Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 26: Flyers Lose Game 5 vs Pens | Apr 28, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hatrix, unofficial Flyers podcast. I'm Rick Mullen. I'll be your host tonight. We're going to talk about the Stanley Cup playoffs, game five, Flyers versus Penguins. Bad game. What the heck? The Flyers cannot close the door on these Penguins. They just won't go away. Flyers lose last night, 3-2, up in Pittsburgh. They are coming home for game six tomorrow after being up three games to none. We are going to have a game six. Didn't think we would get to a game six, but here we are. Let's talk a little bit about this game. This game drove me nuts last night. So we're going to go over stats. Then we're going to talk about some players on the team, some penguins, shenanigans, and all this good stuff. So stats for the night. Flyers had 20 shots to Pittsburgh's 21. The Flyers had 42 hits to Pittsburgh's 37. Low and behold, the Pittsburgh Penguins are hitting now. They are hitting, they're hitting a lot. They didn't hit half as much as this in the first couple of games. And now they're hitting a lot every game. And I think that is hampering the flyers. I think the flyers here, the skates coming, a lot of them are getting nervous and they're not going into the corners when they should be, or they're getting rid of the puck a little too soon. They're not being creative. That's what Rick Tuckett says. And I think, I think we got a lot to talk about and These hits, I wish the Flyers were dominating in the hits, but it was a close hit game last night. Penalty minutes, the Flyers got 10. ⁓ my God, guess what? The Penguins didn't get more penalties than us. ⁓ my God, who would have figured that? Who would have figured that? The refs, that's who. The refs. Because they don't call the Penguins for anything. Penguins had eight penalty minutes. They should have had like 40. It's crazy how one-sided and blind the refs are. It's crazy. I was listening to the game, watching the game. know, Boucher was going nuts. He couldn't believe what the refs were not calling and neither can I. It's an absolute disgrace. I just don't understand how this is happening. I don't understand how there's not any accountability. I just don't understand at all how, how, how they get away with it all the time. They're paid off. They got pictures of Gary Bettman. doing things he shouldn't something's happening here, but no one calls anything on the penguins ever a couple minor penalties just to like make sure that everyone knows they called a penalty here and there but the penguins get away with murder and they got away with murder again last night the face-off dot The Flyers had a 53.3 % winning percentage to the penguins 46.7 going into the first period right away Right away at the two minute and 45 second mark, Elmer Soderblom, he scores from Anthony Mantha and Parker Weatherspoon. He gets the goal and Penguins are up one to nothing. What can I say here guys? Like the Flyers are chasing all the time. They chase, they chase, they chase. I wish they didn't have to, but they do. They always start off flat. First period ends. Flyers did have a better first period than they had in game four, but they still weren't great. couldn't finish. They had some chances, but they just couldn't finish. ⁓ Going into the second period, Connor Duwar. He scores at the 317 mark from Sidney Crosby and Blake Lazotte and the Penguins are up 2-0. And lo and behold, what 12 seconds later, Alex Bump, he skates up this side. He does a little pass underneath the stick, the triangle. Everyone calls it little bit something different, but under the triangle, under the stick, He goes around this defenseman with the puck, but not the body, and then passes the puck through the triangle back to his stick and he fires a shot and he ends up beating Sylvos. And Alex Bump, his first playoff game ever, he scores. And that's from Risto and Noah Cates. So that puts us two to one at the 329 mark. At the 1505 or 1506 mark, Travis Saintheim scores from Risto and TK, Flyers and Penguins are now tied 2-2 in the second period. About two minutes later, not even a minute later, Chris LaTang takes this shot and it's such a shame because Lidaur deserves better. He takes this shot, hits the boards, bounces back out and Lidaur doesn't see it. Like it comes through his legs from behind the net. He knows it's somewhere, he's getting nervous and he pushes his legs down and he ⁓ hits puck into the net. And ⁓ they a fluky goal. the Penguins always get these bounces and that's just hockey and that's okay. But they go up on a crystal-tangled goal that should never have in from Sidney Crosby and what, Ryan Shea. And the Penguins are winning three to two in the second period at the end of the second period. Going to the third, there were no goals scored. And games over flyers lose again, three to two to the penguins. ⁓ What's the good side? What's the good side of this game? ⁓ This game and the last game, the fires lost by one fluke goal. So it's not like they're getting blown out. one fluke goal last game, one fluke goal this game, ⁓ and it. so the fires are in these games as ⁓ much as they score. They're in them. They're in them. someone just has to break through and get goals, like get shots on net. The fires had a lot of opportunities last night and ⁓ ⁓ They didn't take their opportunities that they had ⁓ or take advantage of them. Some were like Zegras had a breakaway. He went to the backhand and he whiffed. He missed. OK, that happens at times, right? But then there