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(photo credits to ESPN)
Has everyone seen the movie Gladiator? You know the scene where Emperor Commodus stabs Maximus in the side with the dagger before actually challenging him to one on one combat? Remember when Maximus came out and beat up on Commodus even with a stab wound? Remember when Commodus lost his sword and begged for another while his guards ignored him? Then of the gladiator came out and killed Commodus with his own knife. Everyone knows the scene. That was nearly a perfect scene by scene description of the last 5 periods played in the Flyers vs. Penguins series.
Game two was dominated by the Flyers, but some late 3rd period trickery by the Penguins’ Jordan Staal and the officials tied the game with roughly three minutes left. The Pens would win in overtime of course. This was the stab to Philadelphia that was basically the NHL saying, “Even if you win the game, we aren’t going to let you win.” Any lesser team would’ve folded after getting hit so hard by such unsportsmanship from the officiating crew; not so for the Flyers under the leadership of Mike Richards.
The Flyers limped home beaten, confused, and frustrated. It would take all of their effort to come back in this series. The entire world seemed to want the Penguins to win, but the smell of home ice, the roar of the crowd, and the sights and sounds of Philadelphia woke up a Flyers team that needed some perspective on the situation. This team has had its back against the wall before whether it be huge goal deficits, bad officiating, or sever injuries. The Flyers know how to respond to adversity.
With the crowd on their side the gladiators wore orange. The Flyers’ leaders rushed out of the gate with a quick two goals by Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. A lucky break would give Malkin a goal with under a minute remaining in the 1st to cut the lead in half. All hope seemed loss once again when Scuderi would put in a tying goal 13 seconds into the 2nd period, but back to back fancy plays by Giroux including a goal and an absolutely brilliant shorthand assist which was about as incredible as any play in the NHL all season would cement a lead that the Flyers would never again squander.
The Penguins had their sword sent flying. The Flyers in turn were churning up big hits and knocking the Penguins around up and down the ice. It was during this time that the Penguins went begging for a sword from their guards, and unlike the movie, in this film the guards were happy to oblige. Missed offsides calls on the Penguins as they had help keeping the puck in the zone as well as three back to back to back powerplays on tacky meaningless non-penalties had the Flyers once again pinned. The Flyers responded in a way unique to the orange and black. Mike Richards laughed at the officials for a hooking call after a blown offsides. After another missed offsides he was called once again for a weak slash that would’ve been more of a slash if he had taken off his glove and poked Malkin in the helmet. Another weak slash call on Jeff Carter finished up the stint of Flyers penalty killing that took up a gigantic chunk of 2nd period. Claude Giroux would respond by skating hard to steal the puck behind Fleury’s net, skating around a couple of times, and making a beautiful dish to Simon Gagne waiting on the opposite post for the shorthanded goal. The Penguins during the 2nd period were allowed do almost whatever they wanted while getting away with trips, hooks, slashes, and holding the stick calls every couple of minutes. Even though the Penguins got their sword back a couple of times, whipped out their hidden daggers, and were given every possible opportunity to steal yet another game the Flyers made the statement that even while the Penguins got all the help in the world the orange and black could still out-skate them any day of the week.
The 3rd period was a mass of more help from the officials for the Penguins, more goals for the Flyers including Jared Ross’ 1st NHL goal along with an empty netter by Simon Gagne, and some more face bashing from the Flyers with plenty of lost tempers from the Penguins. The Flyers were beating up on the Penguins at all corners of the ice and everywhere in between.
With the series not yet over we don’t yet know what the outcome will be, but don’t expect it to be any different than what we’ve seen in the first three games. The Penguins will be given any number of opportunities conspiracy or not. You can’t argue with numbers or images like the one of Sidney Crosby joking with the refs after the game was tied when only a second later that same official turned to Kimmo Timonen yelling at him to get back into position. That’s how the game is played. It’s a popularity contest, but the Flyers intend to beat the odds. The fans are with them while the brass is against them. That’s Flyers’ hockey, and now with the series a little closer to reach they know without some officiating blunders they would be up 2-1. They are the better hockey team, and they’re proving it.
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Wow this is one of the most biased post i have seen on this site. 1. The flyers are not the better team by any means, the penguins had an off day. Fleury let in a couple soft goals, and a couple players really need to step up. 2. The penalties were about even and don’t give me any BS about how the officials want the penguins to win. It was a well called game and they let things go on both sides. The penguins will win tommorow and you will make up another excuse.
Try a movie spoiler alert next time.
Well Chad, if the Flyers do lose on Tuesday, I sure hope that we don’t see anymore of what we’ve seen all series. Every time the Pens don’t have the lead there are some pretty iffy if not full blown messed up calls to help them get back into the game. That’s a poor standard for the NHL officiating to demonstrate.
And don’t miss it. I don’t think there’s any conspiracy or that nonsense. I just think that the team that most of the NHL wants to win is the Penguins obviously. At this point it seems as if it’s almost second nature. Quotes between the officials and the Flyers players vs. the officials and the Penguins players mentioned in quite a few articles I’ve read only demonstrate more and more the lack of neutrality within this series.
