During the regular season, It was very common to see a good deal of Penguins jerseys in the crowd at the Wachovia Center. Last night, there were some, but not many. Those fans wearing orange and black let the few wearing black and gold have it. As the Flyers finished their pre-game skate, they were given an ovation by the crowd that was there early to watch. The crowd was loud and raucous and hungry for the game to start. Chants of “Let’s Go Flyers” could be heard before the game started.
The Penguins don’t like playing in Philadelphia, and have made that known. However, that didn’t stop them from playing spoiler for the frantic Philadelphia faithful. Two quick goals by the Penguins took the roar out of the crowd. The first came from Ray Whitney on a Pittsburgh power play after a questionable hooking call on Derian Hatcher (see below). Then Marian Hossa took the puck from blue line to blue line and put a wrist shot behind Martin Biron.
The Flyers would come within one after an RJ Umberger goal half way through the first period. The crowd got back into it, but that would be all the offense the Flyers could muster. For all the praise the Penguins get about their offense, their defensive prowess has been on display in this series, shutting down a strong Philadelphia team. Through the first two periods in game 3, the Flyers were only able to make 8 shots on goal. The Penguins have been able to disrupt the Flyers passing and have prevented them from getting much traffic in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. Traffic in front of the opposing goaltender was one of the keys to the Flyers success in the first two rounds.
Ryan Malone scored midway through the third period and Hossa netted his second of the game with an empty net goal to cap the Penguins 4-1 win in Philadelphia. The Flyers are now down 3-0 in the series. If they are to win this series, they will have to make history. Only two teams in NHL history have come back from 3-0 series deficits, the 1975 NY Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.
The NHL Officials should be ashamed of themselves. The officiating in this game was pathetic at best. Both teams were called for some weak hooking and tripping calls while more serious infractions were let go. Danny Briere was tackled at center ice after a face off and that was just looked at by referees Bill McCreary and Kevin Pollock. Mike Richards also had a breakaway and was tripped up by Sergei Gonchar, but nothing was called.
During some of the TV timeouts, the Arenavision showed some Flyers-Penguins playoff history. One of which was highlights from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000 which is the longest game in NHL history. It was ended by Keith Primeau’s game winning goal in the 5th OT. After showing the highlights of that game, Primeau was on was introduced and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Highlights
Game Summary
Box Score
Tags: Biron · briere · Hossa · Penguins · Richards · Umberger1 Comment
I know it makes no difference at all but the Gonchar play was not tripping he clearly poke-checked the puck right off his stick, you should probably watch that a few times over the off season