was other times where I believe Zegras was like in the slot and he could have fired the puck and he didn't decide to pass and the pass didn't go well and we lost possession. Power plays. had Bristol-Lennon who, in all honesty, this is This is something I don't understand either. have Risto on the power play and ⁓ you he's supposed to have this big booming shot from the power play ⁓ and played pass around like on this power play and so many times Risto had the opportunity to just crank one off and he wouldn't shoot. He wouldn't shoot. He kept going back Risto to Zegras, Risto to Zegras, Risto to Zegras. ⁓ And was terrible. Like if you're on this power play bud, take some shots to fire that freaking hundred mile per hour slap shot and you won't shoot. he won't shoot. It drives me nuts. Like if he's not going to shoot, then there's no point in being out there. Put somebody else out there that will shoot. York's not the answer. Drysdale's doing the same thing. He's not shooting. Risto's now turning into them and he's not shooting. So I don't know what the answer here is other than maybe Travis Anheim. And he's already killing penalties and he's got to what? 24, 27 minute game. So he can't play much more. But. somebody, somebody else has to get out there and shoot that puck, man. Get that puck through to the net, get those shots on the net and don't be afraid to shoot. But right now this team seems scared to shoot. The only one that shot or tried to shoot most of the night was Alex bump. bumper, he tried hard. He, he really did. He played a great game. It was a good decision by talk at the pull Mishkov and let bump get into this game. he proved he belonged there. He got a goal. He had a couple of shots. He had some, uh, board work that went his way. So definitely a good move putting bump in and I don't think he's coming out for the next game. There's a lot of talk. I don't know. There's a lot of talk right now about what happens next game. Like what do you do? Do you leave Mishkov out? Do you put keep bumping? Like what do you do? And in all honesty, I don't, I really don't know what to do. I think about it and I think, ⁓ Mishkov be a game changer from time to time. And you know, in a game six at home, You want all your you want all your skill on the ice and you know, but has he proved it the first four games he played? No. Did he learn last night? Like maybe he's going to play harder, like maybe he's going to have a fire on him to come back. Maybe, you know, and if it's there, Mishka should be on the ice. So here's the problem. Who do you pull to put Mishka in? It's not an easy answer. You definitely don't pull bump out bump just had a great game. Barkie had even though he didn't have points. Barkie's all over the place. Barkie skating. He's making stuff happen. He's one of your best for checkers and you can't pull Barkie out. So what do you do? Like someone online said maybe Forster and Forster is not having a great series. He's really not but he's a big body. He's got good defensive play and him again, he's got the ability to fire that puck. so it's hard pulling him out, so what do you do? And ⁓ I don't know the answer is. ⁓ I really don't. hard. We have one guy too many. We have one guy too many. ⁓ And what would do going into next game if I was Rick Tocket? Well, I said, ⁓ what three games they should put up, they should have sat Mishkov and put bump in. ⁓ It took two games, I think, after that for them to do it. And it turned out to be a pretty decent move. ⁓ I probably if it was me, I think I break apart that fourth line. That fourth line in my opinion right now has not been playing great the last game or two. They kind of lost that magic. ⁓ Maybe I pull Hathaway off or Glenn Denning and I re juggle my lines. I bring Mishkoff back into the fold, but I put him on a line with not with Kate's. I put him on a line with Zegress or TK like some someone that he can perform with and produce with because we need him to produce. So that's probably what I do. And I know this is terrible because I'm not saying I would definitely do it. I'm just kicking ideas around and everyone has their own ideas. maybe maybe I do a fourth line. Maybe I move Barkey down to the fourth line or maybe a Forster is the one that's struggling. I move Forster down to the fourth line. And then I do in game adjustments like a Forster is on the fourth line tearing it up. Maybe you move them around a little bit, you know, but I think, I think Garnet Hathaway, yes, he scored a goal in this series. Yes, he's been playing hard and he's banging, but at this point right now, you know, the physical play is not where it should be from a production standpoint. You know, we're getting physical play out of them, but they're not producing at all out of it. And a lot of times like he's got a number on it, you know, he's got a mark on them right now. he's getting penalties. So, I think that's what I might do. I might pull either him or Glenn Denning. Glenn Denning looked a little slow and old last night. He didn't look so well. ⁓ So yeah, that's me. I think maybe you move a Barkey down to the fourth line. Because again, fourth line's not getting poor minutes. Fourth line's getting a lot of minutes. So it's not like you're putting Barkey or forced to run a fourth line. It's only averaging like seven minutes. They're getting a lot of minutes. So I think moving them down there. Seeing how things work out, getting Mishkoff on a line with guys who can actually accept some of his passes and get some goals. You know, maybe that's enough to spread a little bit of fire