The All Out Fall Out

Now, we all sit in the midst of another Penguins loss in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Not a person on earth could of envisioned the current outcome of the first three games.  Since 2009, there has not been a more resilient team in all of hockey.  Battling injury after injury, it was as if the city of Pittsburgh was brought back to life after the hype of the possibility in becoming the next dynasty in professional sports slowly faded away following two years of game seven defeats to the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoffs.

It's not over yet, but only three times in the history of the NHL has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs.  Some optimistic individuals and true Penguin fans will stand firmly behind their team, saying "Hey, they won three in a row, why can't we"?  Unfortunately, the play of the Flyers is not going to change.  They have absolutely owned every aspect of this series.  The Pens just have no answer for the Flyers resiliency which they have shown since the drop of the puck for the 2nd period of Game 1.  Twenty goals in three games, given up by the Penguins.  To put that drastic statistic more in retrospect, fifteen games in the month of March, the Pens gave up just over 30 goals.

Reflect back on the Flyers dramatic comeback against the Boston Bruins in 2010, coming back from three games down on what ended up being a monstrous comeback and made history.  Now, the hockey world will look upon the Penguins to complete that same feet starting on Wednesday evening.  The Penguins are now squandered and need an absolute miracle to get back into contention in this series.  Call it a colossal comeback, because thats exactly what it would be.

We are now witnessing arguably the greatest meltdown in Penguins hockey history. A team filled full of players who had career years, a goaltender who set his career mark for wins in a season, a fifty goal scorer, forty goal scorer, and an unsung hero in Pascal Dupuis who set his name in stone with one of the longest point streaks in Pens history along with #66.  Could all be forgotten and really not matter if they don't win the Cup.

Bob Johnson once coined the term, It's a great day for hockey.  Well folks, today, unlike most days in this city filled with rich hockey roots and tradition, is not one of those days.

Pray for a miracle.  I sure will.

Stunned

Call it what you want, last nights performance from the second period on was not a true display of Penguins hockey.  The NHL favorite to win the Cup came out flying last night against Philadelphia, posting three goals in the first period before going soft for the next forty minutes.  It appeared for the moment, that the Pens were going to post six goals to the shaken Bryzgalov over the next two periods.  However, we all watched the Penguins for the second time in as many weeks get blown away by the come back kids of Philadelphia in their own building.

If I would not of known any better, I would also say that 71 was a scratch last night and didn't play.  Malkin was non existent as well as his two line mates Chris Kunitz and James Neal.  Throughout the second and third period the Penguins looked out of sync, rattled and in a daze.  I questioned whether Bylsma was in a daze as well, the fact that he could not believe his eyes when the orange and black stormed from behind again to dominate the last two periods of play.  The Pens did not present any offensive presence last night outside of the first period, they had eight giveaways to the Flyers three.

The Flyers led the league with 20 come from behind victories this past season, a team which for the better part of the year has always had a slow start then really got into the game come the second and third period.  You would love to think Bylsma presented that statistic again to his locker room after the first twenty.  You would also love to think he would take a time out half way through the second period when they were being absolutely dominated on both ends of the ice.  "We got away from our game, thats really what it was", said Sidney Crosby.

Despite it all, the Penguins have a true test in front of them.  This is going to be a long series, but the Pens have a must win game in front of them at home Friday evening.  Don't expect the type of start you saw last night, that will not happen again.  The Pens need to control the tempo of the game from the drop of the puck or we could see this series head back to Philadelphia with the Penguins down 2-0.

But then again, anything could happen, last night was a true testament to that.