[Hockey] Is this Flyers team ready for the Cup? + Semis updates + Worlds in Finland/Sweden

ESPN America's schedule allowed me, up till now, to see all the Philadelphia Flyers' games during this playoff season.
Especially after the 6 games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, I'm finding myself asking, if the Flyers would be ready for their third Stanley Cup?
It's been a long time, the Philadelphia Flyers raised it. They won in 1974 and 1975 and had their last appearance in a Stanley Cup Final 2010, when they lost in 6 games against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Flyers had some important keypoints during the first series, I want 1) to point out in the following and 2) to compare with the first three games of the 2nd round series vs. the New Jersey Devils.

Keypoints during the series vs. the Penguins and how they managed it vs. the Devils:

1)Comeback: In the first game of the series, the Pittsburgh Penguins were 3-0 after 20 Minutes and lost the game in overtime, in games 2 and 3 the Flyers also came back from a deficit and were 3-0 after three games. Their ability to come back and not give up, was one of the reasons, they won this series.
Down 1-0 in the first game against the Devils, the Flyers won in overtime, again, but couldn't win the second and third game after a 1-0 lead.

2)Rookies: Flyers' new kids outscored Penguins' stars Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby in 6 games. Claude Giroux scored 6 goals and had 14 points during the first round, along with Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek or James van Riemsdyk, he played 6 great games.
Against the New Jersey Devils Giroux isn't as productive as he was in the first series. Only one powerplay goal in three games and no assists are in the books for a player, called the "best player in the world" by his coach Peter Laviolette after the victory against cross-state rival Pittsburgh.

3) Danny Brière: He scored the Flyers' first goal in the first round and scored the game winning OT goal in the first and the 3-3 equalizer in the third game against the New Jersey Devils.
Up till now he has 8 goals (leading the statistics) and 12 points in 9 games this post season and 108 points (50 goals) in 106 playoff games. There is a reason, why they call him Mr. Playoffs!

4) Powerplay: 14/39 in 9 games, 12/23 vs. Pens and 3 short handed goals, only two PP goals vs.the Devils in the first and third game (having at least wasted three powerplays during the overtimes), no PPG in the 2nd game.

5) Goaltending: In the first round, the Flyers' goalies allowed 4,33 goals per game, after 9 playoff games 4,11 goals/game. Not only that they allowed so many goals, the goalies looked a bit shaky during the first round, that said, the Penguins couldn't capitalize and allowed even more goals. Although the Flyers lost the 2nd and 3rd game against the Devils the goaltender did a great job and had some awesome saves (it is definitely not his fault that they lost), while the Flyers themselves just couldn't produce any great chances, especially in game two (example? 2nd period: first shot on goal 2 minutes before the period ended)

6)Final thoughts: The Flyers literally overrun the Penguins in the first round, but they have a lot of problems shutting the Devils down now. (Maybe it was their motivation against the Pens oder the Penguins' problems they faced the last months before the playoffs or just the mental aspect after game 1, beeing 3-0 in front and losing in overtime could be tough).
But their powerplay isn't working as well as it did in the games against the Pens, or in other words, the Devils PK is much better, than the Pens' one was. In last night's overtime for example, the Devils had to kill two penalties and did it well and "the best player in the world" Claude Giroux hasn't been a factor yet. (But it's still great, being world's best player for a week or so)
The way, they played against the Pittsburgh Penguins I'd say, they had a chance to make the Stanley Cup finals, but after the last two games against the New Jersey Devils, I'm not sure though.


Semis updates May 4th:

West:
Phoenix Coyotes - Nashville Predators 2-1
The Preds were down 2-0 after two games, while their goaltender Pekka Rinne allowed 9 goals in the first two games (he allowed 9 goals in 5 games in the first playoff round). Not enough problems with that, the Predators suspended two players because of "violation of the team rules". Maybe just what they needed, they won their first game at home in this series and goalie Rinne had his first career playoff shutout in wednesday night's 3rd game.

Los Angeles Kings - St. Louis Blues 3-0
The Los Angeles Kings had 5 away games in the playoffs, till now, and won all of them, only lost 1 game at home.
Could it be the LA Kings, that move to the Stanley Cup finals from the Western Conference?

