. We only hope the Pens wake up and take game 6 because a game 7 with the series on the line might be more than we can handle.
Go Pens!
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