I guess this means I am back, Penguins - Flyers glog

 

Just settling in here for some Sunday afternoon hockey, Penguins-Flyers no less, an in state rivalry here in Pennsylvania, made only more so because of where the teams currentlt reside in the standings. With 4 games left in the regular season, Pittsburgh has a 3 point lead on the Flyers in the standings, with Pittsburgh occupying the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference and the Flyers in the 5th. The difference in that is the higher seed will have home ice advantage in at least the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in about a week, though most likely it will still be these same two teams in a best of 7 series in the first round of the playoffs. Not guaranteed, but unless something drastic happens it will be these two teams and all that is left to determine is where a game 7 would be played (if needed) in a first round playoff series.

And since hockey is on, and I am watching, I figured that I would go ahead and watch the game while sitting down at ye olde computer and bang out a blog, because it has been ages since I have done so. I spent some time the last few days going back and rereading some of my old blog entries, trying to get that writing muse back. After all, I do like blogging, but I just really haven't had the motivation to do so recently.

Part of that is just interest I guess, there has been no compelling hook to darw me back to the page, no one compelling thing I really felt I needed to say, the other is just trying to get a grasp on my own personal life, which has been a bit of a roller coaster recently. I don't want to get into too many details, because it would border on the lines in the sand thing I sometimes talk about, some things just aren't meant for public consumption after all, and since those things also involve more than me, there are privacy issues involved as well. If it were just me, I might go forth and blab on the page, but it isn't, so I will not. What I will say is that things appear much better now than they did a few weeks ago, and that is all kinds of good with me.

Hey, the game is about to start? Dare I say glog? I think I just may. A quick note for those unfamiliar, glog is a term I stole from Sportsline.com,. and it is just a game blog of a sporting event.

As I type that brief description, we are underway from here in Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh gets credit for the game's first shot, a back hand attempt by Kris Letang that is gloved by Sergei Bobrovsky.

And we have a goal, a mere 1 minute and 14 seconds into the game, Steve Sullivan getting a goal to stake the Penguins to an early 1-0 lead.

Philadelphia tried answering back just seconds later, but saw a slap shot hit the post, and the pinging sound that is a goaltender's best friend some days.

Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis got assists on the Sullivan goal,. Dupuis is having a career type year for the Penguins, he has tallied 24 goals and 31 assists so far and while they aren't superstar numbers, they are quite good for someone who was almost considered little more than a throw in in the Marian Hossa deal a few years back.

We have another goal, and it is again all kinds of PIttsburgh, this time James Neal is your goal scorer, his 39th goal of the year and Pittsburgh has a 2-0 lead early in the first period.

So far Pittsburgh has had by far the better of the scoring chances, as evidenced by the two goal lead and a 9-2 advantage in shots 5 minutes into the contest.

Assists on the Neal goal go to Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz, so that is one more point for Malkin, who is making a strong case for the Hart trophy as the league's MVP, with 103 points (48 goals, 55 assists) which leads the NHL.

I should mention that since the Penguins have moved into the Consol Energy Center two years ago (they used to play at the Civic Arena) Philadelphia has never lost in PIttsburgh.

Pittsburgh, already sporting a 2 goal lead, now will have a power play opportunity, as Daniel Briere was called for interference, the first penalty by either team in the contest.

Pittsburgh has been playing 5 forwards on their power play recently, opting for no defensemen and the results have not been good. Lots of short handed odd man breaks the other way, and Philadelphia had two during the power play, though neither opportunity resulted in a goal, so the score remains 2-0.

A little over 11 minutes in, Pittsburgh still has am advantage in shots, 11-5, power play opportunities 1-0 and on the scoreboard 2-0.

I should note, the last time these two teams met, PIttsburgh built up a lead, only to lose the game by allowing two third period goals, and then an overtime goal with less than 2 seconds remaining, so an early lead, while promising is by far from a done deal when it comes to Penguins-Flyers match ups. One thing that has been missing early on here is the usually chipiness that happens during these rivalry games.

