Stocharov i Pittov NHL kutak

[pitt]

hebo ba ostale u petak u 7 ovdje i u nedelju u pola 3 ovdje, onda tamo
jos da Sean Avery dobije batina od Robertsa ili LaRocka....milina

[pitt]

jaoooooooo sto ih sjebasmo momacki 3:0 su vodili od pocetka......hej 3:0 al onda su se djeca razigrala i na kraju 5:4 za nas......i u rijecima mladena delica.....pa ljudi jel to moguce......ludnica
U nedelju u 2 pm druga u mahali

[water]

a ona stativa 14 sekundi prije kraja? guza ko meduza; dobro smo prosli

[pitt]

pa jarane sreca sluzi hrabre. ako cemo iskreno ni onaj njihov gol nije bio po PSu....al eto incocnclusive...sta's
Pobjedi se ne gleda u oci Bolji su bili stvarno tprvu polovinu tekme......ali.....

[bos]

2-0 za 2-0

Ko se boji rendzera jos?

[pitt]

3 za grosh U utorak treca u NYC

[pitt]

Lets go PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 28, 2008
Tough Therrien proving to be right balance for young Pens

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Burnside
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Trying to determine whether an NHL coach is good or not is a bit of a mug's game.



It depends an awful lot on the tools he's got in his toolbox. Coaches are often considered top notch if they get more out of less. Just as often, players don't like a coach, yet those players sometimes end up with Stanley Cup rings as did players who toiled, often unhappily, for Scotty Bowman, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan and Bob Hartley.



There is a similar sandpaper-tough veneer to Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien.




Michel Therrien has led the Penguins to two straight postseason appearances after the team finished last in the East in 2005-06.

Just take his view on dirty dishes.



After dinner, Therrien, a single parent, does not get angry if his two teenage children don't take their dishes to the dishwasher when he asks. Not the second time or the third or even the fourth time he reminds them of their duties.



"The fifth time, I'm going to say, 'That's enough, you're going to stay in your room and no PlayStation,'" Therrien told ESPN.com on Monday. "Coaching is about the same."



But when it comes to his on-ice "kids," Therrien is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.



Because the Penguins are blessed with a handful of the game's most talented players, the coach's role in the team's successes will always be undersold. "Ah, anyone could coach those guys," the radio call-in guys will suggest. But if the team falters, the blame will fall squarely on Therrien's shoulders.



"I'm not afraid to make changes and keep the players on their toes, too," Therrien said. "To be a Stanley Cup champion, it's demanding."



He's trying to teach his players that.



"They're young. They could easily lose their focus because they're young," Therrien said.



So he's on them. Constantly.



In terms of learning the system and putting in the effort to make the system work, Therrien said, "I'm really strict with these young kids. But I got their back. They know that."



Therrien's decisions have already been met with raised eyebrows in this second-round series against the New York Rangers. Before Game 1, Therrien reshuffled his defensive pairings, moving Hal Gill with Rob Scuderi and placing Ryan Whitney with Kris Letang. After giving up three goals early in Game 1, the Pens have allowed just one in almost five periods of action and hold a 2-0 series lead with Game 3 set for Tuesday night in New York.



Before Sunday's game, veteran Gary Roberts told Therrien he was pretty close to being ready after missing three games with a groin injury. Roberts wanted a little bit of time to decide, but because the game was an afternoon contest, Therrien didn't want to wait. He didn't think it would be fair to Adam Hall not to know whether he was going to play or not, so Therrien told Roberts to take another day. That takes courage because having Roberts in the lineup -- a healthy Roberts -- makes the Penguins better.



But Therrien wanted all his players in the lineup to be thinking about the game. In the end, Hall was on the ice for the final seconds of Game 2 at the end of a Rangers power play and banked in the empty-net goal in the Pens' 2-0 victory.



We often talk about teams maturing or playing with confidence in the playoffs. Coaches, too. Therrien is one of them.



The 44-year-old native of Montreal was one of the youngest coaches in the NHL when he took over behind the bench of the NHL's most storied franchise, the Montreal Canadiens, during the 2000-01 season.



"I didn't know much about the NHL other than watching the games on TV," Therrien admitted. "But coaching that team, it's like going to Harvard University. When you're done, you know you're ready."



