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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Battle of Pennsylvania 07-08: Game Two

Well, Game 1 went to the Flyers as the Penguins couldn't adjust to the new Flyers or were able to solve Biron. They should have been prepared for that knowing what difficult times they had with Biron in a Sabres jersey.

Game two would be played in the "friendly confines" of Wachovia Center. The Flyers fans were more than hospitable and made sure they showed just how they felt about the Penguins captain every time they touched the puck. [sarcasm]Classy.[/sarcasm]

The Penguins again got into trouble when they saw the scoreboard read 1-0 Flyers just 1:30 into the game. Killing a penalty, they couldn't control the rebounds leaving Kimmo Timonen a short poke at it. Then Knuble took it to the Penguins as his PP goal let the Flyers have a 2-0 lead. Is this what it feels like, Penguins?

But the Penguins won't roll over for anybody. Malkin gave Penguins fans a ray of hope midway through the second to cut the Flyers lead to 3-1. Sergei Gonchar, making up for his lack of puck handling skills, zapps another of his signature goals from the blueline making it 3-2 at the 2nd intermission.

"The right-handed shot" problem is getting so bad that the Pittsburgh TV announcers (Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey) are going out of their way to crowbar in that hint. They also should have mentioned to play Briere better as he was critical to Buffalo's success last season. Briere scored to take the wind of hope out of the Penguins sails and to put the Flyers up 4-2. Hartnell got the empty net to get the final box score looking lopsided once more to the 5-2 figure.

The Flyers have grabbed the first two crucial games in the divisional battle making this a competitive rivalry once more.

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