Pens got away from game, talk issues in Game 1

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – What is rule number one about playing against the Philadelphia Flyers? Don’t get into playing their game. Don’t get baited. Pens broke rule number one in a 3-2 loss at home in Game 1 Saturday night.

“It’s what we talk about, we should play our game,” said Pens forward Evgeni Malkin who tied Gordie Howe with his 68^th playoff goal. “We lost a little control in the second period, we started fighting. This is what they want.”

“We got to stay out of it a little bit more and trust that when they do it and stir it up, they are going to get penalized for it,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. “That’s more something they are looking to do. We got to stay out of it and trust that they’ll be undisciplined.”

“We got involved too much in some of those scrums when we didn’t need to,” said Pens head coach Dan Muse.

Pens committed five penalties to the Flyers four on Saturday. Philly had 41 hits, a 20-8 lead after the first period and were a plus five in blocked shots.

“They make it hard,” Muse added. “We got away from things that worked, part of that is intensity, everything is ramped up in the playoffs. Give them credit, they came in and executed their game plan. We got to be better at executing ours.”

“We know it’s a tight, physical game, but we need to play better,” Malkin said. “Our blue line, we should control puck a little bit, play deeper and focus a little bit more behind the net. We gave them so many chances.”

"I think we tried to go through the neutral zone with control, trying to get through the line with control," said Pens defenseman Kris Letang. "I think, especially in the second period, we kind of got away from our game and putting it deep, trying to grind him down low. So, you know, I think focused on that a little bit.”

“They played better than us from start to finish that’s the way it is sometimes,” said Pens defenseman Erik Karlsson. “It’s unfortunate, obviously you want to get off to a good start, but you don’t win a series in Game 1. We know that we got a lot better in here. We got to focus on ourselves and get back to what made us successful throughout the year.”

Karlsson believes they tried too hard at times and they didn’t make the plays that were there. They turned too many pucks over and made it hard on themselves.

Defenseman Ryan Shea said they need to find a way around the blocked shots, Philly had 14 on Saturday. They need to anticipate they are going down and find away around them.

Crosby noted more zone time is needed, outside of the push in the second period that led to Malkin’s goal, there wasn’t a time in the game where you really noticed the Pens controlling the game in the Flyers zone.

Philadelphia takes Game 1 of the return to the playoffs for both teams. Then Crosby summed it up well.

“We got to be better.”