Therrien's education in Montreal lasted 190 regular-season games and 12 more in the postseason. Then-Penguins GM Craig Patrick hired him to take over the Penguins' AHL team in Wilkes-Barre. Then, when Ed Olczyk was fired 31 games into the 2005-06 season, Therrien faced an uphill battle.



The squad he inherited was filled with overpaid, underachieving players, and Therrien rustled feathers by implementing a boot-camp mentality and publicly questioning their effort.



"I did it the hard way," he said. "I tried to change the culture there. I tried to change lots of things."



That summer Patrick was out and Ray Shero took over, and the theory was Therrien would be on a short leash given that he wasn't Shero's guy. But Therrien, who had coached many of the young Penguins in Wilkes-Barre, where the team had success, guided the Penguins to a stunning 104-point campaign, a 47-point improvement over the previous season, and a wholly unexpected berth in the playoffs.



"No one was expecting that, not even us," Therrien said.



The Pens were knocked out in five games by the powerful Ottawa Senators, but when the current season began, the expectations had risen appreciably. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Penguins didn't roar out of the gate, but rather muddled along with an 8-11-2 through the first quarter of the season.



"We didn't start smoothly at all. It wasn't easy. I had to make adjustments," Therrien said.



There was grumbling that Therrien might be in trouble and some criticism about his propensity for juggling lines. Not that Therrien pays any interest to the criticism.



"Honestly, I don't pay too much attention to that. That's the market. That's the way it is here," he said. "There's a saying: It's not how you drive, but how you arrive."



When the Penguins lost starting netminder Marc-Andre Fleury in early December with a high-ankle sprain and Sidney Crosby the next month with a similar injury, the pressure on Therrien grew as did the whispers that maybe he was in trouble.



One of the first things he did after Crosby went down was talk to Evgeni Malkin, along with Sergei Gonchar acting as an interpreter. Therrien told Malkin he didn't want the young forward to try and do too much; he just wanted him to play his game, even though there was going to be more pressure on him in Crosby's absence. The talk worked as Malkin went on a tear, finishing second in league scoring, and the Penguins soared with him to capture the Atlantic Division crown.



Petr Sykora, a veteran who's played for coaches of varying personalities and demeanors, from Larry Robinson in New Jersey to Mike Babcock in Anaheim to Craig MacTavish in Edmonton, was asked about Therrien.



"Oh, don't put me on the spot," he said half-jokingly.



But Sykora is a perfect example of a player who had to earn Therrien's trust. After spending much of the first quarter of the season playing on the team's third line, he has meshed nicely playing on the wing with Malkin and has four goals in six games this postseason.



"He's a tough coach," Sykora said. "It took me some time to prove myself here. I don't blame him. I would have done the same thing as a coach. Now, I feel that I'm part of the structure. I'm just very happy that I think I proved to Mike that he can rely on me in a lot of situations."



Therrien knows coaching isn't forever, it's for now; but he has settled into a nice groove in Pittsburgh.



His kids like it, and this summer, instead of returning to Montreal for summer vacation, they'll remain in Pittsburgh.



As for Therrien's other kids, the ones in the dressing room, as long as they keep playing hockey in May and beyond, we doubt he'll have to ask them more than once to put their dishes in the dishwasher.



Scott Burnside is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.

[Admir_1984]

E jest mi krivo zbog Montreala u pm. Ljudi razvale one sreckovice 2 utakmice, a zijane Price glupi, kako su samo vjerovali da sa rookijem na golu mogu neshto u play offu. Zasto su dali Hueta?

Iskreno se nadam da ce se sve one sesrece sutra vratiti i da Montreal dobija sljedecu tekmu. A onda lom samo takav u gradu hokeja

go Habs go!!!

[pitt]

hajde ba bit ce bolje

3:0......deremo ih deremo





http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/vid ... Id=2459791

[pitt]

holly fuck..........nije valjda radi poraza Avery fasovao srcani jedan je od rijetkih igraca koje organski ne volim, ali nadam se da nije nista ozbiljno i da ce se oporaviti

Sources: Rangers star Sean Avery hospitalized
By JOHN DELLAPINA and LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Wednesday, April 30th 2008, 10:45 AM

Rangers bad boy Sean Avery, unconscious and not breathing, was rushed to a Manhattan hospital Wednesday morning in cardiac arrest just hours after his team's playoff loss, sources said.

