Penguins Phall to Philly in Pre-Tourney Phinale
In the wake of the Penguins’ hardscrabble victory over the Rangers on Friday night, I wrote that our current batch reminds me a lot of the 1969-70 squad. Long on heart, short on talent.
I still feel that way following last night’s 3-2 loss to the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. However, there’s one fact I neglected to mention. That vintage Pens team, which finished in second place, actually had a losing record of 26-38-12 (and were shutout a whopping 14 times). In those days, the six 1967 expansion teams were grouped in the East Division, more or less assuring them of at least some level of success. But I digress.
As for last night, our hosts wasted little time in getting the jump on the undermanned Pens. Less than two minutes in, Scott Laughton beat Joel Blomqvist through the five-hole and the Flyers were off and running…sort of. While Philly was stuck on a lone shot on goal for the longest time, the Pens unleashed shots from anywhere and everywhere.
Unfortunately, our finishing-challenged Pens couldn’t capitalize, at least until 4:19 of the second period. That’s when Erik Karlsson took a pass from d-partner Matt Grzelcyk and fired a short-side pea over the shoulder of countryman Samuel Ersson from the right circle.