on each line and get Mishkoff back in the game. But that's just me. Let's talk about the Penguins. The dirty worm Penguins. Mantha is running around punching people in the face whenever he wants and getting away with it every game. And we're not just talking to hit here or hit there. I'm talking two, three, four punches to the head. And this guy's not getting called penalties. He swung a TK who ducked out of the way and you had, Sandhine go in and try to like, you know, not, not swinging them. None of our guys have swung at them, but you had Sandhine come in and try to like stop it from happening. And the ref standing like ⁓ right that close. And meanwhile, you have Memphis swinging hooks at Sanheim's head and landing with the glove on and then doing uppercuts into Sanheim's face and landing with gloves on and the ref calls nothing. Zero. Goose egg. Goose egg. Refs should be suspended. Should be suspended. Yeah, that's right. I said it. You should be suspended. It's crazy. One, right in front of you. Let me write in front of you within one foot of you. You don't call it. You don't call it later on in that game. I believe Malkin actually hit TK up high. I thought I heard somebody say that he actually broke the stick on TK's head or face. Obviously TK didn't have any marks or stitches or anything, but I didn't see the stick break. But ⁓ that's what I heard. Heard the stick broke. He broke the stick on it TK's head, face, shield, something. No call. Zero call on that. Nothing. You have guys being tripped. You have guys being boarded. No call. Zero. Nothing. You have Malkin at the end of play, take a puck and flip it into our bench. You know, just missed our assistant coach, I believe hit the glass. Guess what? No call. Nothing. This is an absolute disgrace, man. Like I've been watching this since Crosby came into the league. The preferential treatment that the Penguins have gotten gets worse and worse. They're never held accountable. Never. It's disgrace. And what's so sad about it, and I don't know if anyone will remember this play, but right before the Penguins scored in Crosby, I think it was Connor Duar, he scored it, right? ⁓ Crosby was behind the net, and he was about a foot or foot and a half off the boards behind our net, and Yurk was on him. but like not on him, but shadowing him. And I'm yelling at the TV, like hit him, hit him, get a body on him. And he's just letting Crosby just pretty much skate out of the from behind the net and find a play. And Crosby did, Crosby came out, found the play, Pittsburgh scores. Yerke not putting a body on him is something I question. Is it because Yerke doesn't want to hit him? Is it because Yorick felt it was better not to hit him? It was because Yorick's banged up and he can't hit the way he wants to hit? Or is it because Yorick didn't want to hit him because if you touch him you're going to the box? And that's where, ⁓ it just It burns deep in me, man. Like, if we're gonna go to the box anyway, just ⁓ smoke ⁓ Smoke If he's got the puck, ⁓ lay out, man. Lay him out. He's gonna not want the puck if he keeps getting destroyed and you know if we get calls, know, okay We can slow down on the hits But just because it's Crosby you don't pull up because it's Crosby you hit them more man You hit their other teams best players more you don't give them that room And that's why I said, I don't know if it's like a hey listen guys You can't hit Crosby your Malkin because as soon as we do we're gonna go to the box So just you know, just just shadow them just mark them in let's hope we can contain them Man, I hate that philosophy if I'm going down. I want to go down swinging. I want to smoke them That's me smoke them. he's got the puck you have a chance to hit him hit him Hit him hard hit him every time don't pull up hit him every single solitary time Make them earn every inch of that ice because guess what? They're doing that to us and they're getting away with it and we should be doing it to them, too We shouldn't be afraid to body check someone, you know fairly Fairly and I'm not saying like, when I say smoke them I don't mean like break a stick on his head, right? ⁓ I'm talking about fair hits hard hits if he's got the puck the game of hockey you're allowed to hit in it and they should be hitting him every time and making him earn it when you let Crosby come out from behind the net and All you're doing is just kind of shadowing him He's got full view of the ice. He's looking for a pass He's got plenty of time to do it because you're not willing to hit him. And that's what he did. He came out from behind the net. He turned, he faced the center of the ice. He found Connor Duvour who scored a goal. And I blame York. York should have hit him. He didn't hit him. If he's not gonna hit him, he shouldn't be out there against him. You need to put a different pairing out there against him. anyhow, this game was ugly. This game was... ⁓ Definitely ugly this game should have had way more power plays for the flyers than they did I mean again the penguins had eight minutes eight minutes, and I just said three things that should have been at least Six more minutes, you know the pen should have had 14 to 20 penalty minutes in that game Just based on the simple three blatant things and there were a lot of other things too, but yeah, okay I can understand putting your but whistle away from them, but ⁓ man 100 % hands down, she then went to the box. No way you punch a guy two times, uppercut, right in front of the ref, right in front of him and the ref doesn't call it. ⁓ Mantha, was it Mantha? No, it