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Western Pennsylvania Takes Game One

Tonight was the start of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins take Game 1, 4-2. The first period was very entertaining with five goals scored in the period. Evgeni Malkin added two goals and added a helper. Sid the Kid added a nice tip in goal that was assisted by Marian Hossa. Petr Sykora got the scoring started with a backhander that went top shelf. Mike Richards had two goals for the Flyers. R.J. Umberger who’s from the Pittsburgh had two assists.

I thought on Sykora’s goal Martin Biron made the first move early and it gave Sykora an open net. The Flyers had chances in the first few minutes. Marc-Andre Fluery was giving up too many rebounds. The Flyers couldn’t get the puck through the legs in front of the net. They finally converted on Richards second goal. That’s where he slammed into the net. He wanted to make sure the referee saw it go in.

When the referee first wave Richard’s first goal off, I believe Philadelphia had a collective heart attack. I was like no, no, no, don’t tell that Tim Donaghy found work in the NHL. The puck clearly went in before the referees blew the whistle. How come it wasn’t overturned when the four blind mice had their quick meeting? Didn’t they know the city of Philadelphia just finished having their Philly cheesesteak sandwiches? I was hoping Toronto (all replays go through the League Offices.) was going to make the right call. They did and we didn’t have to hear a lame excuse that the whistle blew before the puck crossed.

Evgeni Malkin is the Penguins Conn Smy the Award candidate if the Penguins make it that far. Do remember the 2007 Young Stars Game? Don’t worry if you didn’t because there wasn’t anything to remember. In that game, Malkin was cherry picking all game long trying to get a one on one situation with goalie. It was the worse thing I’ve seen in a All-Star game. Well he did the same thing tonight on the penalty kill! He had good reason though. Before the play he broke in on Biron and gets hit from behind (clean hit) by Mike Richards. They fly into the end boards. Malkin slowly gets up while the action is at the other end. The puck reaches the Russian star when he got to the blue line He’s pretty mad and walks in on Biron. All alone in between the hash marks and lets go a slap shot that beats Biron five hole.

Finally at the end of the game, Philadelphia starts playing physical. On Sportscenter Don Cherry said they need to hit like that at the beginning of the game (TSN didn’t get Cherry. Notice it’s “Sportscenter” and not “Sportscentre.” He will be joining ESPN’s Sportscenter for the rest of the playoffs along with a 7 second delay.). Malkin was in the middle of it all. That’s a good sign and a bad sign for Penguins fans. A good sign that he will stick up for teammates against the toughest physical team in the league. (Don Cherry can’t stereotype him as a soft European.) Bad news is he’s at risk for injury.

The rivalry doesn’t end at the NHL level. Both teams AHL affiliates went at it tonight. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms 3-1 to win the series. That was Game 5 East Division Final.

That’s My Take

(Nathan also writes for the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. You follow the Lewiston Maineiacs and news around the QMJHL here at The Asylum. Become a fan of The NHL Source on Facebook. To join the MVN Hockey Staff Nathan can be reached at fbbhgfan@aol.com)

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Evengi Malkin, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, AHL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.