It shouldn’t always work out so perfectly that a call that’s not made when the Pens do it to the Flyers suddenly gets made when the Flyers are winning and pressing hard.
NHL officials PURPOSEFULLY MAKE THE GAMES MORE EVEN USUALLY DESPITE WHICHEVER TEAM IS PLAYING BETTER. That’s a proven fact. Where do you think make-up calls and such come from? In the last two games nearly every penalty the Flyers have taken is not only iffy (except the two in OT the other night) but could also be seen as a make-up call for something that happened in the game that benefited the Flyers coming before such a call.
First of all, yes, make up calls are ridiculous.
Never should one team get a penalty because the other team has already gotten too many.
Second of all, the officiating in the league is getting much worse with every season.
Third of all, it’s just bad officiating, not bad, biased, malicious officiating.
Of course the Flyers will say the refs are biased against them. They want the referees to have that thought in their mind every time they call a penalty. They want the referees to subconciously try to “be less biased” and therefore call fewer penalties against the Flyers.
There are pretty iffy calls all the time, not just when the Penguins are trailing.
Every penalty the Flyers have taken is not iffy.
It’s a ridiculous thought to believe the league would actively try to punish the sixth most populated city in the United States. Why would the league want Philly to lose?
And if the league wanted Crosby to win the Cup so badly, why didn’t the Pens beat the Wings last year?
I’m in no place to disagree with you, Chris; I had to peace out during the third period of the Pens/Flyers game in order to get to the RBC in time for tonight’s other, more important game.
However, I love the writing and the reference to one of my favorite movies. If only Mike Commodore and Max Talbot had been involved somehow…then it would have been perfect.
I agree with you Chris. The Penguins do get the benefit of the calls. I don’t know why (I doubt there is a conspiracy), but they definitely do. Anyone who says otherwise is blind (or supporting the Penguins or both). I mean, come on, ALL three games had iffy calls going the Penguins way. Yes, they would have lost game 1 terribly anyways but they HAD game 2 in there hands, and if not for the refs, it would be 2-1 Fyers (and 3-1 Tuesday), not 2-1 Penguins (2-2 Tuesday). They Flyers are SOOO much better than the Penguins and they proved it today (sorry Chad, but the Penguins aren’t that good, in fact in my opinion along with the rest of Philly fans, they SUCK).
GO FLYERS!!!!!
The reason Pittsburgh didn’t win against Detroit is lack of experience. All of the assistance in the world wouldn’t have gotten them by a stronger Red Wings team. That being said, the league does help Pittsburgh out because they want their golden boy Crosby to hoist the Cup.
Please stop it with the conspiracy theories. If people thought the call for Staal was weak in game 2, then the refs made up for it a few times in game 3. Examples – hooking on Malkin when in fact it was the same thing Staal did in game 2, plus a call against Staal for holding when in fact you could argue that it was either no penalty or an interference on the defender for not letting Staal go. But that’s the breaks, especially when you play a sport that is fast paced and entrenched in intense physical play.
If the NHL wanted Pittsburgh to win so badly, they would have won the Cup last year. If people think the NHL has something against the Flyers, perhaps its the flagrant attitude that the team takes with its interpretations of penalties. Hartnell noted during game 1 that the league sent out a memo about goaltender interference, yet he made no attempt to stop/slow/avoid and instead brings his arms up and clocks Fleury. This is the same team that was warned at the beginning of last season about taking things too far. The same team that ended game 1 with penalty after penalty. Stevens tried to pass the buck, saying Guerin was sending a message by fighting Coburn. Yet watching replay after replay, Coburn hits and slashes Guerin with his stick prior to the faceoff. Hartnell was given a game misconduct. Staal was driven into the wall awkwardly, which easily could have been a boarding call for a dangerous hit. The Flyers embrace the scrums and late hits. Watch Crosby on the ice and see how many times people skate by and hit him from behind,during and after plays. Flyers have some good players, but fans must accept the good with the bad. If the team continues to embrace the goonery and rough play and after-whistle action, it must be ready to accept the penalties and suspensions when they occur too. Stevens did put it best after game 1 saying there is a fine line between playing physical and playing out of control. The problem here is that the Flyers flirt too much with that line and then fans blame the refs when calls go against them.
People: Philly is the second most penalized team in the league. Why would anybody in their right mind think they would play differently in the playoffs? Of course they’ll be in the box more than the Pens. If Philly were to win this series, they will no doubt be the more penalized team in the next round. Don’t cry about it – it’s just how they play.
Penguins Fans are a bunch of whiney losers who cry wolf when ever Malkin or Crosby get into anything rough. Grow up and play the game they are both good players but are definitely coddled by the league especially Bettmen and his ref goon squad.
Erik,
Have fun this summer crying about the officiating. You and the rest of the Cryers organization never take accountability for anything. They blew a THREE GOAL LEAD with their backs against the wall. One would think at some point all of the finger pointing can only turn unto themselves. Two years in a row the Pens made the Cryers exit stage right. All of those classy Filthy fans chanting “Crosby Sucks” as he pockets home the empty netter to stomp on the Cryers’ throats. You’ll never learn though. Next year it will be the same old tired act.