Series Outlook: It’s a battle for state supremacy, as the dynamic Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Philadelphia Flyers. Last season, the Penguins were quickly eliminated from the postseason, falling in five games in a short first round series against the Ottawa Senators. Meanwhile, the Flyers—perennial contenders prior—finished with the NHL’s worst record and embarked on an aggressive rebuilding effort. So while the Pens have taken a natural step forward in their impressive construction of a Cup contender, the Flyers’ meteoric rise back to prominence has been truly remarkable. Regardless of what happens in this series or the Cup Finals, Philadelphia GM Paul Holmgren should be a shoe-in to win Executive of the Year for his stellar work in the Flyers’ front office. This will likely go down as the fastest—and most effective—rebuilding effort in professional sports history.

FORWARDS

Penguins: Evgeni Malkin was, in a word, magnificent against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. An absolute force on the power play, Malkin’s laser like shot and ability to bull his way through the Rangers’ defense made him the unequivocal difference-maker. If Malkin can continue to play dominating hockey—and if he gets the expected level of support from fellow wonder-kid Sidney Crosby—the Pens should have no trouble generating offense against the Flyers.

Flyers: It was no secret that the Flyers were going to lean heavily on Daniel Briere in these playoffs, and he’s certainly delivered (14 points in 12 games). But the key to the Flyers’ success has been their depth of scoring, the contributions they’ve gotten throughout the lineup from their less heralded forwards. Most notably, R.J. Umberger has seemingly come out of nowhere to score a team-leading nine goals in 12 games (to go along with a stellar plus-six rating). And with the likes of Vaclav Prospal, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Mike Knuble, and Scottie Upshall all chipping in with timely goals, the Flyers’ offense is impressively deep.

Advantage: Flyers

DEFENSE

Penguins: It would be too easy to credit the Pens’ second-round win over the Rangers to goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. For while Fleury was quite solid between the pipes, it was Pittsburgh’s diligent shot-blocking that was the biggest factor. And the biggest eye-opener of all is that Sergei Gonchar—known for his entire career as an offensive defenseman—is leading all Penguins players with 22 blocked shots in these playoffs. Brooks Orpik, Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi, Ryan Whitney, and Kris Letang have all demonstrated an unerring willingness to also throw themselves in harm’s way, and that—much more than the blue line corps’ offensive skill—has been the key to the Pens’ defensive success.

Flyers: Like the Penguins, the Flyers boast a tough-as-nails blue line corps similarly willing to help the cause and dive in front of opponents’ shots. From veterans Jason Smith and Derian Hatcher to youngsters Braydon Coburn, Lasse Kukkonen, and Randy Jones, the Flyers’ defense is solid from top to bottom. However, the Flyers are expected to be without power play quarterback Kimmo Timonen (blood clot) for the duration of the series. In his absence, Coburn and Kukkonen (as well as expected replacement Jaroslav Modry) will need to step up significantly. Perhaps the most interesting storyline in this series will be how the Flyers’ rearguards match up against Crosby and Malkin; if the Flyers are to win, they’ll need to come up big in containing the Pens’ superstar duo. It was expected that Timonen would be matched up against Crosby; now, that task will likely fall to Smith instead (assuming Coburn is matched against Malkin).

Advantage: Even

GOALTENDING

Penguins: Though Fleury didn’t need to outplay Henrik Lundqvist to advance to the Conference Finals, he was unquestionably solid between the pipes for the Penguins. He’s posted a miserly .938 save percentage and 1.76 goals-against average through the first two rounds, losing only one game in nine tries. Fleury is lightning-fast at moving from post to post, and he’ll definitely need to be at his best against the Flyers’ fast and physical forwards.

Flyers: Martin Biron has been excellent in these playoffs, helping the Flyers pull off upsets in the first two rounds. The Pens represent a deadly combination of the Flyers’ first two foes, boasting two superstar forwards (Crosby and Malkin) as compared to the Capitals’ one (Alexander Ovechkin) and a tic-tac-toe power play at least as dangerous as the Canadiens’. Without question, the Flyers need for the gutsy Biron to steal a game or two; if he doesn’t, this will be a short series in the Penguins’ favor.

Advantage: Even

PREDICTION

Flyers in Seven

Game One
Penguins 4, Flyer 2
by Angie Carducci

Why the Penguins won:

Evgeni Malkin has been a Penguin for only two seasons, but it didn’t take him long to learn something native to every Pittsburgher – the rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers is something special. Already arguably the best forward in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, Malkin, as he so often has against the Flyers, found a way to further elevate his play in Game 1. He handled the puck with dazzling creativity, making chances happen on seemingly every shift he took, and he made it all look effortless. The 21-year-old Russian phenom used his strength to force a neutral zone turnover that set up the Penguins’ first goal, then scored twice more to lead Pittsburgh’s offense. Malkin also contributed to the Penguins’ physical game, throwing five hits, including a thundering shoulder check on Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn, and getting involved in an end-of-game scrum that saw him throwing a few punches at tough guy Derian Hatcher.

Shortly after the Penguins opened the scoring on a pretty backhand shot from Petr Sykora, the Flyers came storming back to take a 2-1 lead. At one point in a wild first period, Philadelphia was outshooting Pittsburgh by double, 12-6. But the Penguins took advantage of their opportunities and some Flyers miscues, staked out a 3-2 lead by the end of the period, then settled into coach Michel Therrien’s tight-checking, defensive system. The Penguins paid attention to keeping traffic away from around their net – the spot from which the Flyers have scored most of their goals in these playoffs, including the two in this game – and succeeded in shutting them down the rest of the way.

Why the Flyers lost:

Although the Flyers have a reputation for being a big, physical team, they also have plenty of offensive depth, with seven 20-goal scorers in the regular season. And early in this game Philadelphia’s offense threatened to make the contest a wide-open affair, with Mike Richards scoring twice in a 4:20 span of the first period to give his team a 2-1 lead. But a minute and a half after Richards’ second goal, Flyers goalie Martin Biron misplayed the puck from behind his own net, sending it along the boards and right onto the stick of Pittsburgh’s Marian Hossa. Hossa passed it in front to a waiting Sidney Crosby, who fired it home. The Penguins were tied again, and after adding Malkin’s two goals, never looked back. The Flyers took a total of 28 shots on Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, but came up with few big scoring chances until late in the game. That’s when Fleury shined, making several big saves, including an impressive glove steal on the Flyers’ Jeff Carter.

The Flyers had to adjust their defensive pairings after learning just a day before Game 1 that their best defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, was lost for the series due to a blood clot on his ankle. Timonen would have been enlisted to shut down the Malkin or Crosby line, and his presence on the blueline and 34 blocked shots in these playoffs were sorely missed by his team.

Play of the game:

With just 6.5 seconds left in the first period, Malkin fired a clean shot over Biron’s shoulder on the stick side to give the Penguins the lead for good. His second goal of the night was the more interesting, however, and seemed to be the one that took the life out of the Flyers’ offensive attack.

Early in the second period, midway through a Philadelphia power play, Malkin intercepted the puck, skated in on a break but came up empty before being hit hard behind the net by Richards. Malkin got up and just moments later found himself alone in front of the Flyers’ net, on the receiving end of a long pass from defenseman Sergei Gonchar. Malkin took a couple of strides and startled Biron by not putting a move on him, but firing a hard slap shot from in close for his first career shorthanded goal. “My penalty shots weren’t that great all the time, so in the last second I decided to shoot that puck as hard as I can,” said Malkin through interpreter George Birman. “I didn’t think about it, where to shoot, or to make any moves. Just as hard as I can.” It was a stunner.

What’s next:

The most penalized team in the playoffs, the Flyers put themselves in a good position in Game 1 by playing mostly disciplined hockey. Until the last minute and a half of the game, Philadelphia had taken only one penalty to the Penguins’ three. That’s a trend the Flyers will want to continue in Sunday night’s Game 2, as their penalty kill is stopping only 77.2 percent of opponents’ power play chances, and the Penguins are formidable on the man-advantage. Biron, who’s been hot in these playoffs but stopped only 17 of the 21 shots he faced in Game 1, will need to step up, but most importantly, the Flyers will have to find a way to limit the turnovers and odd-man rushes they gave up to the Penguins. “Against Crosby and Malkin, that’s a game you can’t play,” said Flyers coach John Stevens.

Pittsburgh didn’t get quite the start it wanted in the first period, but succeeded in dictating the tone of the game after that. If the Penguins hope to take a 2-0 lead before the series shifts to Philadelphia, they’ll need to continue playing patient hockey, stick to their effective defensive system, force the Flyers into mistakes and then capitalize with their speedy transition game. And if the Penguins’ offensive stars continue to ratchet up their level of play against their cross-state rivals – Malkin alone has 18 points in nine games against Philadelphia this year – the Flyers’ defense and goaltender may have their work cut out for them.

