Pens Fight For Playoff Birth

Hey All,

Today the Pittsburgh Penguins took on the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly, and boy was this a game for the ages. These two teams don't like one another, and that's no secret to anyone who's ever watched a hockey game. As we are use to seeing with these two it was a very physical game, and very entertaining from the first drop of the puck. 

It seemed to be going the Pens way from the get go, as they controlled most of the first period. They were stretching the puck, and stretching the defense of the Flyers. The Pens seemed to have the game plan to finally beat the Flyer, as they have lost the last 7 meetings between the two clubs. Not wanting to make it 8-0 in the last 8 meetings, the Pens had high energy and were flying around on the ice. The Pens were able to take the lead 1-0 at the 16:21 mark with the assist from Perron and Cole. It looked good for the Pens at this point, but the Flyers weren't going down without a fight. They were able to answer back with a goal of their own by Voracek at the 19:18 mark. The assist were by Streit and Schenn. It would be a power play goal, as the Pengins took a dumb retaliatory penalty. 

It would be all Philly from here on out. The second period there was only one goal scored by the Flyers. It was a lucky goal as it bounces over the head of Thomas Greiss, and trickled into the goal. This was also on the power play, scored by Schenn with the assist by Voracek and Streit at the 12:20 mark. I think this took the Pens out of their game from here on out. As they seemed deflated. Skating flat, no speed and urgency. 

The 3rd period wasn't any better for Pittsburgh as they gave up 2 more goals and had a ton of penatlies. Goals were scored by Whtie and Del Zotto at the15:05 and 19:50 marks. With assists from Couturier, Raffl, Schenn, and Giroux. This is not to say that the Penguins didn't have their chances to score. The Pens were firing everything at goaltender Mason, he just had their number today. The Pens took over 40 shots, and were only able to get 1 past the net minder. 

This keeps the Pens in the wild card spot, but by a very slim margin. They have 95 points and only have a 3 point lead for a wild card spot. There's only one week left in the season and the Pens are in a need of a win. They are going to need a win and fast to stay in the hunt, and have a chance for a run at Lord Stanley's Cup. 

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