PIT VS PHIFlyers quickly becoming 'Comeback Kids' of playoffs

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By Tim Panaccio in Pittsburgh
 
The Drop 

The Flyers sometimes resemble the 1980 Phillies who were dubbed, "The  Comeback Kids" for their penchant to play from behind in late innings en route to their first World Series.
 
They trailed 3-0 in Game 1 and won and trailed 3-1 in Game 2 and still won, 8-5.
 
"I wish we don't have to come back," said Jaromir Jagr, who got the game-winner. "But we get ourselves in a hole [for the] second straight game. Even the last month of the season we had games like that. I don't know where the problem is.
 
"Just don't make any plays for 10 minutes and it bites us.Maybe if we know we're not going make anything, at least let's play defence."
 
There is no quit in this team. Instead, there is resiliency.
 
"It's the whole team," coach Peter Laviolette said. "When you're able to come back in a game like that again, it speaks volumes about the character in the room.
 
"Not only from the veteran players but the younger players,as well ... Fighting back like that is not easy. The players were so resilient, it was unbelievable."
 
The Save 

The Flyers were trailing 2-0 in the first period with the Penguins on the power play.
 
Kris Letang had an open net and fired a puck into Ilya Bryzgalov's glove hand at the last instant.
 
"I bring my body over here [motioning to his left] and swing the glove and he just put it in my glove," Bryzgalov said.
 
He felt Letang should have scored.
 
"It was pretty much a small chance [for a save] when the whole net was open," Bryzgalov said. "It was a lucky save."
 
The records

There were so many ...
 
 * Claude Giroux had a Flyer franchise record with 6 points.
 

• Two hat tricks - Giroux and rookie Sean Couturier. That had never happened in a Flyer playoff game until Friday night.
  

• Sidney Crosby's goal 15 seconds into the game was the fastest ever against the Flyers in a playoff game.
• Couturier's four-point game tied a Flyers franchise record for most points by a rookie in a playoff game, matching Peter Zezel (1-3-4) done exactly 27 years ago tonight on April 13, 1985 vs. NYR in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semifinals.

 
Shorties 

Giroux and Max Talbot each had short-handed goals. The last time the Flyers had two shorthanded goals in a playoff game was April 26, 1997 vs. Pittsburgh - Game 5, Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (6-3 win).
 
Sidney Says

Sidney Crosby was just as stunned as everyone else in the Penguins dressing room.
 
"We have to find a way to get better with a lead, no doubt,"he said.
 
Five times in succession (going back to regular season), the Penguins have led 2-0 on the Flyers. Four times, they have still lost the game.
 
Now they are down 2-0 in the series. All-time, the Flyers are 17-0 when leading a playoff series 2-0.
 
"We don't think about it like that," Crosby said. "We just think about winning the next game. That's our mindset. Given the situation we're in, we should be a desperate hockey team."
 
Bylsma says

Pittsburgh came out and hit the Flyers every which way but loose. And then faded as the game went on and disappeared at the end.

They weren't a tough team to play against. You wonder if they still had Hal Gill around if things would be different.
 
There's only so much Kris Letang can do.
 
"Part of being a tough team to play against is more than the physicality of it," said Pens coach Dan Bylsma. "It's being a tough team to play against all over the ice. We've got to do a better job in that aspect.

"Defending. Coming through the neutral zone for them. And defending in the defensive zone has to be a better part of our game when it comes to defensive play ... We have to be a tougher team to play and get offence against."

Tim Panaccio reports on the Flyers for CSNPhilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @tpanotchCSN

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