Avery, 28, arrived at St. Vincent's Medical Center about 3 a.m., according to the hospital source. The Rangers had just lost 5-3 a short time earlier in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.

Avery, traded to the Rangers last year from Los Angeles, lives in Manhattan. The single winger is known for klix a bevy of celebrities, including Rachel Hunter and Elisha Cuthbert.

In March, the Daily News revealed that Avery's name and private cell phone number were in a huge client database for a Manhattan prostitution ring. He was listed as a $500 client of brothel Maison de L'Amour, although he adamantly denied using the hooker service.

There was no immediate word on what happened to Avery before he was taken to the hospital.

A source close to the team confirmed Avery had been rushed to the hospital, but declined to offer any specifics.

Avery played in last night's game and picked up an assist on the Rangers' second goal.

One round earlier in the playoffs, Avery drove Devils' goalie Martin Brodeur crazy with his antics - to the point that the Devil refused to shake Avery's hand when the series ended.

[pitt]

uh dobro je....nije srcani.....samo smo mu slezenu sjebali

Rangers say Avery hospitalized following playoff loss

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Burnside
ESPN.com

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- The New York Rangers said forward Sean Avery suffered a lacerated spleen in Tuesday night's Stanley Cup playoff game and will be lost for the remainder of the playoffs.


The team also denied a published report in the New York Daily News -- which first reported Avery's hospitalization -- that the forward had been taken to a Manhattan hospital while unconscious and in cardiac arrest.


The Rangers said Avery was admitted to St. Vincent's Medical Center following a CT scan and is expected to make a full recovery. Avery walked into the medical facility with team doctor Andrew Feldman, and the two took a car to the hospital, not an emergency vehicle, the team said.


Hours earlier, the Rangers lost 5-3 in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. The Penguins took a 3-0 series lead with the win.


Avery suffered the injury as the result of a hit during the game, spokesman John Rosasco told reporters during the team's morning workout.

Avery played 14 minutes and 34 seconds of Game 3, taking 19 shifts on the ice. He finished the game before going to hospital, according to the team. He has seven points in eight playoff games this spring. Avery, known for getting under opponents' skin with a chippy style of play, became a lightning rod for controversy during the first round when he tried to disrupt New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur by waving his arms and stick in the netminder's face. The unorthodox method of screening prompted the NHL to impose a new rule that warned similar actions by players would result in a penalty.


Scott Burnside is a senior writer for ESPN.com

[bos]

E jest mi krivo zbog Montreala u pm. Ljudi razvale one sreckovice 2 utakmice, a zijane Price glupi, kako su samo vjerovali da sa rookijem na golu mogu neshto u play offu. Zasto su dali Hueta?

Iskreno se nadam da ce se sve one sesrece sutra vratiti i da Montreal dobija sljedecu tekmu. A onda lom samo takav u gradu hokeja

go Habs go!!!

Iz genijalnih 12 suteva ubace 3 gola i pobjede, stvarno nevjerovatno. Gledaj veceras kako ce se to sve vratiti i bice finale sa Pingvinima nema dalje

Sve ostale serije po 3-0...kad se to desilo zadnji put, ako se desilo.

[pitt]

ja se nadam domacem East finalu..... West PA (Pens) vs. East PA (phily)

[Admir_1984]

E jest mi krivo zbog Montreala u pm. Ljudi razvale one sreckovice 2 utakmice, a zijane Price glupi, kako su samo vjerovali da sa rookijem na golu mogu neshto u play offu. Zasto su dali Hueta?

Iskreno se nadam da ce se sve one sesrece sutra vratiti i da Montreal dobija sljedecu tekmu. A onda lom samo takav u gradu hokeja

go Habs go!!!

Iz genijalnih 12 suteva ubace 3 gola i pobjede, stvarno nevjerovatno. Gledaj veceras kako ce se to sve vratiti i bice finale sa Pingvinima nema dalje

Sve ostale serije po 3-0...kad se to desilo zadnji put, ako se desilo.

Opet se ista stvar desila

Koliko samo srece flyersi imaju

[bos]

GoooooooooooooooooOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooool!!!!

Hossa za finale

[pitt]

March Of The Penguins
video

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/vid ... Id=2378529


a sad mahala finale

[pitt]

Hossa's second goal sets up all-Pennsylvania conference final


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years.

