As every Penguin or Flyer fan may know, every time these two teams get together, it seems they drop all chances of discipline in the game and start pond hockey -- meaning running and gunning each other down like a bunch of mad men. Even Penguins captain Sidney Crosby acknowledges that. "It seems to progress into that pretty quickly. I thought last year we did a better job of not allowing that to happen."
Although it hasn't happened as much as in previous years, tonight's contest will a real test to see if they can actually play disciplined hockey. There's also that bit of extra pressure for the Flyers, who are 1-6-0 and under new coach Craig Berube, who is still trying to implement his system into the Flyers. And since Berube was a noted tough guy in the league, it seems that all chances of discipline might be thrown out the window. However, he hopes that there is discipline in his club tonight.
The Flyers need offense and they need Claude Giroux to step up. They also need to stay out of the penalty box, one of the reasons they were 1-6-0 to start the season. But since the Penguins are in town, look for more penalties and fights to come.
So, pond hockey or discipline tonight? If there's anything about rivalries, it's that there's no discipline. The Flyers need this game obviously but there's going to show it to their Pennsylvania rival. And that means no discipline or no simple way to stay out of the penalty box. And since this is the most intense rivalry in hockey right now, look for it to stay that way in this game and their remaining games to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment