Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 24: Flyers Win Game 3 vs Pens | Apr 23, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, Rick Mullen from Hatchix's Unofficial Flyers podcast. We're down the game with my son, Sean. Go Flyers! What are we predicting, Think Flyers win? 4-3. 4-3 Flyers? I say 4-2 Flyers. Last one's an open net. Go Flyers, number one! Hey Flyers fans, welcome to Hatrix, Unofficial Flyers podcast. I'm Rick Mullen, I'll be your host tonight and we are gonna talk about game three of the Stanley Cup Playoffs first round, Flyers versus Penguins. This was a game of the ages last night. What a game, what a game. I was down there with my son, the place was unreal from the beginning of the game all the way to the end, the fans were in it. They were loud. They wanted to be heard. They wanted to support the Flyers. They wanted the Flyers to know that we supported them and they absolutely wanted the Penguins fans all the way up in Pittsburgh. Hear our chant responding to their chants from the first two games and it was loud. It was loud. The fans were killing the Penguins. They were booing Crosby. They were booing everything that had anything to do with Pittsburgh. They sent a loud and clear message with their Skinners, their FU Pittsburgh, just in response to them saying that to us during game one and two. There was a lot of animosity in that building last night. There was a lot of excitement. The fans were on fire. And let's jump in and talk about that game. So we went into that game. First period. And it was not a good start for the Flyers. It was not a good start. We looked a little nervous, which I thought they probably would be, you know, opening up a home series with the fans. They said that's like one of the hardest things to do is to come back home and play. And you could see it, you know, the game was a little out of control for four minutes. The Penguins were all over us and they got a power play and... At the 418 mark of the first period, Evangie Malkin scores. He's got an assist from Brian Rust and Sidney Crosby. And man, that sucks. I was hoping we could blank Crosby forever here during this series, but we didn't. But let's jump into some stats and then we'll go back through some of that play. But the Penguins had 29 shots on net to the Flyers 29 shots on net. The Penguins had 27 hits. The Flyers had 44. The Flyers dominated in hits last night. Penalty minutes were 22 to the Penguins. Penalty minutes to the Flyers were 28. Again, the refs missed a lot on the Penguin side and called almost everything that happened on the Flyer side. Don't believe what Muse and the Penguin's coach is saying and Crosby in the news crying about the officiating being a circus against them, Rust saying the same thing. It wasn't. They got all the calls. The majority of that night, majority of the first three games, Penguins have come out with most of the calls and the Flyers have been trying to kill penalties for three games. But the faceoff thought, Flyers looked really good last night. They were 58.2 % to Penguins 41.8 % and Going into that first period, like I said, it looked really hard that first four or five minutes, the Penguins got a power play goal by Malkin and for about six more minutes after that, so a good 10 minutes at that first period, the Flyers looked a little nervous. They weren't looking too good. And then lo and behold, you have the Sean Couturier, Glenn Denning, Garnet Hathaway line jump on the ice. And there were two huge hits. Not bad hits, not like, we're trying to go out of the way to hit somebody. ⁓ They had two good hits, guarded half the way, laid a big hit out. Then Sean Couturier a couple of seconds later leveled somebody as well. And that those two hits seemed to calm the fires down and seemed to wake them up. And from that point forward for the rest of that period, so about the last 10 minutes of that period, it was a Good period both ways. The Flyers played strong. They skated hard. They played good day. It was a much better period. Going into the second period, we had a power play at the 5'18 mark where Trevor Zegras gets his first power play goal of his career from Jamie Drysdale on Porter-Martin. The place went crazy. It was 1-1. Fantastic play. You know, by Trevor, he took a hell of a good shot there and beat Skinner up high. It was, it was great. I mean, the place went absolutely ballistic. The place was so loud. I mean, so loud. We're, I'm, I'm in the second level seats. I'm behind the net, the flyers shoot at twice. I am two rows from the front and man, they're the best seats in the house. I, know, honest to God, this is just my opinion. I sat downstairs and I've looked for season tickets and it's harder to see the ice downstairs. It's not as ⁓ easy to see the far end. you know, sitting upstairs in that first or second row right behind one of the nets, you see all the plays. Being ⁓ an ex-hockey player, ⁓ you get to see how the plays are. ⁓ starting how they're looking. start seeing the structure of the ice, up the ice, when you're skating up the ice and who's getting open. And you just see it. It's such a cool place to sit to actually watch a play develop. And you learn a lot just by looking from that angle. You know, I think as a player, you're looking up at the ice or you're looking down the ice. You're not looking at it from the side. So it makes sense to sit behind one of the nets. To me, my brain just functions that way. You you get to see where the defenseman pitches in where he shouldn't or who's