Penguins Game 6 Review

Flyers nation can now exhale.

Anxiety was rising, but instead the Flyers turned out their best 60 minutes of the series.  Giroux provided the early boost, and the Flyers circled the wagons and survived the Penguins furious counter-punch.  That would prove to be Penguins' best shot.

I was oddly confident this morning.  Rationally, I should've been very concerned about the Flyers shorthanded defense, and Bryz looking physically hampered, but instead I just thought to myself that there was no way the Flyers would let this series get away from them.  They were going to win this game.  This team has been way too resilient this year, never giving up.  Yes, the Penguins were a more focused team than earlier in the series, but this Flyers team always answers the bell.

I'm already looking forward to the next round, and pulling hard for both Washington and Ottawa to complete their upsets and leave a clear path to the finals for the Flyers.  Either way, it will be great not to have to think about punks like Malkin, Neal and Letang for 6 months.

Notes:
-The Flyers really tightened up defensively.  Bryzgalov faced hardly any clean looks, and didn't have to move laterally nearly as much.  As a result, he looked more comfortable and made all the expected saves.  Also, the Flyers blocked 40 shots today, more than the previous two games combined (and double the 20 they blocked in game 3, their previous series high).

-Gustafsson came in and played like a champ.  His ice time rose from ~12 minutes in game 5 to ~22 in game 6, nearly all at even strength.  That was more than Timonen and Carle at even strength this game.  Timonen actually played less than 7.5 minutes at even strength, and 15 overall.

-After going for 1/3 on the power play today, the Flyers percentage dropped to 57% (12/23) for the series.  The Pens themselves went 31% (9/29), a damn good number in any other reality, but also gave up 3 shorthanded goals.  Mind you, the Pens were one of the best penalty killing teams in the league this year and set a franchise record for PK percentage.

-Crosby was nearly invisible today, and I suspect he is not 100% after getting nailed on the chin by Malkin last game.  Malkin was very good, scoring one, hitting a post, and generally wreaking havoc in the Flyers zone around the net.