was LaTang. I think LaTang, pretty sure it was LaTang. LaTang had, what was it, Glenn Denning, I believe, think it was Glenn Denning in a headlock behind the ⁓ Pittsburgh goalie in the corner. I mean, put him in a headlock, ripped the guy's helmet off, ripped Glenn Denning's helmet off, pretty sure it was Glenn Denning or Ga— Garnet Hathaway and they had to leave the ice and go to the bench. And during that, that time, the Penguin scored on that one too. So the Penguins are now like four or five, times ripping helmets off. How come nothing's being addressed? How come the league isn't looking into this? How come it's not being talked about all over the media that this is happening? I haven't seen, I've watched every other game out there, mostly the end. Other teams aren't doing this. It's just the penguins, know, like, hit them, rip their helmet off and make them leave the ice so we can get a man advantage for those two, three seconds and maybe score. And it worked last night. They got a goal after they ripped his helmet off. ⁓ Penguins are dirty. They're dirty. They are so dirty. They've always been dirty. They're a bunch of cry babies. I hate losing to them. I hate watching anyone lose to a bunch of cry babies. It drives me nuts. You know, I want to see men go out there and play, play hard, stop crying. and wherever you know the score lands the score lands but when you got a fake that you got hit in the face and lay down on the ice on your side at a face-off dot to try to get two minutes man you lost our respect and I have zero at this point in time I have zero for the penguins they're the dirtiest team in the NHL and I hope going into next game Rick Tocket ⁓ does some adjustments We can't go out there. We can go out there with the same lineup, I guess. Like I said, it's going to be hard to get Matt Vang back in. But there is a way, like I said, how to get him back in. But I do think that Taken has to tinker with his lines now. I think it's just not working. ⁓ Maybe move Forrester to Marton's spot. Marton's the Forrester spot. I don't know. Maybe move Bump into one of those spots. ⁓ I think he just has to readjust these lines. He's got to mix some things up. and try to create stuff. He, in an interview today, had said, or it was the last night I believe, that the Flyers weren't creative enough. He was saying that they weren't creating opportunities. Like when they got the puck, they were probably shooting and just hitting legs and things weren't getting to the net. That's not what I saw last night. Yeah, they weren't creative. Yeah, I agree with that part. But him saying they were just shooting and hitting legs, we weren't shooting either. Like we weren't shooting at all. I'd rather if they can't be creative then shoot, just shoot the puck, like ⁓ I think the problem Zegras is in the slot. Pretty sure Zegras was in the slot. He had a point blank shot and instead he decided to pass and the pass was bad. know, Risto had a couple of times where he was wide open on the point and on the power plane instead of cranking off a slap shot. He ⁓ just keeps passing back and back and forth passing. He's playing catch with Zegras. ⁓ I don't think they're shooting anywhere near as enough. think that should really be the message. Yes, be creative, try to create some stuff, carry the puck maybe a little longer, but shoot the puck. Shoot the puck. And I know there's so many media personalities out here that say, well, you just can't shoot the puck. You have to make sure you work, you work, and you work, and you work, and get that opening, and then shoot the puck. Get a better quality shot. And that's true, man. They should be doing that too. However, look at the Penguins, man. They're just shooting from everywhere that they can and they've created two or three goals over these last couple of games that shouldn't have went in just because they shot. So I would like to see if you're in a position to shoot, that opportunity is not coming around too often. So if you're in a position to shoot, shoot, just shoot. And then what that ends up doing, And it does, you can go back and we can pull tape from other teams. I'm not going to, ⁓ but we could. what happens is when you shoot, a lot of times these teams right now are marking the pass. So you can't pass in there because they know you're going to. But when you shoot, every time you get that opportunity to shoot these, guys are going to start knowing we're shooting, we're shooting, like get out there and block that shot. And once they start doing that, that's when you can pass. because there's going to be somebody open. But we've had opportunity a couple of times where guys were right in front of that net, had opportunities to shoot and they didn't. They went for a pass and it didn't work out. So here we go. We're going back home tomorrow night, Wednesday night, the 29th, 730 game, Flyers vs. game six at Philly. I will be down there again, me and my son. Hopefully we get a win. Hopefully we get a win. need to win tomorrow night. We can't go game seven in Pittsburgh. So all stops have to be pulled for this game. Flyers need to win tomorrow. Tocket has to juggle lineups. These lines aren't working or when they were, the Penguins were playing us differently. But now that they're not, it's probably because the Penguins made adjustments. So we have to make adjustments to switch the lines up, juggle them around, know, do whatever you got to do. Let's get this win tomorrow night. All right, so we'll do another broadcast tomorrow. We'll review that game afterwards. until then, go Flyers.