The tagline says it all – Flip the Script.
They’ve been doing it all season and they’ll look to do it again tonight when the Penguins meet the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 at PPG Paints Arena. I mean, you simply can’t Flip the Script if you don’t lose Game 1, right? Hey, if nothing else it’s a cozy little way to feel a bit more comfortable about what we watched on Saturday.
The Penguins held their own but it was a far cry from the game that they were hoping to play. The Flyers came out flying and were hitting everything that moved. Sure, the Penguins bounced back in the physicality department and managed to outhit them by one as the final buzzer sounded — but the Flyers led where it mattered — on the scoreboard.
The speed game of the Flyers looked to be a little too much for the Penguins, who hadn’t played their ‘A’ lineup in over a week. Was it rust? Was it simply a lack of their own speed? Was it nonchalance in the face of an upstart young team that entered the playoffs as the hottest team in the National Hockey League?
That is to be determined.
The Penguins spoke a lot postgame and over the past two days about not playing the game that they had agreed to play. They also pointed to the fact that they didn’t achieve the goals of their gameplan. They’re very cognizant of those facts and they have put in the work over the past two days to ensure that they’ll be ready for what comes their way tonight.
Here are some news and notes to get you ready for Game 2.
Physical Play:
Hitting and fisticuffs have always been a hallmark of the battle of PA and this series is no different. The Penguins and Flyers combined for 81 hits on Saturday. That is sure to continue tonight. The two teams were also going after each other in every possible way. Every time guys were headed to the bench they had to whack a counterpart on the other team. There were constant sticks to the back of knees, whacks on the arms, slashes and crosschecks.
One ugly exchange occurred between Evgeni Malkin and Tim Seeler. They duo got into a tussle behind the net and that all culminated in a strong Seeler crosscheck to the left arm/elbow of Malkin. The feisty Russian crumpled and looked to be in a lot of pain before making his way to the bench. It is worth noting that Malkin only attempted two more shots throughout the rest of the evening, even passing up a glowing scoring opportunity during the waning moments of regulation.
The Penguins hit leaders in Game 1 – Connor Dewar – 6, Anthony Mantha – 5 and Parker Wotherspoon – 4. The Flyers were led by: Sean Couturier – 7, Garnet Hathaway – 6, Travis Konecny – 4.
The teams combined to go 0-for-5 on the power play, but it will be interesting to see if things calm down a bit. Neither foe wants to have special teams be their undoing.
Skinner between the Pipes:
Some questioned a couple of the goals that beat Stuart Skinner on Saturday, however he was the least of the teams problems. He was outstanding throughout most of the evening. He faced a number of odd man rushes and breakaways. His sequence of saves at the start of the second period were particularly impressive – stopping Trevor Zegras and Noah Cates as they fired down the left wing at 2:13 and 3:22 respectively. Even more impressive was his stop on Own Tippett, who got in behind the defense on a breakaway at 8:21.
He finished the evening with 17 saves on 20 shots and kept the game in reach as the Penguins were trying to claw back into it.
Dan Muse wouldn’t reveal his goaltender for Monday when asked about it over the weekend, but he revealed his intention to play Skinner in Game 2 when he met the media earlier today.
No Lineup Changes:
Many had hoped that Dan Muse would shuffle his lineup a bit heading into Game 2. Paul Steigerwald and I discussed as much during our postgame show on Saturday and there was quite a bit of conversation about it in Pens fan circles throughout Sunday. Most of the talk centered on flipping Rickard Rakell back onto a line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust and moving Egor Chinakhov back into his familiar role alongside Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak.
While Monday’s optional skate didn’t reveal much about what the lineup would look like, the team ran through drills on Sunday featuring the same lineup that they used during Game 1.
Chinakhov was on the top line next to Crosby/Rust and Novak/Malkin flanked Rakell. Could anything change ahead of or during the game? Time will tell!