Remember when I said that the Flyers came back from two goals down last time these teams played? The Flyers just scored, the puck literally trickling through Marc Andre Fleury's legs, and the score is now 2-1. Scott Hartnell gets credit for the Flyers goal, which oddly does help my fantasy hockey team, even if it doesn't help my biased rooting interests here.

A quick flurry of activity of the Penguins in the Flyers end results in a few scoring opportunities, but nothing more, and instead now it will be the Flyers who will get their first power play opportunity. A change has been issued on the last goal, it is now being credited to Claude Giroux, his 28th of the year, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr getting credit for assists. Meanwhile a penalty is called on Matt Niskanen, 2 minutes for holding.

A successful penalty kill by the Penguins and there are less than two minutes remaining in the first period, Pittsburgh still holding on to a one goal lead thus far.

And another brief flurry of activity closes out the period, followed by a little bit of pushing and shoving after the whistle and after one period of play in Pittsburgh it is the Penguins leading 2-1. Both teams are 0 for 1 on the powerplay and Pittsburgh has a 16-8 advantage in shots.

Since we are at the first intermission, I guess I will grab something to eat and try to make myself a little more comfortable here. If anyone was taking bets on what it is I would actually eat, anyone who put money on a bear claw can pick up their winnings, everyone else better luck next time.

Since we are on a break here, for those unfamiliar with how my glogging style works, I just pontificate on useless stuff, sometimes it will be commercials that pop up during the game, other times it will be stuff that just occurs to me that I haven't had time to write about yet. This will be one of the latter.

As most of you know, I work at Smithfield News, a newsstand in downtown Pittsburgh, though it is probably more of a convenience store than actual newsstand. Because of our location between two schools downtown (Point Park University, Art Institute of Pittsburgh) and our hours of operation (opens 24hrs, 365 days a year) we are basically a grocery store for the students that reside downown and we carry a variety of products for just such people, including microwaveable foodstuffs, including a product that is called Big Az Burger, whcih is just a play on words for big ass and the fact it is a larger microwaveable hamburger style sandwich tahn you would normally find. Anyway, as I was checking some of these in the other day from our most recent delivery, I look at the packaging and I saw something that, I don't know who gets paid for doing marketing for the people that make Big Az sandwiches, but that person needs to be fired immediately. It seems that the packaging on the sandwiches changed recently, and on the wrapper it says so, it says "New look, same Big Az taste" Now excuse me for a second, but who wants a burger with ass taste? Anyone? Is there a trend of eating ass sandwiches out there that I was never clued in on?

Okay, looks like the second period is just about to get underway, which is good because you can only write so much about ass eating anyway.

And there you have it, I mentioned that the Flyers came back from two goals down the last time these teams met and they have just done it again, 1:35 into the send period as Max Talbot gets his 19th goal of the year and we are all knotted at two. Zac Rinaldo gets credit for the singular assist on the goal.

The Flyers have started dictating play here early in the second period, most of the action is taking place in the Penguins end of the rink. This despite the fact that two Flyers defensemen have left with injuroes and they are only playing with four as opposed to the usual 6 most teams play.

The differnce in shots between the clubs is still 8 (19-11 Pittsburgh) but Philadelphia has had by far the better scioring chances here in the second period, including a couple of odd man rushes.

Pittsburgh has their first really good scoring chance of the second period, Kris Letang setting up Sidney Crosby who comes in alone on Sergei Bobrovsky, but Crosby's shot is denied and the score here remains tied at 2.

Still only two penalties called to this point, and the action has been relatively even for the last several minutes and the 2nd period reaches the 14 minute mark. Usually Pittsburgh-Philadelphia matchups have a tendency to have a little more pushing and shoving involved, but perhaps neither team wants to take a stupid penalty with losing home ice advantage in the playoffs possibly being the result.

