Brawn, brains boost Pens

By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, April 16, 2009

PITTSBURGH - APRIL 15: Joffrey Lupul #15 of the Philadelphia Flyers is stood up by Hal Gill #2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinal game at Mellon Arena. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)


The "race to four," as Penguins coach Dan Bylsma termed this first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers, started with a bang Wednesday night at Mellon Arena.

Fifteen seconds in, Chris Kunitz clipped Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who limped to the bench.

There would be a slew of big hits -- such as Brooks Orpik making Flyers winger Scott Hartnell eat glass near the end of the first period -- but the Penguins' 4-1 victory was as much about brains as it was about brawn.

Bylsma spoke early in the day about the need to manage the puck wisely. The Flyers jump on mistakes the way James Harrison jumps on quarterbacks, so it was incumbent upon the Penguins to stay away from the fancy stuff.

Drop passes near the opposing blue line? Bad.

Dumping the puck and torturing the Flyers' defense? Good.

Games of tic-tac-toe on the power play? Bad.

Crashing the net? Very, very good.

One stat leapt off the official scoresheet: The Penguins had only one giveaway.

Come to think of it, they looked an awful lot like the playoff Penguins of 2008, the way they grabbed an early lead and proceeded to stifle the Flyers and their talented forwards.

"I thought, for the most part, especially in the first period, we did a good job of going north with the puck, making their defense turn," Bylsma said. "When we didn't have something, we put it in behind them and got to the offensive zone.

"One of our goals was to set the tone for the game, and certainly after the first period, we had accomplished that."

Penguins defensemen pinched at just the right times to keep pucks in the Flyers' zone. On the rare occasion the Flyers' generated a chance off the rush, somebody was there to make a play. (OK, sometimes it was the goal post; he played well, too.)

Exhibit A: Mark Eaton diving to break up a 2-on-1 with 2:33 left in the first period.

Orpik blocked eight shots and dished out five hits.

PITTSBURGH - APRIL 15: Darroll Powe #36 of the Philadelphia Flyers is upended after Rob Scuderi #4 of the Pittsburgh Penguins hip checked him during the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinal game at Mellon Arena. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

The Flyers generated little sustained pressure and precious few second chances against a razor-sharp Marc-Andre Fleury.

At the other end, the Penguins were intent on crashing the crease from the get-go.

Kunitz was staking his space in front of Flyers goalie Martin Biron on a power play when Sidney Crosby swooped in to score the game's first goal, at 4:41 of the first period.

The puck hit the post, then banked off Biron's skate and across the line before the net became dislodged.

It said something about the Penguins' mind-set that the net again became dislodged four minutes later, when Jordan Staal - a beast all night - came barreling down the slot.

Bill Guerin was standing directly in front of Biron on Eaton's third-period goal, which made it 4-0.

"That's just part of playoff hockey, getting to the net and scoring ugly goals," Guerin said. "Those are big issues in playoff hockey."

If Staal wasn't the best player on the ice, Crosby was. The two combined to win 23 of 30 faceoffs, as the Penguins crushed the Flyers in that facet of the game, winning 64 percent of the draws.

The Penguins' power play wasn't brilliant, but the other guys get paid, too - and sometimes it's more about when you score a power-play goal than about how many you score.

Less than five minutes into the playoff opener qualifies as a pretty good time to score one.

Somebody asked Bylsma before the game about how he was approaching the first playoff series of his NHL coaching career, which still is only 26 games old.

First, he said, he doesn't view it as a best-of-seven but rather as a "race to four." When he was a player, Bylsma heard his coach in Anaheim, current Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, use that phrase.

"Best thing I ever heard about the playoffs," Bylsma said. "I said, 'That's one I'll use again.'"

The Penguins should be saying the same thing about their approach to Game 1.