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ECQF Game 6: Flyers Dominate 5-1, Knock (Knock) Out Penguins in 6

By Ben Rothenberg
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Damn that felt good.

After sputtering a bit with victory on the menu in Games 4 and 5, the Flyers won Game 6 convincingly by the score of 5-1, dumping out the Penguins in 6, avenging playoff losses in 2008 and 2009, and becoming the first Eastern Conference team to advance to the second round. It was a lot of good stuff.

Eastern Quarterfinals, Game 6 -- Flyers win series, 4-2

They say teams don't come back from down 0-3 for a reason. Because they don't. Just because 2010 happened doesn't mean it happens, ya know? The Flyers only had to beat the Penguins in one of Games 4, 5, 6, or 7, and they did. It might not have been pretty, but it happened. The Flyers won, the Penguins lost, all is well.

Bullets over Broad Street:

  • Noon? Seriously NHL? For a game that started at practically the ass crack of dawn, the Flyers delivered a seriously primetime performance. Claude Giroux decked Sidney Crosby then scored the first goal, and it was actually a good thing for once. Then Hartnell scored, then Erik Gustafsson burned Flower like incense. That was pretty much all it took.
  • Afternoon games are never my favorite, but the Flyers won both of them in this series easily. So maybe I should be okay with them. But still, noon?
  • How good is Erik Gustafsson? Answer: very (would have also accepted "really" or "super"). The Flyer rookies have gotten a lot of ink this playoffs/season, but Gustafsson hasn't had much of any and his contribution has been huge. This Swedish hoss was on the ice for 22:09 today, which was FOURTH on the team behind only Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle, and Claude Giroux. That is crazy for a rookie who was a healthy scratch for most of this series.
  • Now the downside of this (and I promise this is the only non-positive thing I'll write today) is the lack of ice Kimmo Timonen is seeing, which is allowing Gustafsson so much. Timonen only had 15:44, which was even behind Andreas Lilja. There's a question mark floating above his Finnish halo right now. Also, Pavel Kubina got 1:46 in the last 40 minutes, so maybe something's going on there, too? Sharpen your skates, Wolf.
  • Although that's not good, less worrying was the play of Ilya Bryzgalov, who was solid if unspectacular and let up fewer than three goals for the first time. He's gonna need to be better in the next series than he was in this series, but his Games 5 and 6 really weren't bad.
  • Holy hell, the Flyer power play was crazy sexy in this series, like a NSFWPP or something. The Flyers scored 52.2% of the time, which is just absurd. They kept possession in the offensive zone better than any other power play I've ever seen. Was the Pittsburgh PK historically bad? Sure. But the Flyers were still amazing.
  • Now the Flyers have now made the second round three years in a row. That's really, really good, if you were wondering. It's the first time it's happened since 1995-97, having also previously happened in 1973-81.This organization isn't just "win now," it's "win now always" and it's fun to watch.
  • Annoyed the Flyers squandered chances to finish this series earlier? Don't be. The last three times the Flyers won a series in five or fewer games, they got rusty and opened their next series with two (once) or three (twice) straight losses.
  • Help a brother out: I want one of today's t-shirts BADLY. Feel free to mail me one if you have a spare.
  • ...hey hey hey, goodbye Penguins.

    • No questions to answer today. To make up for that void in your life, go listen to BSH Radio 51, which went up this morning.

    Comment of the Series:

    1o7h1_medium

    --Trollya Bryzgalov

    4 down, 12 to go. OH MY GOD THIS IS HAPPENING.

    Go Flyers.

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