Just as I say that, the Flyers get called for their second penalty, Marc Andre Bourdon goes to the box, 2 minutes for hooking, and again Pittsburgh is going to start with with 5 forwards and no defensemen on the power play, Anbd that plan lasted all of a few seconds before Pittsburgh took a penalty as well, Steve Sullivan gets called for tripping just 10 seconds into the power play, so the teams will skate for 1:50 in a 4 on 4 situation and the Flyers will have a 10 second power play after that.

Another Flyer penalty, too many men on the ice, and we have had three penalties in the last minute and a half or so. The result is the Flyers will lose their 10 second power play and Pittsburgh will have the man advantage for about 85 seconds. Eric Wellwood will serve the 2 minute minor penalty for the Flyers.

The Penguins second power lay unity is on the ice, and it seems to be doing better than their 5 forward group they had been running earlier, if for no other reason than they aren't giving up odd man rushes the other way.

All of the penalty, power play nonsense is behind us, the end result is nothing, no goals scored by either team, we remain tied at 2, but again as soon as I say something, just the opposite happens, the Flyers get called for another penalty, Eric Wellwood again serving 2 minutes, this time for hooking. And Pittsburgh again runs out the 5 forward unit to start the power play, nearly getting the go ahead goal, but Bobrovsky makes a sprawling save to keep the score tied at 2. And that will be the end of the second period as well. Pittsburgh will start the third period still on the power play for one minute and 42 seconds. After two periods, Pittsburgh has a 30-14 lead in shots, but that hasn't translated into a lead on the scoreboard.

I know I wanted to mention something during this second intermission but I will be damned if I can remember what it was now. So instead I will just bust out the glass cleaner and clean my monitor, as I am on my desktop computer for the first time in a long time. I guess it has something to do with an actual working keyboard, which helps if you are going to type a lot. I thought about getting my laptop's keyboard fixed, but the more I think about it, I think I will just splurge and by a new laptop. After all, the one I bought was a refurbished model and I can get a good model; for what I need brand new off of Amazon for about $400. I could probably find something cheaper if I looked hard, but with Amazon I can basically get it for free if I save up enough Amazon cash. I already have $75 in my account there, and I could probably add close to another $100 in gift cards from the Pepsi orders at work, so I am almost halfway to the laptop already. Plus I still have another $5 pending from Swagbucks, and if I really need to spend the last few bucks for the laptop, I can just go to Coinstar and buy an Amazon gift card with the change I have laying around. Plus there will be a certain amount of satisfaction if I can manage to get a free laptop, rather than pull coins out of my own pocket for it. Yes, I am still that cheap kids, some things just never change.

I am getting an idea for what to do during the intermission. You will see it at the top of the blog, a younger me hanging with one of my favorite Christmas presents from years gone by, a stuffed Q-bert doll.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch the game has gotten underway again and Pittsburgh is called for a penalty early in the third, say hello to the penalty box Kris Letang and we will skate 4 on 4 followed by an abbreviated Flyers power play. As for the scanned picture, I think I will use it to open the blog, but you will have to read this far just to know what it is about.

And the Flyers break the tie on the power play, Wayne Simmonds notches his 28th goal of the year and the Flyers have a 3-2 lead, after trailing 2-0 very early in this contest. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek get credit for the assists on the go ahead goal.

Pittsburgh follows with a flurry of activity in the Flyers zone, but can beat Bobrovsky to tie the game.

The problem is when you start pressing for a goal, you sometimes get beat the other way and that was the case as Jakub Voracek gets loose for a breakaway in on Fleury and he beats him to make it Flyers 4 Penguins 2. In his last three games in goal, including today, Fluery has given up at least 4 goals in every game. That is not the type of goaltending you want heading into the playoffs. Meanwhile the Flyers are looking to continue their winning ways in Pittsburgh's building, and that looks like it will be the case, with just over 12 minutes remaining.

With a two goal lead, the Flyers will get another power play, Matt Cooke gets called for slashing and Pittsburgh will play short handed for two minutes of the remaining 11 minutes of action.