open on the far side of the ice or who's coming back door, who's trowing the play. It's such a good way to watch a game from the end. watching this game was so cool. mean, nothing like being at a home game for the Flyers and a playoff home game after them not being there for so long. You eight years, eight years, right? It was a long time coming and my son and I had a blast. But going back into the second period, had Ristol Lowney. He got a nice goal. He beat Skinner at the 9.06 mark. He put a puck right between Skinner's legs and hit the five hole from Noah Juleson and Sean Couturier. At the 11.18 mark, Nick Seeler goes and he blows one past Skinner. He takes a shot from the point. A little wrist shot. It was a nice wrist shot, not a little. It was a nice wrist shot. He put it high up towards the glove side height and Skinner just couldn't pick it up. He knew it was coming, he moved over that way, lifted his glove, but he just couldn't track it into his glove and the fires were up three to one. That second period went pretty crazy. The second period was so cool. You turn around and you see Travis Konekne going towards the net and he's sitting on Skinner's left side and he died. Brian Rust didn't like him sitting there or standing there after the whistle blew and he goes and grabs Konekni and I know Konekni threw an elbow, could see it in replays that he hit Rust in the face but at that point Rust grabs him and throws him down and ⁓ most of the you hold the guy down and maybe push him a little bit here and there but ⁓ Rust went absolutely crazy. Rust throwing bombs from the bottom. He's trying to push Konekni's head into the ice and ⁓ the cage of the goalie Connect me is trying to get up and you he can't get up because rust is on his back. All hell breaks loose. Everyone on the ice is grabbing each other and fighting and knocking people down. connect me is trying to slew foot rust from the ground and knock them over so he can get up. ⁓ It was ⁓ when got over finally, the flyers had like what five guys in the box. I think there was like only three for the penguins and the place is going crazy, absolutely crazy. The place is screaming and yelling and F you ref, F you ref. it was, you know, watching it from the stands you thought, all right, this is terrible. Like the fires are gonna have five people in the box to the penguins two or three. And how the heck did that happen? Like everyone on that ice was fighting. know, Russ pretty much went crazy. Like this is nuts. And it took the refs like, 11 minutes 10 minutes something like that somebody said to figure out the penalties and They were pulling guys from the box and then taking different guys off the bench and anyhow in the end it worked out in the Flyers favor where they had ⁓ put six players in the box for the Penguins five for the Flyers and the Flyers went on a two minute a two minute power play and They should have been. mean, they definitely should have been. So it did work out in the end, but that's not how it looked for a long time there. It looked like the refs were going to side for the Penguins. There was a face off with Signe Crosby and this is absolutely just utterly disgusts me to see this. You have a 38 year old NHL Hall of Famer. He's It's there's no place not playing. They're lining up to go on the ice. Garnet Hathaway skates from the one side of the dot to the other and he skates past Sydney. He puts his stick behind his back and he does smack Sydney in the face with his stick. Not hard, not hard in any way, or form. I played this game. I've gotten hit in the face. I've split my nose open and you know, normally you get smacked in the face that late and you you your head goes back and you grab your face and look for blood maybe and that's it. But Sidney Crosby, he acts like he just got shot. You know, he acts like he got shot by a sniper somewhere in that building and he falls to the ice right in front of the ref's feet. He's laying there sideways holding his face and he didn't get up for a while. There's actually a picture out in the news if you can find it where the ref is standing above him. Sydney's laying sideways on the ice, know, right at the ref's feet and the ref's just looking down at him like, okay, okay, like, okay, you can get up. Sydney gets up. They take, no, no marks on his face, no cuts, no scratches, no nothing, zero, nothing. And, you know, there's a good chance that that stick hit him in the visor and not his face. I didn't see the replay in. Great detail. did see the replay and you you did see the stick smack him, but I'm not sure if it truly hit his face or his visor. I have to go back and look at it, but either way again, it was not hard enough for the reaction that Sydney did. And anyhow, they take Garner Hathaway off. They put him in the box. The fans in the building went absolutely ballistic. They all stood up. They were screaming as loud as they could. I mean, it was loud. It was probably the loudest part of that game. And, Garnet Hathaway is trying to tell the refs that, he dove like Sydney dove. ⁓ He dove. Sean is out there showing the refs that he dove. He's like pretending he's falling. He's ⁓ he showed him he was faking and he dove. And it took it. It took the refs a while and the ref couldn't actually talk. It was so loud. He couldn't get out of his mouth what he wanted to say, ⁓ which was good the fans did this, because if the fans didn't, it never would have happened. I ⁓ 100 percent. Hands down, never would have happened, but it was so adamant and so loud from the