Flightless Birds Two Up on Flyers

Another 4-2 decision went the Penguins way in Game 2, in yet another spirited match in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Penguins won a scrappier affair thanks to some huge contributions from their fourth line. Now, the Flyers will have their chance to shine at home now that they are down 2-0 to the Penguins.

All that fourth line work ended up with the game-winning goal for Maxime Talbot (Box 6), who wasn't taken at all in the pool... but was available. It was Talbot's second goal of the playoffs and first game-winnner. Talbot now has 4 points and is 7 points behind box leader, his series rival from Philadelphia, Jeff Carter (Box 6). Carter, for argument's sake, was taken 12 times in the pool... probably a better selection. Last night, however, Talbot outscored his rival in the pool, 2-1.

The best player in the pool from the Eastern Conference Finals was Sergei Gonchar (Box 20). Gonchar finished the game with 3 assists. The only goal he didn't assist on was the game-winner, where it was all about the fourth line. There were only two other players in the pool that had multi-point games and they were Sidney Crosby (Box 13), who had a goal and an assist and Marc-Andre Fleury (Box 24), who registered the win.

Fleury continues to lead all scoring in the pool with 24 points, 4 points better than Evgeni Malkin (Box 14), who didn't register a point in Game 2, thanks to some close checking from the Flyers. The Flyers are soon finding out that if you cover Malkin, you leave Crosby exposed and vice versa.

The Flyers received even more bad news from their blueline during Game 2, as Braydon Coburn (Box 21) took a puck to the face after a Hal Gill (Box 22) shot deflected off Malkin's stick and caught the young defenseman around the eye area of the face. There is no clear word on how long Coburn will be out of action, but any time out of the line-up, could prove to be lethal to the Flyers' chances of continuing on in the playoffs. Coburn, surprisingly, was not taken at all in the pool and won't necessarily be missed in the pool. Frankly, taking him out of the equation will do better things for all those teams who have Penguins on their team.

Game 3 will go on Tuesday night back in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 4-1 in the playoffs, only losing their only game to Washington in the first round. The Wachovia Center has been a pretty tough place to play for opposing teams, thanks in large part to the loud atmosphere in the building. The Flyers have only outscored opponents 19-14, which does leave a fair shadow of doubt about it being a pair of tight games this week.