2010 Compuware NHL Premier Series – Philadelphia Flyers fly high winning 3-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins
The 2nd game of the NHL regular season saw the Philadelphia Flyers up against the Pittsburgh Penguins this Thursday. The match took place at the Consol Energy Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 2009 champions, Pittsburgh were looking
to start the NHL season on a high but couldn’t register a win as they lost the opening game to the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.
1st Period
Both teams started the period attack minded and pressed on the defences. The defences were not weak but the attacks were of such quality that they were able to pass the defence with relative ease.
The early stages of the period saw both teams’ coming up with excellent plays and then as they passed the defence, they hit potential goal scoring shots. However, the goal keepers didn’t let anything get past them. The Philadelphia goal keeper, Sergie Bobrovsky
specially made some brilliant saves and played a major part in keeping the score level.
The Philadelphia Flyers also had the share of the chances but the Penguins goal keepers displayed some excellent saves. The battle was more of an offence against the goal keepers that the goalie’s won. The score was deadlocked at 0-0 at the end of the 1st
period.
Both teams went in with the Philadelphia Flyers making 9 unsuccessful goal attempts and the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to fire 15 shots at the Philadelphia Flyers goal but none found the back of the net.
2nd Period
The 2nd period saw both teams approach the game with the same strategy but what needs to be mentioned here is the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers got close to scoring every now and then.
Converting the chance they got in the 3rd minute, the Philadelphia Flyers scored through Danny Briere who 17 feet tip in saw the puck making its way into the net. The Philadelphia Flyers, after taking the lead were looking to score once again
and took on the Pittsburgh Penguins defence. The Pittsburgh Penguins on the other hand wanted to make sure that the lead doesn’t extend.
However, the Philadelphia Flyers were able to score once again in the 18th minute through Blair Betts and take the score to 2-0. The period on the same score with the Philadelphia Flyers scoring twice out of the 10 goal attempts made and the Pittsburgh
Penguins came up with a goalless period with 9 goal attempts.
"I thought our defensemen played a terrific game," Laviolette said.
"Kimmo (Timonen) and all of them did a great job. They broke up plays, blocked a lot of shots and were in good position."
3rd Period
The Pittsburgh Penguins were determined on scoring with 19,000 fans backing them. They managed to score in the 1st minute of the final period when Tyler Kennedy blasted the puck from 21 feet, which left the Philadelphia Flyers goal keeper no chance
of stopping.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were just 1 goal behind and with the momentum on their side; the Penguins continued the attacking approach they adopted. However, this went against them as the Philadelphia Flyers scored their third goal. The goal came in the 5th
minute through an 11 feet shot by Claude Giroux. This put the Philadelphia in a comfortable position with the score on 3-1.
The 2 goal lead didn’t last long as the Philadelphia Flyers defence was against a very well worked move by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The goal came in the 6th minute when Alex Goligoski scored at cut the lead to just 1 goal with the score on 3-2.
The match ended on the same score with the Philadelphia Flyers score once in the period after 8 shots whereas the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to score twice in the period after 7 shots but this was not enough. In end, the Philadelphia Flyers goal keeper
was the 1st star selection of the match.
"It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, I wasn't too nervous, I was ready for this," Bobrovsky said through Russian interpreter Alex Gluhovsky. "It doesn't really matter to me whether it's a rivalry or not. It doesn't matter who we play. It's
a game and you have to come out and win."
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