PITTSBURGH -- The Philadelphia Flyers used dominating special teams to sweep a weekend home-and-home series against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Bruce Thornton Jersey Retro . Wayne Simmonds had two power-play goals in the first period, Matt Read had a short-handed tally and Philadelphia killed off all four Pittsburgh power plays in a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon. It was the second victory in as many days for the surging Flyers against their cross-state rivals. Philadelphia had a power-play goal, a short-handed goal and was a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill in a 4-0 win against the Penguins at home on Saturday. "The power play was good again, the penalty kill was good again," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "Lots of shots, lots of chances. We played a pretty solid game." Philadelphia improved to 5-1-1 in its past seven. Including playoffs, the Flyers are 10-2-1 all-time at Consol Energy Center (8-1-1 in the regular season). "I know the boys in this locker room love playing against them," said Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason, who allowed three goals on 48 shots during the weekend sweep. "Whether were in their head or not, we dont really care. We get amped up to play against them." Defencemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen and recent call-up Jayson Megna scored for the injury-riddled Penguins, who lost two straight in regulation for the first time since dropping three in a row from Nov. 6-13. During the final seconds, the Penguins Sidney Crosby hit the post with a backhand off a pass from Evgeni Malkin while skating down the right wing. "(The post) is all I gave him, though," Mason deadpanned. "Its part of the equipment." Pittsburgh still holds a commanding lead in the Metropolitan Division, but remained three points behind the Boston Bruins in the race for the Eastern Conferences top seed. The Penguins fell to 18-2 in March home games over the past three seasons. They were 10-0 at home last March. "The last two seasons, March has been too easy for us," Niskanen said. "We go through with just a breeze, and I think we go into the playoffs overconfident. Right now, were in a little bit of a bump in the road and were going to have to fight for it." Simmonds assisted on Brayden Schenns goal 2:06 into the game and then scored twice in a 6:54 span to give the Flyers a three-goal lead 14 minutes in. Reads goal was his third goal of the weekend for Philadelphia, which entered Sunday holding down the eighth and final spot in the conference standings. Making starts on consecutive days for only the second time this season, Marc-Andre Fleury made a lunging glove save on the first shot he faced Sunday, from Simmonds. But he couldnt control the puck in his glove and it fluttered to Schenn in the slot, who slid it in past a diving Penguins defenceman Robert Bortuzzo for his 17th of the season. Claude Giroux assisted on Simmonds 20th and 21st goals, the first of which was with 13:13 left in the first when he deflected a Kimmo Timonen shot from the point. Simmonds made it 3-0 when he corralled a rebound while uncovered and beat Fleury to end his afternoon after just 13:41. "The way we started the game," Timonen said, "it was perfect." Under siege by a Philadelphia attack that Pittsburgh had issues dealing with, Fleury allowed seven goals on 55 shots in less than four periods covering 24 hours against the Flyers. Rookie Jeff Zatkoff replaced him. Without their top two goal-scoring wingers -- Chris Kunitz (lower body) and James Neal (concussion) -- for the second consecutive game, the Penguins were held to fewer than four goals for the eighth consecutive game. That hadnt happened to them since early in the 2011-12 season. A pair of defencemen pulled Pittsburgh within a goal with slap shots from the point that found their way through traffic and past Mason. Orpik was credited with his second of the season with 2:27 left in the first, and Niskanen tallied his 10th at 5:50 of the second. But Read had a short-handed goal for the second straight day, finishing a 2-on-1 break himself with a wrist shot for his 19th of the season. Megna tapped in a nice pass from Brian Gibbons to cut the Penguins deficit to 4-3 with 3:41 left in the second, but Pittsburgh failed to score on 11 third-period shots. Pittsburgh has the NHLs No. 1 power play and No. 2 penalty kill but lost the special teams battle 5-0 over the weekend against the Flyers. "We play Pittsburgh a ton of games a year, and our power play has been successful against them since Ive been there," Simmonds said. "I think we kind of know where theyre going to come from. "I dont want to say we try to pick them apart, but we know where theyre going to come from and we try to change our point of attack. And it seems to be working." Notes: The Penguins announced after the game that D Kris Letang was cleared to practice and will practice with the team Monday. Letang has not played since suffering a stroke Jan. 29. ... Penguins F Beau Bennett was cleared for full practice after missing the past 43 games with a wrist/hand injury. ... Penguins D Simon Despres was a healthy scratch. ... Giroux has five assists in the past three games. ... Crosby, who had 74 points over his first 45 career games against Philadelphia, was scoreless in the home-and-home series.