Sidney Crosby began a rush into the Penguins end with a pass to Pascal Dupuis, who attempted to give it back to Crosby. The puck trickled away but ended up on Hossa's stick, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist from the slot for his fifth of the playoffs to end New York's season. The Penguins won the series 4-1.

The Penguins, the Eastern Conference's worst team only two years ago, will meet the cross-state Philadelphia Flyers, the conference's worst team last season, in the first all-Pennsylvania conference final. The teams haven't met in the postseason since the Flyers' six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series best remembered for Philadelphia's five-overtime win in Game 4, which occurred eight years to the day Sunday.

The Rangers, down 2-0 but desperate to swing the series back to New York for what would have been a Game 6 on Monday, got back into the game by scoring twice in less than 90 seconds to tie it early in the third.

Lauri Korpikoski, a 2004 first-round draft pick playing in his first NHL game on a hunch by coach Tom Renney, scored 2:03 into the period with only the second Rangers shot in nearly 17 minutes.

Korpikoski's wrist shot from the right circle may have deflected off Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who chose not to come out to challenge only Korpikoski's second career shot. Michal Rozsival, partly making up for his three penalties in the second period, got the first assist.

Given life in a game -- and a season -- that was beginning to look lost, the Rangers came back to tie it 1:22 later as Nigel Dawes scored on a backhander while cutting across the slot off Scott Gomez's setup, a shot similar to that he missed in the game's opening minute.

The turnaround appeared to stun the young Penguins and their towel-waving crowd after a dominating second period in which Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 17-4 and held them without a shot for nearly 15 minutes.

The pivotal moment of the period may have been when New York's Chris Drury was unintentionally clipped and bloodied by Penguins forward Ryan Malone's stick in front of the Pittsburgh net only 92 seconds into the period. Both benches seemed to expect a 4-minute high-sticking penalty -- play was stopped briefly to clean up the blood -- but there was no call.

There was one when Drury drew a high-sticking major, against Malone no less, late in the third, putting the Rangers in a precarious position to end the game and begin the overtime. But the Rangers killed it off despite being down a man for the first 2:41 of the overtime, but the Penguins used the momentum they regained by constantly pressing on the power play to get Hossa's game-winner a few minutes later.

Jaromir Jagr, the leading scorer in the playoffs with 15 points, didn't get a goal in perhaps his last game for New York, though he told NBC that he wants to play for another four seasons and would like to stay with the Rangers. He was a force throughout the game, drawing three of the first four penalties against Pittsburgh after getting three goals in the previous two games.

Hossa, casting aside his image of being a player who can't score in the playoffs, made it 1-0 with a hard wrist shot from below the right circle 8:45 into the second after the Penguins quickly moved the puck from one side of the ice to the other on passes by Crosby and Malone.

Evgeni Malkin made it 2-0 about 4 minutes later with his fourth goal of the series and sixth in nine playoff games. He carried the puck into the left circle following a faceoff win, lost it briefly while making a spin move, only to retrieve it while fending off Drury and threw a backhander past Lundqvist. Malkin gave Drury a hard shove as he began his celebratory fist pump.

But for all of their domination in the period, the Penguins couldn't get the third goal that might have decided the series and, as they did in rallying from three goals down in Game 1 before losing 5-4, the Rangers had a comeback in them.

Game notes
Pittsburgh is 37-1-3 this season when leading after two periods. ... Korpikoski replaced F Colton Orr. ... The Rangers went 0-2 in overtime playoff games this spring. ... Before this season, Hossa had 13 goals in 55 career playoff games.

[water]

Hossa's second goal sets up all-Pennsylvania conference final


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years.

Sidney Crosby began a rush into the Penguins end with a pass to Pascal Dupuis, who attempted to give it back to Crosby. The puck trickled away but ended up on Hossa's stick, and he beat Henrik Lundqvist from the slot for his fifth of the playoffs to end New York's season. The Penguins won the series 4-1.

The Penguins, the Eastern Conference's worst team only two years ago, will meet the cross-state Philadelphia Flyers, the conference's worst team last season, in the first all-Pennsylvania conference final. The teams haven't met in the postseason since the Flyers' six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series best remembered for Philadelphia's five-overtime win in Game 4, which occurred eight years to the day Sunday.

