GTOG Instant Reaction: We don't even recognize this team; Pens lose, 8-5

By Artistry

Let's get this done now, because I'm not thinking about it anymore this weekend:

- Marc-Andre Fleury needs to steal Game 3 on Sunday.  The defense is abominable, the penalty kill looked lost, but Flower really let us down tonight.

- Where are all the people who said the Penguins can never split up the Malkin-Neal-Kunitz line?  Those guys are getting embarrassed.  Flip Sullivan and Kunitz, as we've suggested.  Absolutely no reason not to right now.

- The Penguins alone are at fault for this 2-0 deficit, but let's be clear: the officiating has been horrible.  The Pens should have gone up 2 men in the first when Matt Read cross-checked Kris Letang well after the whistle blew.  Yes, Letang tried to sell it, but that doesn't change the fact that it happened.  If you embellish something that is already clearly a penalty, is that really equally punishable?  In any event, Letang went off for diving, Read for roughing, and the Flyers promptly scored shorthanded.  A turning point, especially considering Letang had Bryzgalov dead to rights only moments before and couldn't bury it.

- Where have you gone, Matt Niskanen?  Ben Lovejoy is completely out of his league.

- Sean Couturier is tremendous.

- Never has a single man getting bottle service at the top nightclub in Puerto Rico ever been as upset as Finesse is right now.

All this having been said, we've been through a lot worse and come out of it intact.  Our pulse is steady.  Win on Sunday, and it's a series again.  LGP.  And for the love of mercy, GTOG.