fans that we all know it was an embellishment that the refs called Sidney for embellishment too. And he put Garnet Hathaway and Sidney Crosby in the box. And that's fair. That's fair. That's the call that should have happened to begin with. know, 100 % hands down, that's what should have happened. Malkin leaned on Mishkoff. He cross checked Mishkoff in the back and then he leaned on Mishkoff and Mishkoff went down real fast and got right back up and they gave Mishkoff a penalty for embellishment and Malkin a penalty for cross checking. I mean that's crazy. If you're gonna give Mishkoff an embellishment penalty for like literally getting pushed down and he got right back up. didn't he didn't lay on the ice. He didn't hold his back. He didn't lay out the refs. didn't nothing. He didn't even look at the refs. He just went down, got right back up, tried to get back into play and the refs called him for embellishment. Meanwhile, you have a 38 year old Hall of Famer piece of crap crybaby player, which I can't wait until he retires, laying on the ice, holding his face like he was shot. It's disgraceful. And I really hope, and I know he won't, but I really hope one day CrybabyCindyCrosby hears this broadcast and he hears how much I hate the guy. And I do. ⁓ I hate him. I absolutely hate him. He's a skilled player, but he's got no guts. He fights through nothing. He should have kept playing. And no, he went back to doing everything he did as a newcomer to this league. because physically he's not able to play anymore so he's got to start as an annex again. So I am looking forward to the day Crosby retires. I am looking really looking forward to the end of this series with the Flyers winning and knocking them out and maybe that's enough this year to gut that Penguins team and it's going to be good to know that the Flyers were part of the reason why that team was gutted. Can't wait. I can't wait. So anyhow. Jumping into the third period, flyers are up three to one. At the 939 mark, Eric Carlson, gets a power play goal from ⁓ what? Rackle and Novak at the 1230 mark on a power play. Noah Cates gets his power play goal from Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale. What a sweet play. they passed that they were definitely working on this play. ⁓ Noah is half in the crease, not in the crease, but he's half in front of the net and half to the side and he's leaning more towards the side. with his stick stretched really far out for a pass. So you knew this was a set play they were trying to pull off. And they tried, I think, once or twice to get it to him, but they couldn't, so they kept moving the puck around until they could. And finally, when Zegrich was able to get the puck to him, he passed it hard to the stick. And as soon as it hit Cates' stick, Cates turned his back, pulled the backhand to the front of the crease, and shot one upstairs and beat Skinner far side high. it was a great goal. The place went absolutely crazy. At that point, I think we all knew that this was over. You know, that this was over. The Flyers had this. ⁓ And the 1848 mark, Owen Tippett, he gets an empty netter from Noah Cates. ⁓ And got his first playoff goal ever. What a game. Flyers fans are going crazy. I mean, crazy. If you weren't there, it's so hard to understand how ⁓ lit place was last night. I going again on Saturday. I'm hoping for another Flyers win. I'm hoping it's just as loud, just as crazy. It was such a good game. Tippett is an absolute monster. Owen Tippett threw 11 hits, 11 hits last night. 11. He led the team with 11 hits. He had 11 hits, a goal. Mean he did everything he could last night you looked at What's the next guy? ⁓ Porter Marton, Porter Marton. He had six hits He was the next in line for most hits for the Flyers last night Great game guys. I mean the Flyers look Good the Flyers look like they belong there the Flyers have a system that's working for them The Flyers have a team that's six up for each other Hey, you know, let let in speaking of that. Let me jump back to that second period. So There were so many penalties during that second period like I said It took the it took the ref so long to figure out how many penalties were going to get handed out and It was a lot of waiting time a lot of waiting time And then when they finally you like all all went out they had six players in the box for the Penguins five for the Flyers ⁓ Lou Nolan It was pretty funny. Lou Nolan turns around because we waited so long and they kept changing our mind. They put a penguin in the box, they take one out, they put a flyer in the box, take one out, then put somebody else back in and then put somebody else back in for the penguin. they could figure out who they were putting in where and who got what. But anyhow, after it was all settled and they did, ⁓ Lou Nolan, who normally broadcasts the public answer there, the penalties, right? So he starts off with a, you know, like... Ten minutes later, he starts off with the penalties, we think. He's like, we think. I never heard him do that before. Normally it's like penalty on Matthew Mishkoff, two minutes for roughing. But this time, Luz starts off with the penalties, we think, and he goes down the list. And he got it right. He got it right, which was really cool because I heard that the refs don't have a direct line to him. He's got to kind of guess and try to touch base with people, maybe down at the box to try to... figure out what the calls were, but he got it right. ⁓ when Zegras actually scored on that power play with the five flyers