The Rangers, down 2-0 but desperate to swing the series back to New York for what would have been a Game 6 on Monday, got back into the game by scoring twice in less than 90 seconds to tie it early in the third.

Lauri Korpikoski, a 2004 first-round draft pick playing in his first NHL game on a hunch by coach Tom Renney, scored 2:03 into the period with only the second Rangers shot in nearly 17 minutes.

Korpikoski's wrist shot from the right circle may have deflected off Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who chose not to come out to challenge only Korpikoski's second career shot. Michal Rozsival, partly making up for his three penalties in the second period, got the first assist.

Given life in a game -- and a season -- that was beginning to look lost, the Rangers came back to tie it 1:22 later as Nigel Dawes scored on a backhander while cutting across the slot off Scott Gomez's setup, a shot similar to that he missed in the game's opening minute.

The turnaround appeared to stun the young Penguins and their towel-waving crowd after a dominating second period in which Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 17-4 and held them without a shot for nearly 15 minutes.

The pivotal moment of the period may have been when New York's Chris Drury was unintentionally clipped and bloodied by Penguins forward Ryan Malone's stick in front of the Pittsburgh net only 92 seconds into the period. Both benches seemed to expect a 4-minute high-sticking penalty -- play was stopped briefly to clean up the blood -- but there was no call.

There was one when Drury drew a high-sticking major, against Malone no less, late in the third, putting the Rangers in a precarious position to end the game and begin the overtime. But the Rangers killed it off despite being down a man for the first 2:41 of the overtime, but the Penguins used the momentum they regained by constantly pressing on the power play to get Hossa's game-winner a few minutes later.

Jaromir Jagr, the leading scorer in the playoffs with 15 points, didn't get a goal in perhaps his last game for New York, though he told NBC that he wants to play for another four seasons and would like to stay with the Rangers. He was a force throughout the game, drawing three of the first four penalties against Pittsburgh after getting three goals in the previous two games.

Hossa, casting aside his image of being a player who can't score in the playoffs, made it 1-0 with a hard wrist shot from below the right circle 8:45 into the second after the Penguins quickly moved the puck from one side of the ice to the other on passes by Crosby and Malone.

Evgeni Malkin made it 2-0 about 4 minutes later with his fourth goal of the series and sixth in nine playoff games. He carried the puck into the left circle following a faceoff win, lost it briefly while making a spin move, only to retrieve it while fending off Drury and threw a backhander past Lundqvist. Malkin gave Drury a hard shove as he began his celebratory fist pump.

But for all of their domination in the period, the Penguins couldn't get the third goal that might have decided the series and, as they did in rallying from three goals down in Game 1 before losing 5-4, the Rangers had a comeback in them.

Game notes
Pittsburgh is 37-1-3 this season when leading after two periods. ... Korpikoski replaced F Colton Orr. ... The Rangers went 0-2 in overtime playoff games this spring. ... Before this season, Hossa had 13 goals in 55 career playoff games.

rekoh ti ja da cemo sad na marisanu so ovim djiberima. Go Pens!

[pitt]

u u petak (prva) i nedelju (druga) ovdje

Eastern Conference


No. 2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 6 Philadelphia Flyers

Friday, May 9 -- Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Sunday, May 11 -- Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Tuesday, May 13 -- Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Thursday, May 15 -- Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
*-Sunday, May 18 -- Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
*-Tuesday, May 20 -- Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
*-Thursday, May 22 -- Philadelphia at Pittsburgh

[pitt]

Conference finals breakdown: Penguins vs. Flyers
By Scott Burnside

It seems like a long time ago that Ottawa coach Bryan Murray was accusing the Pittsburgh Penguins of dumping the final regular-season game to avoid a first-round matchup against Philadelphia and instead draw the injury-riddled Senators.


Regardless of what really happened in that game, the Penguins' Stanley Cup journey will indeed take them through the City of Brotherly Love. Of course, brotherly love is relative, especially when it comes to two teams that do not like each other.


Then, there's the Flyers' playoff slogan, "Vengeance Now." Very nice. Very family. Very Philadelphia. Both teams are coming off five-game series victories, the Flyers upending top-seeded Montreal and the Pens dispatching a veteran New York Rangers. In both cases, the games were close, yet neither team seemed in danger of actually losing control of tone and tempo.


