Talbot and Penguins Rally to Eliminate Flyers

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins who overcame a 3-0 second period deficit on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon. The Flyers had a loud home crowd behind them, with all the momentum in the world and were seemingly headed toward pushing the series to a seventh game Monday night in Pittsburgh. However, the Penguins remained calm and the Stanley Cup finalists from a year ago used that experience to not only battle back but to score five unanswered goals to ruin the day for the Flyers and ending their season. The big stars—Malkin, Crosby, and Fleury—all played a major role in getting Pittsburgh back to the second round as you might expect, but it was role player Maxine Talbot who got the ball rolling. At 4:21 of the second period Talbot engaged Daniel Carcillo in a fight that by all accounts Talbot lost. As a result of the fight the Flyer bench was pumped up and the fans went absolutely crazy! There was one problem for Philly and that was the effect the fight had on the Penguins bench. Up to that point the Penguins had not lost composure but they also did not have a great amount of energy coming from the bench; but after Talbot’s fight the players were jolted with a surge of electricity as they suddenly came to life and 14 seconds later Ruslan Fedetanko got the Penguins on the board. It was the beginning of the end for the Flyers when Fedetanko scored and it teaches everyone a valuable lesson about fighting. If your team is up 3-0 with all the momentum in the world and the other team is fairly deflated DO NOT FIGHT! You cannot give that other side anything to go on, simply frustrate them by not engaging in their antics and continue to bury them on the scoreboard. If not, then you re-invigorate the other side and give them something to build off of. So while guys like Crosby put the numbers on the scoreboard, the Penguins owe a debt of gratitude to Max Talbot for being smart enough to engaged the Flyers in battle, ultimately being the springboard to Pittsburgh’s success. So Kudos to Max Talbot and shame on you Daniel Carcillo for obliging to Talbot’s request; now Philly can thank Pittsburgh for sending them to the golf course two years in a row.