The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t been doing much losing during the NHL playoffs. It’s possible…just possible…that on this night, they lost one for the fans.
Thousands of those fans gathered at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and the Pens weren’t even there. They were all the way across the state in Philly where, by the way, the Rocky statue was photographed wearing a Pens Jersey.
The Pittsburgh fans watched the match on the big screen in the parking lot, screamed their lungs out, then fell silent as the Pens failed to come back from the hole they had made for themselves by playing soft during a first period that saw the Flyers come out on fire with a 3-0 lead.
The Pens rallied during the third period, but it was too little, too late. Philadelphia fans chanted “We hate Crosby,” and the Flyers celebrated a 4-2 victory over their hated cross-state rivals.
On Sunday afternoon, the Pens will return to Pittsburgh to try their hand at Game Five. Many of the same fans who watched in the parking lot on Thursday night, and thousands more, will be back at Mellon Arena. And this time, so will Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Marion Hossa and the rest of the Pens.
Back in Pittsburgh, they’ll skate onto the ice in front of a rowdy bunch of fans who are just a little ticked off because the Pens didn’t complete the sweep and humiliate the Flyers.
The Pittsburgh Post’s Dave Molinari was with the Pens before their Game Four loss, and reported that they were “restrained. Low-key. Businesslike.” Pens center Maxine Talbot said the team wasn’t "focused" on Thursday night.
Does anyone think the Pens will be "low-key" on Sunday? Does any Pens fan think that they will lack "focus" when they return to Pittsburgh?
The Pens may have lost Game Four, and there will be no sweep of those dreaded Flyers. Maybe they lost so their fans could be on hand to see them win the Eastern Division and go on to the Stanley Cup finals. Or, maybe they lost Game Four BECAUSE they missed the energy of those fans.
Who knows? Who cares? On Sunday, Pens fans are betting all will be right with the world.
Game on.
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2 months ago
Maybe they lost because they were outplayed. What a ridiculous notion that any team would throw any game in the conference finals for any reason. Sure, they threw the last game of the season. But that was only because they were afraid to face the Flyers in the playoffs and hoped someone else would take them out. Last night the Flyers came together for the first time after having lost their top two defensemen. Both of whom are likely to be back for Sunday. Then the Penguins will be reminded why they did throw that last game of the season. Too bad for them the Flyers outplayed the predictions of them losing to the Caps, and then to the Habs. On Sunday they'll outplay the predictions of a Pens victory for that game as well. Flyers won 4 in a row against Penguins during the season, they won 4 in a row against Montreal last series. They now only need 3 in a row to dispatch the Penguins.
2 months ago
ya this article is kind of ridicoulous.
The pens were simply outplayed....and no team in the eastern conference finals are going to throw a game away with the stanley cup at stake.....
2 months ago
As a Pens fan, I have to agree with the other comments in that there is no way that the Pens let one slide for us fans. I think that it might be going through some players' heads that "Hey, at least now we can win in front of 17,000 pens fans," but in this stage of the playoffs (let alone any stage) you cannot throw games like that. I think the Pens were outplayed by the straight desperation of the Flyers, and also, like Talbot said, they weren't focused.
The mentality that they've already won the series may have had set in. On Sunday, things will be different. If they did have that mentality, then it will likely be gone by then.
2 months ago
You know, you guys are right. I didn't mean to intimate that they had 'thrown' the game, but I can see how this came across that way. Poor presentation on my part.
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