The Pittsburgh Penguins are not in a situation they were probably expecting when the playoffs got underway. They’re down 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers after a pair of games in their own barn.
But that’s the reality after the team was shut out on Monday night in Game 2.
The Penguins are now dealing with the prospect of entering an always-hostile (especially toward them) Xfinity Mobile Arena for Wednesday’s Game 3 in Philadelphia, but maybe that’s what they need.
Veteran blueliner Erik Karlsson seems to think so.
“Everybody in (the locker room) is looking forward to getting out of Pittsburgh for a little bit,” Karlsson said with a smile. “And go to Philly and hopefully, the hostile environment can make us just focus on playing (in the) situation we’re in and not on what’s going on around us.”
Now that’s a veteran mindset… but much easier said than done when you’re not down on Broad Street in South Philadelphia.
That said, anything would be better than what they got in the first two games, where they were thoroughly outplayed across the board in the first, and had a tough time generating solid offense in the second.
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I think that change of scenery is going to do the Penguins some good, and they’ve got no problems playing on the road. This season, they were ever so slightly — one game — better on the road than they were at PPG Paints Center.
The same is true for the Flyers. It’s a series of road dogs!
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However, any way you look at this one, all of the pressure is on the Penguins.
The Flyers (and as a lifelong Flyers fan, it feels weird to say what I’m about to say) have the edge in net, so the Penguins need to find some offense in a hurry.
They were one of the highest-scoring teams in the league this season, but the Flyers have limited them to just two goals through two games.
Maybe they’ll find a little offensive mojo by feeding off what is sure to be a wild environment in Philly.