Pittsburgh does kill off the penalty, but time is not on their side here, they still trail by two goals with now just 8:04 remining. Meanwhile I think I will go open my Multiply page and start getting this thing ready for publication. After all, I do have a picture to add to the page.

That is what I get for trying to get to my page, the Flyers score again, it's now 5-2 Flyers and really, this game is over. Let's not kid ourselves, it is all about just what the final score will be. Marc Andre Bourbon with the 5th Flyers goal. I should note that there were assists on the last two Flyers goals, on the Voracek goal, those would go to Eric Wellwood and Braydon Coburn and on the Bourbon tally the helper goes to Claude Giroux.

We can now safely assume that Pittsburgh will lose here, that is three losses in their last four games, the only win coming when backup goaltender Brent Johnson was in net against Buffalo so sports talk shows will be riddled with "What is wrong with Marc Andre Fleury" phone calls tomorrow.

And it looks like we have a Pittsburgh goal, it is being reviewed in Toronto (league office monitors all games in real time) because the puck actually hit the camera in the net and shot back out, and wasn't recognized on the ice as having went in the net. But it is a goal (thank you league office), Steve Sullivan getting his second goal of the game to make it a 5-3 contest. The problem being there is just a little over 4 minutes left in the game.

Pittsburgh has a sizeable advantage in shots, 41-24, but that matters little at this point. Before I forget, the assists on the Sullivan tally go to Paqscal Dupuis and Zybnek Michalek.

Pittsburgh trying furiously to get another goal and the chippiness is starting to show during every stoppgae of play, more pushing and shoving and almost fisticuffs but no penalties are handed out.

And we have another Flyers goal, and empty net tally because Fluery was pulled for an extra attacker to make it 6-3 Flyers, Jakub Voracek again scoring to add to the Flyers total and the Penguins misery.

The subsequent faceoff and finally the fisticuffs break out, people square off literally all over the ice. Even the coaches are up on their feet yapping at each other. If this turns out to be a first round playoff matchup, well, let's just say their will be plenty of bad blood between these two teams come next week.

Let's see if they sort out all of the penalty nonsense, all I know so far is the Flyers coach, Peter Laviolette has been thrown out. As far as penalties, that is still being sorted out. I probably could use this time to do some spell checking, but why start spell checking now? I have a reputation to maintain after all.

Finally we are back underway for the last minute of action and Pittsburgh quickly scores to make it a 6-4, Chris Kunitz getting the goal with 32 seconds remaining in the game. Assists to the goal go to Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

And its a final. Philadelphia 6 Pittsburgh 4. No announcement on the late penalties yet, I guess I will have to wait and see if they post them online in the near future, though given they really didn't affect the outcome of the game, so I doubt anyone will be in a huge rush to get that information out there.  The lasty goal by the Penguins was a power play goal however, because of all of the extra curricular activities that broke out at the end of the game.  Brayden Schenn did get a 2 minute unsportmanlike conduct called against him, by I know that Aaron Asham from PIttsburgh and at least one Flyer were escorted from the ice, so chances are there will be more penalties handed out for all of the statistics geeks out there.

I will not be waiting for that info however, I want to get this thing posted and call it a day.  Still lots to do and part of that is not waiting on useless trivia.  So toodles to you all, glad to be back. 

Okay, before I go, I reference the penalty nonsense at the end of the game, here is the final result on that.....

Flyers

Brayden Schenn 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Wayne Simmonds 5 min - fighting (major), Pavel Kubina 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Marc Andre Bourdon 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Daniel Briere 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Brayden Schenn 2 min - roughing, Zac Rinaldo 10 min - misconduct

Penguins

Deryk Engelland 5 min - fighting (major), Aaron Asham 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Craig Adams 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Joe Vitale 2 min - unsportsmanlike conduct, Aaron Asham 10 min - misconduct.

I think that covers it.  Now I will go.