Jordan Franks Jersey Retro .ca NHL Power Rankings, ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks. Moving up, from 10 to seven this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won seven straight despite a depleted lineup.
Jeff Walker Jersey Retro . Mauer struck out to end the inning, with a runner on third base in the seventh on Wednesday and the Twins trailing 1-0. Everybody does this, of course, in a sport with a 30 per cent success rate at the plate long proven to be a benchmark of excellence.Gary Bettman was walking down a Toronto street recently when a fan approached him.Some guy walks up to me and says, I really dont like you, the NHL commissioner recalled. And I said, But you dont know me. And he says, Yeah but I dont like work stoppages, and I go, Well neither do I, so we have that in common.Bettman will forever take a popularity hit for three lockouts during his tenure, but he wont apologize for them. Ten years after the league ground to a halt and the 2004-05 season was cancelled, he maintains it was necessary for the health of the sport.Pointing to the 04 Stanley Cup final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames in which the team to score the first goal won each game of the series and contrasting that with the 2013 playoffs and its unpredictability, Bettman believes the on-ice product is better than ever.To get to this point, though, Bettman said implementing the salary cap a€” which came out of the 2004-05 lockout a€” was essential.We had teams with 80-, 90 million-dollar payrolls and we had teams with 20-million-dollar payrolls, Bettman said at a recent Canadian Club luncheon. And I would talk to the managers and coaches of the 20-million-dollar teams and go, How are you doing this? And they would say to me, to a man, We clutch, we grab, we hook, we hold and we do everything possible to neutralize skill for 50 minutes and then we try to steal the game.That is why the game as it was being played in the late 90s and early 2000s wasnt nearly as good as it is today.In his 21-plus years as the first official commissioner of the NHL, Bettman has overseen expansion, change and booming business. In the process he has also become a popular target for fans because he has shown a willingness to sacrifice games to affect the kind of change he and the owners want.The game was unhealthy, the competitiveness wasnt there, Bettman said of the 2004-05 lockout. We did what we had to do to not have six, eight or 10 years of a mess. We go through these things not because we want to but because we have to get to a point where the game can be healthy.Now that its healthy, Bettman doesnt look like an executive on the way out. When Bud Selig steps down and Rob Manfred takes over Major League Baseball, Bettman will officially be the longest-tenured commissioner in North American professional sports a€” tthough he insists because Selig previously had an interim tag that he already is.
Shawne Merriman Jersey Retro. will be the oldest when he steps down, said Bettman, who says he hasnt considered any kind of a succession plan. Im still trying to figure out how I got to be 62 years old.Bettman said on multiple occasions during a public interview with George Stroumboulopoulos at the Canadian Club luncheon and in a sit-down with The Canadian Press that he loves his job and the people associated with it. After he hands out the Cup each June, the New Yorker wonders What do I do with myself at night with no games? and insists he hasnt thought about how long he wants to remain in his post.Its as long as Im happy and excited and energized as I am today, Bettman said. If I ever reach the point where Im not, then I need to let somebody else do it. But its a joint decision. Its the owners and its me. But I love what I do and I come to work excited and energized every day.NFL counterpart Roger Goodell is going through a crisis period amid criticism of how he has handled domestic violence and child abuse cases in his league. NBA counterpart Adam Silver recently forced Donald Sterling to sell the Los Angeles Clippers after racist audio recordings surfaced, and the Atlanta Hawks are going through a similar process.Selig, like Bettman remembered for games not played because of the 1994 strike that cancelled the World Series, has a legacy tied to an era of performance-enhancing drugs but also introduced revenue sharing.Pending concussion lawsuits, particularly in light of the deaths of Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien, look like the NHLs biggest concern. But Bettman has pointed to the league creating concussion study groups well before the NFL or any other sports league.On the ice, Bettman called last season the best in an almost 100-year history and expects this one to be even better. On a personal level, he doesnt know when, or if, he hit his stride in this job but is proud of where the league is.The game is growing and the game both from a business standpoint and more importantly on the ice has never been healthier, Bettman said. If thats a measure of my stride, then were moving at a pretty good pace. ...Its an honour for me to be associated with the game. Theres no place else Id rather be.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter ' ' '