What just happened? Flyers embarrassed by Penguins in Game 1

Among the fighters were captains Giroux and Crosby and star defensemen Kimmo Timonen for Philadelphia and Kris Letang for Pittsburgh, none of whom were known for dropping the gloves.

The Bruins built a 3-1 lead in that series, but the Maple Leafs were undaunted and rallied to tie the series at three games each.

Ah, but thrown in here or there can be one to knock Giroux off stride. The Flyers allowed two goals in the first 10 minutes and looked like a team that was certainly not ready for primetime.

You just can’t allow Crosby to do whatever he wants. We start off in regular-season point order, but our rankings will be adjusted after each day. If Giroux can still be a one-man wrecking crew then the Flyers will have a chance. Their run to the Stanley Cup Final was nothing short of incredible. “So for us it’s just a motivation”. “We want to get back to where we were previous year”.

The Flyers had another crack at the Penguins in the 2009 playoffs.

So there are no indications anything can change anytime soon, no? But with goaltender Semyon Varlamov questionable for the series due to an injury, they will have to go with Jonathan Bernier, which isn’t ideal against a great team like Nashville. “But we’re not going to try any harder just because it’s Pittsburgh“.

In addition to all the game access, Hulu will offer access to the pre-game shows and other exclusive content about the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a statement in Game 1 in the 2018 Battle of Pennsylvania.

An original-six matchup that went the distance in 2013 when they met in the first round.

If anything, the Flyers can’t play that terribly again, but even then that’s not saying much. To be successful in the NHL Playoffs, a team needs a goalie to step up and be “the guy”.

Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Andrew MacDonald, Jake Voracek.they all were on the end of some brutal turnovers. Two points in the standings was the difference in the Penguins having home-ice advantage and it could be the difference-maker in the series. They were the quicker team, and they executed in all the little areas of the game better than we did.

That was early in the first period.

Yeah, well, that didn’t work very well.

“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Moose”, defenceman Andrew MacDonald said.

San Jose and Anaheim should be a war – the Ducks are getting healthy, and the Sharks got a big boost when they traded for Evander Kane (although they need Joe Thornton back, perhaps) – and the Jets play Minnesota in a series that will be hidden away. After all, the Penguins had swept all four games in the regular season series.

“I just think that Grubi deserves the opportunity”, Trotz said. “But obviously, playoffs is a different atmosphere”.

With hockey, the marginal differences that make the game hang in the balance become crystal clear when it’s all on the line, making it by far the most entertaining postseason in of all professional sports. “They beat us from pretty much every aspect tonight, starting from the net out”.

The Avalanche did everything possible to get to this point, and they deserve to be here, but the journey won’t go past the first round.

They will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets, and they should beat them easily, as Columbus doesn’t have anyone who can match up well enough to stop the “Rocket” Richard Trophy victor, Alex Ovechkin. They were tight games. But I think rivalries are rivalries. And the Lightning, at one time flying around with abandon and looking like the best team in the league, are not at their peak as the playoffs start. Jones is going to need to help his team steal one if they want to make it to the next round, which is completely possible.