Philadelphia Flyers Schadenfreude: Penguins Game 2
By Marc Naples
With the Philadelphia Flyers season over, the only natural thing to do is root against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately the Penguins took Game 2.
Schadenfreude is a german word that means deriving joy from the misfortune of others. Just don’t ask me to pronounce it correctly.
With the Philadelphia Flyers season over but the Pittsburgh Penguins still kicking, it’s pretty obvious where this concept applies to Flyers fans.
Game 1 broke for Flyers fans’ allies-of-necessity, as the Washington Capitals claimed Game 1 from the Pittsburgh Penguins with an overtime win. The two teams met again tonight for Game 2, and Game 2 was just as tight as Game 1 (on the scoreboard anyway).
While Game 1 was fairly even in shots and chances, the Penguins had most of the initiative in the first period. The Penguins turned their game up even more from there, suffocating the Capitals in the second period. After long stretches without a Capitals shot, the third period began with the Penguins outshooting the Caps 28-10 and with a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard.
The Caps rebounded in the third period. The Capitals power play that so tormented the Philadelphia Flyers in their series finally broke their 4 game goal-less streak to tie the game.
The Caps seemed to be building momentum in their drive to the final whistle. The crowd, which had been lulled to sleep for the first 2 periods, also came to life with this big hit on Crosby.
Obviously that’s the kind of hit Philadelphia Flyers fans want to see as well.
Things almost got even sweeter for Flyers/Caps fans, as erstwhile Flyer captain Mike Richards had a golden opportunity to put the Capitals in front. Penguins goalie Matt Murry came up with a great save on that one, and unfortunately things quickly turned in the Penguins’ favor.
Just a moment later, Eric Fehr tipped a puck in the net for the Penguins with less than 5 minutes left. That would prove to be the difference for a Penguins 2-1 win.
This series looks like it could be a long one. Thus far the Penguins have continued their form that saw them finish the season so strongly, and the Caps offense (and powerplay) has been held in check.
This game also included an unfortunate moment where Olli Maatta left the game with a head injury after this hit:
This was not a good hit from Brooks Orpik. It was late and unnecessary. While this post is about schadenfreude, cheering injuries from bad hits is going too far. The only reason I don’t feel worse about is that the hit was delivered by a longtime Penguins player, so it’s Penguins-on-Penguins crime.