in the box and the six penguins in the box, know, Zegras scored on that power play, ⁓ as soon as he scored, and this is what's so cool, as soon as he scored, he skated right over to the penalty box where all the five flyers were in, and bang the glass real hard and everyone celebrated on the ice right in front of the penalty box and the five guys for the flyers in the penalty box were hugging each other. They were standing up in a circle hugging each other. gave me goosebumps to see it. was just, Zegar's like, look man, we respect everything you guys did. And as soon as he scored that goal, he went to that penalty box and made sure that those guys knew that he did that for them. You know what mean? They were part of it. it was really, really cool. Really, really cool. So I'm sure that that picture of them hugging in the penalty box is going to be all over social media today. that's a celly that's going to go down in history. I think you're going to see that for a really, really long time coming. Dan Vlidar, let's talk about him. Dan Vlidar is played so well for the Flyers, I mean so well. He is their heart and soul. This guy is really, really their heart and soul and they're doing everything for him. The team around him just believes in them. They love him. The fans love him. He's doing everything he can to win games for the Flyers. And it was evident that the Penguins can't figure out how to beat him. And now they're going to start. at least during this game and maybe next we'll see. ⁓ Taking some more ⁓ opportunities to crash that net and put pressure and bump into Valdar. So it was ⁓ hard to see Valdar went down once and he did get back up. Then he lost a skate blade when he tried to move from his right to his left and he kind of looked like he hurt his hip. Because the blade wasn't there his leg slid out from under him because it fell off his skate got knocked off his skate and you know sometimes that's dangerous that puts a lot of pressure on that hip flexor and that groin and He looked like when he tried to you know dig in with the right skate and push off the slide to the left That he may have tweaked something in his hip or his groin So that was a little scary there for a while and he stood in light of we don't we don't at least as of this recording I don't know what he looks like today Vlador. Yeah, but Then later on in the game, he goes and makes a save Lida and at the same time, know, rust comes over and crashes the net and actually knees. Vilar in the arm, his ⁓ blocker blocker arm ⁓ and falls over to the side holding his arm. He's in pain. Like, I don't know if he hyper extended the arm, if he just like maybe got a charley horse from getting need in the forearm. but he definitely went down for a bit. He was hurting. He was skating around. Fliers trainer came out to talk to him and he was leaning on the net. He was flexing his hand. It didn't look good. I was worried about him. I kept trying to take a peek at the bench to see if Erson was dressing, but ⁓ I think Erson up, but he, you know, obviously didn't grab a mask or anything. He was still, still on the bench, ⁓ but. What was really touching for me and brought back memories from my childhood was ⁓ as Flyers fans knew that he was in pain and standing there and trying to work through it from the fans at the Vlad E. chants started ⁓ and got louder and louder ⁓ and been a while. You you used to hear a Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie ⁓ and were some really good days hearing Bernie getting cheered on in the spectrum. And to hear Vlad E, Vlad E, Vlad E, it was very similar. And again, please guys, don't hold me to me putting Vlad E's name in with Bernie. You know, obviously you can't do that. And I get that. But the symbolism here that the Flyers team loves their goalie, that the fans appreciate what Vlad is doing and then to hear them support him, Vlad E, Vlad E, Vlad E, I really hope that ⁓ Vildar knows how much he's loved, respected and appreciated by the fans. Because I know he knows it from the team, but I'm hoping after last night and I had goosebumps when you were doing it that he knows the fans love him too. So let's hope that Vildar is okay. He's got an extra day off between these games. Normally it's one night off and then you're playing again, but they don't play again till Saturday. I think hopefully that'll give him time to heal. There was a interview after the game with Garner Hathaway and this was big. Like I said, the Flyers played ⁓ a game and they played a really good offensive game last night after that first period. They definitely weren't dumping the puck like they did the first or the second game. ⁓ There more controlled breakouts ⁓ which good because they controlled play a little bit more ⁓ and showed on the ice and on the scoreboard even. ⁓ The Flyers did work on that control instead of flipping that puck out. When they had to, they did, but they definitely worked on not doing that as much as they did the second game, and they possessed a little bit more. But from a hits perspective, and again, I know I beat a dead horse on this, from a hits perspective, when the Flyers first started the game, they did hit, but they weren't really hitting as much. They weren't finishing their checks. And that gave the Penguins a lot of time to skate up the ice and make things happen. And then finally, like I said, 10 minutes into that first period, I think they kind of realized they weren't hitting and they needed some kind of jump. And Garner Hathaway and Sean Catturio went