1. Tyler Kennedy sneaked off the bench to score the game-winner on a booming slapshot then attempted a Lambeau Leap into the glass.
2. What was up with "Crazy Man" Malkin tonight? Two stupid penalties, several giveaways, one crushing hit on Crosby and NO GOALS.
3. Neal looked like he was too slow for the pace of the game all night and NO GOALS. But he DID provide one big hit along the boards.
4. A ridiculous sequence of SEVEN saves by Fleury on the Flyers' final PP that left the Flyers looking to the heavens for the first time in the series. Maybe he IS back. It would help. Your goaltender HAS to win you a game or two in the playoffs.
5. After some inept defensive zone faceoffs during PP's Bylsma finally must have heard me screaming as he put Crosby in to take the next two, which he won. Although the faceoffs were fairly equal overall it seemed the Penguins lost most of theirs in the defensive zone. In the series Crosby is 16-3 on defensive zone faceoffs.
6. "Playoff Monster," Jordan Staal, has more goals than Malkin and Neal combined. He's now scored six goals on his last eight shots and leads the NHL in playoff goals. Although the Penguins didn't NEED goals by Neal and Malkin tonight it would have helped ease the fans' nerves.
7. The Flyers are very effectively suppressing the outlet passes that drive the Penguins offense by vigorously fore-checking.
8. For upcoming game(s) I'm not sure WHAT the referees are going to call goaltender interference based on all the Flyers' shenanigans tonight. The good news was the Penguins were never penalized for eventually knocking the Flyers' interlopers on their wallets when they attempted to em-plant themselves between Fleury and the net.
9. The Flyers went 10 minutes without a shot on goal in the third period.
10. How many times did we hear THIS in the play-by-play, "...and Michalek can't get it out of the zone." This was a big problem most of the night even for others but Michalek was the worst offender.
11. The Penguins won for only the second time in a playoff game in which neither Malkin nor Crosby scored.
12. If the Penguins can get a multiple-goal lead in Game 6 not only will the Flyers unravel, their "fans" will assist with that as they are BRU-TAL when the home team is going bad.
13. The team to score first has lost every game in the series. It goes back even further when the Penguins lost twice to the Flyers near the end of the regulars season after taking a first period lead. I predict this pattern will end in Game 6.
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