Game Two
Penguins 3, Flyers 2
by Angie Carducci

Why the Penguins Won

The Penguins didn’t play their best hockey in Game 2, but still found a way to get the win. Captain Sidney Crosby turned in a strong effort for his team, creating opportunities, and got the game’s crucial first goal on the power play midway through the first period.

But in the second, the Penguins lost their focus and at times seemed to be more concerned with matching the Flyers’ physical play than staying committed to their own skating game. They took a few ill-advised penalties and made a rare miscue on their own power play, allowing the Flyers’ special teams to score twice, including a potentially deflating shorthanded goal with just 23.2 seconds left in the period.

For the remainder of the game, however, the Penguins continued to pressure the Flyers, both offensively, firing 38 shots at goaltender Martin Biron, and defensively, standing them up in the neutral zone and limiting their time and space with the puck. Although the Flyers got 32 shots on netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins had the better of the scoring chances and never allowed their cross-state rivals to get much going offensively.

Finally, in what was a mostly even game throughout, the Penguins got the game-winning goal by capitalizing on a blue-line turnover by the Flyers’ Steve Downie. The Penguins’ fourth line of Georges Laraque, Max Talbot and Gary Roberts made the play happen, with Talbot getting the goal in his first game back after missing three with a broken foot.

“That’s been the story of the playoffs so far; those guys have stepped up,” said Crosby. “Even if they haven’t showed up on the scoresheet, they create a lot of momentum for us, and those guys are going to make the difference between winning and losing lots of times.”

Why the Flyers Lost

Already playing without their best defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers caught another tough break just 1:51 into the game when perhaps their next best blueliner, Braydon Coburn, was struck by Hal Gill’s deflected shot near his left eye. Coburn had to leave the game and could not return, leaving Philadelphia with five defensemen.

Still, the Flyers did catch a few breaks in what was a very winnable game. With the Penguins up 1-0 late in the first period, Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar took a backhand shot that appeared to cross the goal line completely before Biron pulled it out. But without definitive proof on the replay, the no-goal call on the ice stood, the Flyers avoided falling behind by two, then tied it on the power play early in the second. At the end of the second, with the Penguins up 2-1 and on the power play, the Flyers’ Mike Richards intercepted Evgeni Malkin’s pass, scrambled up ice on a spectacular individual effort and beat Fleury to tie it again.

The Penguins got six power play opportunities to the Flyers’ three, and the Flyers felt they didn’t get the benefit of the doubt from the officiating. Coach John Stevens pointed to a second-period call on defenseman Derian Hatcher for hooking Malkin, giving the Penguins a power play on which they scored. “We’ve got a couple of stars on our team, too,” Stevens said. “Derian Hatcher has been around the league for a long time; he knows how to defend.”

In reality, however, both teams could have had reason to be disenchanted with the officiating, and the Penguins were displeased with two calls against agitator Jarkko Ruutu, particularly one early in the third period when Ruutu was pushed down by Biron in front of the net, got shoved in the face by Hatcher, yet wound up in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. “I want to address it with the [officiating] supervisor that sees us during the series,” said coach Michel Therrien. “As far as I am concerned, those were tough calls against him.”

In the end, the Flyers simply couldn’t find a way to sustain offensive pressure and score at even strength against the Penguins, especially during an extended stretch of the second period when the Penguins got away from their game and allowed Philadelphia to go on the attack. Fleury was a big part of that, however, stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced. And the misplay by Downie that led to the Penguins’ game-winner was a backbreaker. “Can’t happen,” said Stevens. “Move your feet; it is a costly turnover there.”

Play of the Game

The feisty Talbot couldn’t have written a better script for his first game back from injury. At 11:09 of the third, with the score tied in a tight contest, Laraque got control of the puck and passed it to Roberts behind the Flyers net. Talbot, cutting in with speed, called for the puck, and Roberts fired it sharply in front of the net as Talbot went down to his knees and snapped a shot past Biron. That gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead and held up as the game winner.

“It’s a great way to come back,” said Talbot. “This morning I was just happy to be back in the lineup, I was happy as a kid.”

What’s Next

Although the Flyers had lost Game 1 on the road in both of their first two playoff series, this is the first time they’ve also dropped Game 2. They’ll return to Philadelphia on Tuesday facing what is essentially a must-win situation.

The Penguins, meanwhile, have won both of their first two games at home for the third straight series and head to Philadelphia with a commanding 2-0 lead. They’ll have to play better than they did in Game 2, however, if they hope to win on the Flyers’ home ice, avoiding a repeat of the breakdowns and mental lapses that could have cost them the game. “We know it’s going to get tougher from here on in,” said Crosby.