East:
New York Rangers - Washingtion Capitals 2-1
After two games, the series was tied and the third game, wedneday night, took place in Washington. The New York Rangers won this game in the 3rd OT period, after they almost played 55 minutes during this overtime. (They nearly played two complete hockey games = 120 minutes on one evening)

Philadelphia Flyers - New Jersey Devils 1-2
After their victory in the first game during overtime, the Flyers fell short in the 2nd and 3rd game. In game 2 the hometeam had the 1-0 lead after 40 Minutes, then the Devils scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to tie the series in one. The third game went into OT, where the Devils scored the game winning goal after 17 minutes.

Worlds in Finland/Helsinki and Sweden/Stockholm 4-20 May 2012:

Today, the 76th men's world ice hockey championships are starting in Finland and Sweden.
I love hockey, but I really get exhausted by seeing this big ice hockey rink (comparing to the ones in North America).
As I am from Germany, I am really excited about it and how the German team will play their first game today, team captain would be Marcel Goc, the only NHL player in Germany's roster (his team, the Florida Panthers lost against the New Jersey Devils during the first playoff round).
The last two world championships were really awesome to watch, beating the Russian team 2-0 last year, was all over the news here in Germany, a country, where a lot of people dont't know much about hockey. (Germany lost their quarterfinals against Sweden, who won the silver medal in the finals against Finland)
It is also a tournament with a lot of starts especially from Sweden, Russia and Canada, that said, these would also be my picks to win the worlds this year.
New mode: 2 groups with 8 teams each, first 4 are playing the quaterfinals then, the 8th will be relegated.

[NOTD]When all is said and done - Penguins Nail Art - for the last time this NHL season

The Pittsburgh Penguins' season came to an early end, as they fell short to the Philadelphia Flyers in game six in the first Playoff round, last sunday. Again a year without seeing the Pens moving to the Stanley Cup finals is a bit sad, knowing the potential, that team has.
Anyways, on tuesday the team had their clean-out-day, the guys took their equipments, and left the CEC for some loooong summer holidays.
It was sad to see, that this season is finally over now. A lot of things to regret, but we also saw some great things during the regular season from the Pens. Sidney Crosby came back (twice) after his concussion and Evgeni Malkin just scored 50 goals in one season for his first time.

To cheer myself up a little bit, while thinking the next season will just start next october, I created a Penguins Nail Art for the last time this season.

Did you know, that World Penguin Day was on April 25th and that there are about 17 different species of them?
Awww, I love penguins, not just the ones from Pittsburgh, but also the real animals.

Here we go:
I just thought, I should do something with blue and silver. You know, when I hear the word penguins and it is associated with the animal, I'm always thinking of ice and water. So I just did a base with blue/turquoise by using a sponge and stamped the penguins on my thumb and the ringfinger.

What I used:

polish: left to right: Maxfactor Dazzling Blue, Essence Open Water Dive,
Absolute Nails Lara, Manhattan Only 1, back P2 being in heaven,
front essence silver twister

Basecoat: Essie Help me Grow
Topcoat: Essie Good to go
Nail Polish:
P2 Being in heaven
Manhattan Only 1
Maxfactor Dazzling Blue
Essence Open Water Dive
Absolute Nails Lara
Essence Silver Twister

Stamping Plate: HB-41










So for the start I applied one coat of Essie's Help me grow, followed be 3 coats of P2's Being in heaven, and I am still not convinced, as you can see, the polish still shows my white finger tips, and is very milky. I guess I won't use it alone. I like the color in the bottle, but if you have to apply three or more coats, that's not how it should go.
1 coat of Essie Good to go, to finish the first part of the manicure.

Then I just started so sponge some blues and greens onto my nails:
I used Manhattan Only 1, Maxfactor Dazzling Blue and Absolute Nails Lara
Additionally, I put one coat of Essence Open Water Dive onto my index, middle finger and pinky.

To finish it, I stamped two penguins onto the thumb and ring finger with image plate HB-41 and essence silver twister. Topped with a coat of Essie Good to go.