The Flyers, who won five of eight matchups against Pittsburgh during the regular season, will try to establish a physical tone with the skilled Penguins, who have shown a surprising level of grit of their own. Both teams have displayed timely, balanced scoring, superb defensive play and stellar goaltending. Oh, and did we mention they can't stand each other? Stay tuned.



1. Malkin/Crosby, Crosby/Malkin. Through the first two playoff rounds, Evgeni Malkin has established himself, at least at this juncture, as the best player on the Penguins' roster and arguably the best player in the playoffs. Is that a snub of Crosby? No. But the fact the two players have combined for 28 points in nine playoff games illustrates the onerous task the Flyers will face in trying to shut down not just one, but two elite centers. Malkin, playing on a line with Ryan Malone and Petr Sykora, has displayed an uncanny ability to generate offense from what looks like a dead-end play. He is difficult to knock off the puck and his awareness of both the net and his teammates is superb. He appears to be unaffected by pressure. Crosby, who did not score against the Rangers but had three two-assist games in the series, remains the face and voice of the Penguins, and the Flyers and their fans will no doubt try to get under his skin as the Rangers and their fans did with little success. His work ethic sets the tone for a Penguins team that isn't all razzle-dazzle.


2. Questions answered, and then some. At the beginning of the playoffs, it would have seemed the quality and consistency of goaltending might be the biggest question for the Flyers and Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury was coming off his first playoff experience a year ago in which he was easily rattled. Martin Biron, 30, was heading into his first NHL playoffs for the Flyers and had only earned the No. 1 job over Antero Niittymaki midway through the season. Yet here they are, Biron and Fleury, having played pivotal roles in their teams' successes thus far. Fleury has been sensational and leads the NHL with a .938 save percentage. His 1.76 GAA is third behind Chris Osgood and Marty Turco. More impressive, when he has needed to make big stops to either preserve a lead or keep his team in the game, he has done so. Biron was stellar against Montreal, a series in which the Flyers were badly outplayed for most of the series and outshot 177-133 over five games. Biron is coming off a series victory over heralded rookie Carey Price. Now, he'll have to outduel another young star in Fleury, the first overall pick in 2003.


3. Leveling the ice surface. The Flyers were outplayed for long periods against Montreal and were outshot in the first four contests before narrowly outshooting Montreal in the finale. Given the firepower in the Penguins' lineup, it won't be a surprise if the Flyers continue that trend in the conference finals. Unlike Montreal and untested Washington, though, this Penguins team knows how to finish, and if the Flyers continue to give up the number of scoring chances they did in the first two rounds, it will spell trouble. When they were successful in closing out Washington, the Flyers were able to control the puck for long stretches and would no doubt like to do the same against Pittsburgh. To do so means winning faceoffs and playing smart, but tough hockey. It's a tall order.


4. The sin bin. The Flyers represent a bit of anomaly in these playoffs as they are the most penalized team with 57 penalties in 12 games. Yet, that has not cost them. Yet. The Penguins have scored at least one power-play goal in eight of nine playoff games. There is no reason to believe they will stop the trend, and the more opportunities they get, the worse off the Flyers will be. As for the Penguins, their penalty-killing work has been superlative as they have allowed power-play goals in just four of nine games. Against the Rangers, they killed off 22 of 25 power-play opportunities. The only game they lost, Game 4 in New York, was the only contest in which they did not win the special-teams battle. The Flyers will have to score when they are given the opportunity to stay close. This task is going to be even more difficult given the emotion that will be at play here. Staying on the right side of the emotion line will be a difficult chore for both teams and the one that is most successful at that balancing act will likely advance.


5. The Umberger factor. Home-state pride and joy R.J. Umberger was a force against Montreal, scoring eight times and adding one assist. Would he love to do so in his hometown of Pittsburgh? You bet. But even if he doesn't, the Flyers will need an Umberger-like performance from someone to take the pressure off top scorer Daniel Briere. The Penguins will throw out two dynamite offensive lines, plus a very good third line capable of generating offense. The Flyers, who are second in goals per game in these playoffs, have surprising offensive depth, too. That will have to continue if the Flyers want to stay close to the Pens. Umberger answered the bell against Montreal. Who's next?



• Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen vs. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin: Watch for Philadelphia coach John Stevens to employ his shut-down pair of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen against whichever of the Crosby/Malkin lines looks to be most dangerous at any given moment (nice job figuring that one out). Meanwhile, unless Michel Therrien changes up his defensive pairings, Sergei Gonchar and Brooks Orpik and Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi will handle the heavy lifting against Briere, Vaclav Prospal and Scott Hartnell.



• Penguins: Malkin had seven points and two game-winners in the five-game series against the Rangers. Gary Roberts has not had a point since the first game of the first series, when he scored twice, including the game-winner, against Ottawa. In total, Roberts has played in only four games because of a groin injury before becoming a healthy scratch.


• Flyers: Hartnell had goals in each of the last two games against Montreal after recording just one in the Flyers' first 10 playoff games. After scoring the overtime winner in Game 7 against Washington, Joffrey Lupul had just one goal in five games against Montreal.



The Penguins have too much going on both offensively and defensively for the plucky Flyers. Penguins in six.


Scott Burnside is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.

[pitt]

veceras ce krvi biti

Penguins-Flyers series a war? That's the idea
By Scott Burnside

PITTSBURGH -- Every playoff series has a personality, an identity that evolves and matures as the series progresses. But before the puck drops on any series, there is only an idea.
And the idea of this highly anticipated Pittsburgh-Philadelphia Eastern Conference finals is that it's going to be war. If the "idea" of this matchup lives up to its billing, this will be "Gangs of New York" on ice. Get Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis their skates and let's go.
That's certainly the idea of this series from the Flyers side of things as the series nears its Friday night kickoff.
"I think it's on the ice. We hate each other more," Flyers forward and Pittsburgh native R.J. Umberger said. "Great players on both teams, battling hard every night, we all want to win. If you want to be on top of your division or win a Stanley Cup, you've pretty much got to go through each other. You can't hide from each other."
This notion of two teams ready to engage in a tong war on ice plays to the Flyers' strengths, especially in light of the shocking news late Thursday that top defenseman Kimmo Timonen likely has been lost for the series with a blood clot in his ankle.
It's been part of the fabric of the team for more than 30 years. Even though the Flyers are the top-scoring team in the playoffs this spring, the rhetoric from their side of the state has been decidedly hawklike in the days leading up the start of the series. They have resurrected the well-worn "Did the Pens tank their last game of the regular season?" debate once again. There has been lots of discussion about the bad blood between Derian Hatcher and Sidney Crosby that has cost Crosby a couple of chicklets since he arrived on the scene three seasons ago. There has been plenty of discussion of the animosity shared by coaches Michel Therrien and John Stevens when both were coaching their respective AHL teams a few years back.
"It's always been pretty heated between the two of them. They're pretty competitive," Umberger said with a grin. "It's always been intense, and I think it will probably stay intense this year. This is probably something they both take personally against each other."
Philly's Stevens tried to downplay the powder-keg element of his relationship with Therrien.
"That's when I was a lot younger. I'm a little older now," Stevens said Thursday. "I said this the other day. I think if everybody likes you, you're probably not very good. I think a lot of teams liked us last year. They liked playing us last year. I think when you dislike each other, or there's emotion involved, it's probably because you have the other team standing in the way of where you want to go. I think that's the case here."
There is a line to be walked here for both coaches and teams as the rhetoric heats up. Too much, and the control over emotions is gone. Too little, and maybe the other team gets an early emotional lift.
"Well, I hope it's going to stay on the ice. That's the No. 1 thing. But we're part of a rivalry. We never know what's going to happen," Therrien said Thursday. "So as far as I'm concerned, he's a great coach and he's got a lot of success in the minors. He's the type of guy that will defend his players. And I'll do the same if I have to."
No question the Penguins' idea of this series and what it might become is markedly different.
The Flyers haven't been shy about playing physical against the Penguins, a trend that shouldn't change in the conference finals.
The Penguins insist they are unafraid of whatever the Flyers might bring to the buffet, but to get sucked into the, "Oh, yeah, we're pretty tough, too" debate is to lose the first battle before the first puck is dropped.
That's why the Pittsburgh crew is doing its best to wave an indifferent hand at the notion of vitriol and vengeance as if it were an annoying fly.
"You expect it to be physical, but that's the playoffs. We know that there's a rivalry, but as far as being afraid of anything, no," Crosby said. "I mean, you expect it to be physical and hard-nosed hockey, like most playoff series. But I don't think anything more."
Crosby, of course, has been one of the focal points of this pre-series, as he was before the Senators and Rangers series that preceded it. It's hard to imagine a playoff series involving Crosby and the Penguins in which he wouldn't be.
The Rangers tried to play "Let's get in Sidney's kitchen" before the start of the second round, murmuring about how he is a diver and embellishes calls. He'll no doubt hear the same, and probably worse, from the Flyers and their fans. Philly might be better off leaving Crosby alone, given that its badgering of the star forward has seen him respond with 37 points in 20 games against the Flyers.
Georges Laraque pointed out that before the Penguins-Rangers series, everyone was talking about Sean Avery.
"What's he going to do? What are you guys going to do?" Laraque recalled.
In the end, Avery was a nonfactor even before he suffered a lacerated spleen in Game 3.
Still, people revel in the negative stuff, including the idea that the Pens and Flyers are going to get medieval on each other.
"People, they want it so much," Laraque said. "Everybody's going to be so disappointed."
Veteran forward Gary Roberts has played in 123 playoff games. He's been part of the Battle of Alberta with the Calgary Flames and the Battle of Ontario with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Can anything good come from these pre-series confabs?
"No, no good," Roberts said. 'The bottom line is, the most disciplined team is going to win."
Even in the Flyers' camp, there is an acknowledgement of finding a place at the line but not crossing it.
"I've been saying it for the past week. I think that's going to be a key in this series," said Daniel Briere, the Flyers' playoff scoring leader. "The team that's going to be able to walk that line, that imaginary line, without crossing it too often has probably a better chance of winning."
But here's the thing. For all the talk, there is something about this series that is different from other conference finals of the recent past -- Ottawa-Buffalo, Carolina-Buffalo, Edmonton-Anaheim, Anaheim-Detroit. This series is suffused with history. These two teams came into the NHL at the same time more than 40 years ago. They share the same state, and that often means sharing an instant dislike -- a "This town's only big enough for one of us" Old West mentality. Both teams have enjoyed periods of dominance, with the Flyers winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975 and the Penguins snagging two in a row in 1991 and 1992.
Those days are long past, and both teams have followed the alpha wave from champion to the bottom of the pile at various points in between. The Penguins haven't been back to the Cup finals since 1992, when Mario Lemieux was a force. The Flyers haven't been there since 1997, when Eric Lindros and the Legion of Doom were swept by the Detroit Red Wings.
There are ample lines connecting these two teams, from the two Pittsburgh natives in the series, Umberger of the Flyers and Ryan Malone of the Penguins; the earlier battles between Therrien and Stevens; Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero's connection to the Flyers through his father, Fred Shero, the coach of the last Cup-winning Flyers team.
So, now they face each other with just four wins separating each team from a trip back to the big dance.
No wonder they can't wait to stop talking and start playing.

