I'm glad I didn't make any guarantees! I saw this game as a major speed bump in the Pens quest to top their NHL Record of 17 straight wins! What's even worse is that the Flyers knocked the Pens out of 1st at the same time! The Pens and Flyers are the hottest teams in the league right now.....despite the winning streak, the Flyers managed to keep pace! It was a really hard fought, back and forth game though & Boucher made some key saves down the stretch. We even had a power play and the extra attacker for most of the last 2 mins.....but we couldn't get the equalizer! It's not that bad though.....right about the time I was getting into hockey....the Pens hadn't beaten the Flyers in Philly for literally years and years! (I forget how long....but it was A LONG TIME)
Tonight's game didn't hurt as much as one Penguins-Flyers game that I attended. I don't know if you remember Game 4 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals that went 5 OTs. I was there & stayed for the whole game! It didn't end until 2:35 in the morning! When Keith Primeau scored the game winner, it was so surreal.....I think I was convinced a 6th OT was upcoming! I even made the mistake of planning to get something to eat after the game. By the end of the 1st OT, I was hungry, only to find out that they had closed all of the food stands at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena! They did end up opening up a few stands.....but they basically only had stale nachos and watered down Coke.....yummmmm! By the 5th OT, the arena was looking like a war zone.....people sleeping in the stands....on the floor in the concourse....ha ha ha! A funny thing happened early in the game though. A Flyers fan was totally going out of his way to antagonize the Pens fans in the stands near me (I didn't really get into it). He was kind of like "bring it on" in the stands! Then later on, in the restrooms, I saw this same guy again surrounded by Pens fans who he had been antagonizing.....but by this time he was all sheepish and saying that he was "only kidding....ha ha ha!" He left before the game ended. I had good seats.....but by the 2nd OT, I moved down to GREAT seats.....but the ending was pretty crappy.....for me anyway....ha ha ha! Didn't even stop for anything to eat after the game....dinner for me was those stale nachos and watered down Coke!
At least the Caps are streaking too.......in the opposite direction that is!
Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a "Turnpike Series" (Pens-Flyers) for the Eastern Conference Finals this year!