[Hockey] They all fell down - Pittsburgh Penguins lose first round series vs. Philadelphia Flyers

During Pittsburgh's 11 game winning streak in the regular season, a lot of people, me including, tought, they saw the new Stanley Cup Champion and wanted to bring the Cup to Pittsburgh without playing one game in the playoffs.
But then, the Philadelphia Flyers ended that streak, winning a game in March 3-2 in Overtime with just a second left to play (after the Pens had a 2-0 lead) and the Penguins from Pittsburgh lost their ability to play defense. Tough losses against the Ottawa Senators, who are having, by the way, a 3-2 lead in their series against the New York Rangers, and the New York Islanders (twice) showed some huge problems, 1) the Pens had to fix till the playoffs and 2) costed them the first spot in the Eastern Conference.

So the worst case scenario for the first playoff round came up, the Pens had to face their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only, that the Flyers won 4 games out of 6 during the regular season against them, no they just won 5/6 games in the Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh's home, since the arena opened it's gates in 2010 (and the only victory for the Pens was the last regular season game, not an important win, but actually they just showed that they could win on home ice against the Flyers). Definitely not the best conditions to start a best of 7 series with having the first two games at home, and 4 in total, if the series would see 7 games.

It was probably just the first game of that series, that took it away from the Penguins. After being up 3-0 after 20 Minutes, Pittsburgh lost 3-4 in overtime. They lost, once more, their defense skills and what might be more concerning, the Flyers got their first powerplay and scored, while the Pens had 3 without scoring.
It should be one of the stories in the series, that the Flyers used their powerplays (and also scored 3 shorthanded) and the lack of discipline and killing a penalty on the Penguins' side, that decided the series.
After being down 3-0 after the first three games, with an embarassing third game for the Pens in Philadelphia, not only being outscored 20-12 after 3 games, they have lost 3 men for game 4 due to suspensions.
And so the Pittsburgh Penguins were just facing the possiblity to get swept in the first round of the playoffs. The fourth game was crucial and the Pens came back. And that's not just a phrase, they did it in a convincing way, they outscored the Flyers for the first time 10-3 and forced a fifth game. But would it also be possible to force a sixth or even a seventh game?
It seemed, that they gained some momentum; made some moves within the team, by dressing 7 defensemen and 11 forwards and won game five at home 3-2. They showed some "old-school" Penguins' defense play and goaltending - like they did earlier that season and it seemed just months away, but it was quite recently, not one month ago, when the defense faltered and the problems started - in the third period.
If it was potential to win game 6, the Penguins might have had a chance to advance to round 2, but it wasn't like that. Actually, it was never close.
The Pens just missed the start, the first shift scored 32 seconds in the game for Philadelphia. Well nothing to worry about that, the team who scored first in games 1-5 hasn't won the game then, but game six was different from that point, however not from the Pens' defense play. Pittsburgh was close to be eliminated, being down 3-0 after half of the game. Trying to gain back some momentum after the 1-3, but 36 seconds later, Philadelphia scored their fourth goal and seemed like the winning team.
Not only they wanted that victory more than the Pittsburgh Penguins, you just knew it, the moment you saw the Pens' faces and their body language after the 1-4 at the bench. It was over. They fell 5-1 to the Flyers, after an empty net goal, in their last playoff appearance this season.

Maybe, it wasn't meant to be, but after the second round loss 2010 against the Montreal Canadiens, the first round loss 2011 against Tampa Bay Lightning, didn't expect much last year, with having neither captain Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin in the lineup, this year with a full lineup and all the "stars", just showed, that it might be not enough, to have the names only on paper, if they cannot produce anything. Just 3rd line center Jordan Staal, who was one of the better ones in that series (in my opinion), scored 6 goals, while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (who had 50 goals during the regular season, but was shut down by the Flyers' rookies) had 6 goals combined.

By any chance, there will be some changes this offseason, looking for some new defensemen , or getting rid of some old ones, getting Crosby and Staal to long term contracts, but that bitter taste in my mouth after that blow out against the Flyers will remain for a longer time.

That said, the hockey season isn't over yet, not even the first round, and there is still a lot of great hockey to be played till one team will rise Lord Stanley's Cup, although, a lot of favorites faced their elimination. (New post is coming about the end of the first round and the 2nd round matchups.)