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Philadelphia’s Danny Briere laughed off questions about officiating and whether Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get more calls than they deserve. He didn’t want to get too involved in criticism, especially now that the Philadelphia Flyers are down 2-0 to their cross-state rivals in the Eastern Conference finals. Briere took an elbow to the back of the head from Malkin in the second period of Sunday night’s 4-2 loss in Game 2 at Pittsburgh. The shot left him dazed, and the Flyers forward missed a shift as a result of the unpenalized blow. “That is something that should be called,” Flyers coach John Stevens said Monday. “We all know how the league is cracking down on blows to the head. If anybody knows that, it’s us.” This season, Philadelphia’s Jesse Boulerice was given a 25-game suspension by the NHL, fellow forward Steve Downie was hit with a 20-game ban for a shot to the head of Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond, and Riley Cote sat for three following an errant elbow. While Briere realizes that prominent players have gotten protection from officials as long as the NHL has existed, some consistency would be nice, too. “I’ve never considered myself a superstar,” said a smiling Briere, who signed an eight-year, $52-million free-agent deal with the Flyers last summer. “Obviously, they might get protected a little bit more. That’s understandable, but when they do some of the cheap shots that they’re doing I think it would be fair for everybody that they get the same treatment in that regard.” What has existed for years is teams’ playing better hockey win games, and Pittsburgh has been punishing teams with better records, to the tune of 14-3 against the money line.
This is all stuff the Penguins have heard before. Last round, the New York Rangers were upset about calls whistled against them. Their biggest gripe was the penchant of Pittsburgh’s players—especially Crosby—to embellish falls to draw a referee’s whistle. No matter. The Penguins shook off that talk and eliminated New York in five games. Pittsburgh is 10-1 in the playoffs.
“That’s playoffs. There are times you’re going to get a call, there’s times you’re not going to get a call. It’s not about complaining. It’s about playing the game. You hope to get the calls. It doesn’t happen all the time.” Pittsburgh went 2-for-6 on the power play Sunday and took advantage of a questionable hooking call against hulking Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher who got his stick caught up with Malkin.
Philadelphia vowed to keep up its physical play because the Flyers feel they have to carry an edge if they have any hope of advancing to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1997. “Big Hatch was trying to do the right thing there,” Stevens said. “If our players take penalties with their intention to do the right thing with effort on the play, we’ll live with the call.” Playing on home ice has proven to be a tonic for Philadelphia, who has won nine of last 10 games.
What they can’t live with is limited production from the line of Briere, Vaclav Prospal and Scott Hartnell. The trio is point-less in the series and a minus-7.
The Penguins practiced at home Monday and then endured delays as they tried to make it across Pennsylvania on a very stormy day. Upon arrival, they will face arguably the most volatile fans in the league.
With Game 3 tonight in Philadelphia, and Game 4 Thursday, Pittsburgh knows what lies ahead. “I would say it’s a pretty tough place to play,” Crosby said. “At the same time, in the playoffs it makes for a great atmosphere. … They’re just a tough crowd. They’re not afraid to say anything.”
For the first time in these playoffs, the Flyers are returning home for a Game 3 in a 2-0 hole. In series wins over Washington and Montreal, Philadelphia shook off losses in the opener to race out to 3-1 edges. Washington won twice to force a Game 7. Montreal went out in five. “The real important thing is that we feel we have another level and we’re going to hit that level (Tuesday) night,” Hatcher said. The Flyers will have to turn around a disturbing trend that has them 7-22 in home games off a road loss.
The breaks that seemed to go Philadelphia’s way in the past now appear to favor Pittsburgh. A pair of 4-2 road losses has the Flyers facing what amounts to a must-win contest Tuesday. “We’re 0-2 right now, and I don’t think we’ve played very well,” said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, who praised the officiating in the already-physical series. “We played better in the second game, but I think we have to play better if we expect to win a game.”
Because of the break between series and the way the games fell from one series to the next, the Flyers are on home ice for the first time since April 30. Philly has posted a 6-2 record after having been away from home for more than a week.
Bookmaker.com actually opened Philadelphia as a -110 home favorite; however hockey bettors couldn’t bet Pittsburgh fast enough, moving them to -120 favorite. The Flyers have been ill-suited for the home underdog role with eight wins in last 32 games.
With the total listed at Ov5.5, it would seem relatively easy to wager that direction, since 13 of last 16 have gone OVER when these Keystone State clubs collide, including 8-1 OVER in Philadelphia. The only possible consideration for going the other way is Pittsburgh is 11-3 UNDER after two straight wins by two goals or more this season.
Game 3 of the Eastern Finals can be seen on Versus Network, starting at 7:30 Eastern, with the Flyers a flabbergasting 1-18 after two straight losses by two goals or more.
StatFox Power Line – Pittsburgh -141, Total Over
IRA PODELL, AP Hockey Writer contributed to this article.
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