out there for that one line and they hit back to back hits, big hits, know, big hits. And it changed the momentum of the game. So the Flyers had like 44 hits last night. And that's a lot of hits. That's a lot of hits. So somebody could look at it and say, hey, they got 44 hits and they were putting themselves out of position. They were going for those hits and they hurt themselves and they didn't. They didn't at all. Like all of their hits were good hits at the right times. They didn't put themselves out of the play. They actually helped knock or keep the Penguins player that they hit out of the play. So it was well timed, well, well decision. Hits and they interviewed Garnett Hathaway at the end of the game and he had said I think there's two different types of physicality Physicality it's laying a hit to create momentum ⁓ or a guy out of a play ⁓ or one to separate a guy from the puck ⁓ and said I think we've been doing them both really well and They have ⁓ they have you know? ⁓ Garnett a hundred percent said exactly what this team needs to do to win. They need to hit. They 100 % need to hit. When the fires hit, they seem to win. When the fires hit, they cause a lot of panic and grief and pressure on the other team so the other team isn't so apt to skate up the ice or they're not so apt to hold on the puck too long and look for that perfect pass. You know, it's kind of a hot potato syndrome where that other team knows like, ⁓ crap, I'm going to get smoked here, get rid of it. And the fires created that a lot these last three games. And hopefully they can carry that forward into game four or however many teams or games we need to beat the penguins. And, also we get to that second round and the fires continue to hit. So great game. The place was crazy last night. I mean crazy. Everyone was cheering, yelling, high-fiving, screaming, chanting. It was great to see such a good turnout for the Flyers. I've been at many games and a lot of times you look around the building and you see multiple fans from other teams in attendance and there were some Penguins fans there last night. Not many. Not many. If you looked around that building, it was pure orange. Pure orange. with maybe a few Penguin's jerseys, not many. And of the ones that I saw, which were maybe three or four, they were booed constantly. If they were walking up to the seats, the fans were booing them. When they were walking down the leave, the whole section was booing them. When they were in the hallway, they were getting booed over and over and over again. it was great. Because I was at that game, what was it, two years ago when we played the Rangers and we weren't so good. It was towards his game and the Rangers ⁓ bought, Ranger fans bought a ton of tickets man to that game. They actually outnumbered us in that game. It was, I mean, it was crazy. Every time, every single solitary time they had ⁓ touched the puck or did anything. the Ranger fans would cheer and out cheer the Flyers fans and you could tell at the end of the game, Torch was pissed. he even said it in his interview that hopefully we get to his stage soon that the Flyers fans outnumber the other team's fans and they did tonight. it was all black and orange. it was very, very few and good to see the house get filled with our fans and not many of theirs. So. I am looking forward to Saturday's game. can't wait to get down there. I really can't. I'm looking forward to a sweep. I hope it in jinks them, but I think they can do it. I think at this point it's going, it's it. I just, I can't fathom it. I can't fathom the Flyers losing game four right now. Yeah. I think this game three was where the Penguins had to win. They came out and tried to try to win as hard as they could. And the Flyers are just the better team. They're just the better team and that's it. So I don't think the Penguins have anything left in the tank. I'm hoping they don't. I know this isn't over. It's far from over. The Flyers came back and beat Boston. They were down three games to nothing. you know, three games to nothing. Game four, they turn around and they're down three to nothing score wise. And the Flyers come back and beat them that game four and go on to win the series four games to three. So I know it can happen. I know it can happen. just don't see it happening. I'm hoping Vildar can get back in on Saturday. I'm hoping the fires can close this door, you know, put the nails in the coffin and move on to the next round. I think that's it. Yep. I think that's all I got. ⁓ with that said, ⁓ ⁓ I'm hoping the fires can close that door on Saturday. I would love to see Malkin, Crosby, LaTang, Mantha, Rust. I want to see them all retire. ⁓ know, ⁓ do. I want to see that team busted up. I want to see them ⁓ playing together anymore. I think LaTang's out for sure. I want to see Malkin gone. ⁓ I don't think he has a contract as of right now. So I want to see that team, that Penguins team dismantled and I'm looking forward to the day when they finally announce it. anyhow, if you see our episodes, please like and subscribe. Please like and subscribe. We have a lot of listeners, ⁓ just a few likes and subscribers. So like and subscribe. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Apple, Spotify. We're all over the place. Please find us, like and subscribe. If you have any questions, anything you want to talk about, we have a mailbag. It's hatrixpodcast99 at gmail.com. Looking forward to hearing from you guys. And on Saturday, we'll be there cheering those flyers on. Go Flyers.