Scott Burnside is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.

[pitt]

kako oni konji sa versusa nazvase....Pennsylvania Cold War.....i 1:0 za nas Cardiac Kids did it again! 4:2 za nas u prvoj tekmi. LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!

[Admir_1984]

Svaka cast Sidu, al je Malkin Bog i batina one ekipe. Svaka mu cast fakt. Po meni trenutno najbolji igrac na svijetu

[bos]

I dalje ne porazeni u Mellon Areni, uz Detroit (koji veceras pada od Starsa 100% ) jedina ekipa bez poraza na svom ledu.

Flyersi su dostigli vrhunac s ovim ulaskom u finale istoka i tako su i sinoc djelovali posebno bez Timonena iako tesko da bi i on sta posebno promjenio,a nisu ni Pingvini iz Montreala pa da sami sebe pobjedjuju tako da...

[pitt]

ma malkin je igracin u rangu sida. Po meni realno i jedan i drugi bolji igraci od alexa jer bolje kontrolisu pak a i u odbrani su strasni Geno je odlicno odradio posao dok je sid bio povrjedjen. A tek u paru kako igraju..... . Jos Geno samo da engleski nauci pa da prica bez prevodioca
Flyersi su i dalje opasni......vracali su se iz obje serije nakon poraza. Doduse povreda najboljeg odbrambenog igraca ih kosta. Onaj drugi gol malkina se nikad ne bi desio da je onaj levat na ledu bio Al sta's......

golovi:

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/vid ... Id=2378529