Special teams cost Flyers in loss to Pens
The Flyers' nationally televised 2-1 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday can be explained in two words: special teams.
Special teams cost Flyers in loss to Pens
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers' nationally televised 2-1 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday can be explained in two words: special teams.
The Flyers were just 1 for 9 on the power play, while Pittsburgh was 2 for 6, including Matt Cooke's winning goal with 1:47 left.
With the loss, the Flyers are 3-1 on the six-game homestand, which also has meetings with Atlanta and the Islanders.
Cooke scored his power-play goal while Kimmo Timonen was in the penalty box for flipping the puck over the glass and being called for delay of game.
“Well, it’s a tough rule, you know? It’s a rule, and it’s part of the game," said left winger Simon Gagne, who had one of his third-period shots bounce off the post. "...I’m not sure, [it] might have hit the stick from them, but the call was made....That’s not what you want, but it’s part of the game.
"We have to find a way to kill those, but we didn’t do it," Gagne added. "At the end of the day, like I said, all that good work for no points at the end – it’s tough to take.”
The Flyers outshout the Penguins, 28-22, won 61 percent of the faceoffs, and held Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin goal-less.
Afterward, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette vented.
“I guess I’m frustrated because for the last month and a half, we’ve been preaching discipline, preaching staying out of the box and our players have bought into that," Laviolette said. "We’ll kill the ones we have to take, but going back and looking at that game, there are just too many penalties that never happened.
"Simon Gagne didn’t high stick anybody. So it turns around and goes the other way. Scott Hartnell did not, in my opinion, interfere with the goaltender. I don’t know if it’s a reputation from the past, but you know we want to play tough, physical, but we don’t need to go to the box. But we’re still going there and our players aren’t taking penalties.”
The Flyers, who had a Mike Richards goal nullified by a penalty, didn't come close to generating the offense they displayed in a 7-4 win in Pittsburgh on Jan. 7. They had scored four goals or more in seven of their previous 10 games.
"I don’t think we were bad on the power play; we were just a second late, a half-second late on all the pucks around the net especially," forward Danny Briere said. "I don’t think our power play was as much the problem as the amount of penalties we took as well. You know we have been good in that department lately and not taking too many penalties I know their power play has been struggling all season, but when you have guys like (Sergei) Gonchar and Crosby and Malkin, you know at some point they can make a difference."
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma liked the way his team limited the Flyers' scoring chances.
“I think we haven’t played a game like this where we’ve played well defensively and kept the team down to one or less." he said. The Flyers "have playing very well as their record as of late indicates, and we’re coming off a tough game as well, so this was a big game for us to start our road trip. The guys battled hard and special teams won the game for us.”
Crosby was also pleased.
"It feels good. It’s not an easy place to play in, so it was a pretty intense game," he said. "You know, it’s a 12:30 game, guys are barely up and here we are with a game with that much intensity. It’s a good task and especially like I said, coming off Washington (a 6-3 loss), we had to bring that intensity right back up there again today and we did a great job of it.”
The Flyers are 13-11-2 under Laviolette _ virtually the same record they had under John Stevens (13-11-1).
You people can't look at anything objectively. The refs arm is up as richards puts the puck in the net for a good call. You can see an angle that shows Gagne hugging Malkin, richards shooting the puck and the ref holding his arm up before it is shot. There wouldn't have been an interference call after the play was over, think about it, it doesn't make sense. You lost a game. You had one more power play than the opponent did but couldn't convert and you couldn't keep the Pens from scoring every chance they had.— epbowls- Folks, look at the replay... No ref had their hand up until after the goal was scored, then the trailing official overruled the lead official in the zone. Brutal call...typical Gary B"u"ttman leadership...one cannot let Cindy and the girls get upset.— sugardoc54
- Sugar, since i'm sure you only watch hockey when you are flicking through the channels and stop to scratch yourself let me tell you that it only takes one ref to raise their arm to make the call. It doesn't require every person on the ice. Do you even know how many of the four officials raise their arm for penalties, I'm guessing no. You are why people hate philly sports fans. Even if a ref didn't have his arm up (which he does) you can see angles where you can see the interference while Richards is shooting so you can make up your own mind. It was a good call, get over it.— epbowls
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epbowls, a crosby fan has no place talking about objectivity, go back to your pitt.— Pelti- hopefully Laviolette gets fined to call attention to this officiating debacle that has become all to regular when the Flyers face the Penguins. Someone find me a clip of the alleged referee with his arm up, because I didn't see it on NBC.— Pelti
- Should have been 2-0 and no penalty call. At least the Penguins didn't have their media to help them cheat this time.— samtheshampharaoh
- http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20092010,2,772 at about the 2:22 mark, the goal is already in around the time gagne and malkin tie up, no way the refs arm could have been up already, unless he was calling Malkin for the late headhunting cheapshot.— Pelti
- Well, Malkin deserved 2 for his cheapshot, and then both deserved a roughing call, but that would not have negated the goal. Like I said, every time they play the Penguins, the Flyers can count on having a goal stolen from them by the officials.— Pelti
- Braydon Coburn is the WORST defenseman i have EVER seen. All he does is stand around the net like a big goof and do NOTHING while the other team scores. He was on the ice for both Pittsburgh goals. Just check his plus/minus for the year, horrendous.— BleedingMe
- Oh my God......get it over it people. FLYERS LOST! There is no JFK-like conspiracy against you. The Flyers are just NOT GOOD ENOUGH. If you think otherwise, you are kidding yourself. Good teams find a way to win, bad teams find a way to lose. Too bad the Flyers don't play the Hurricanes or Blue Jackets every night. Flyers are paper tigers. When it matters, Richards and Carter are at the bar buying another round....— jibberjabber
- How could the refs miss malkin's elbow on Gagne anyway. This is the reason why the NHL has bad ratings. The ref's are so bad, and unfair most of the time....there are teams they favor, and obviously the Pens are one of them.— oldhat
- The Flyers could have won this one, but here's a thought: why did they play this game after playing a game on Saturday? The Penguins did not. In fact, it was brought up during the game that the Penguins have played 12 games this season against teams playing the day before and they being off. Their record is 8-3-1 and they will have a few more games like that. Is the NHL playing favorites with the Pens?.— mike l
- Hey jibber why dont you go jabber somewhere else...apparently you're not a hockey fan...all you do is come here and, well, jibberjabber!— oldhat
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