Philadelphia Flyers could be in for a long series against Pittsburgh Penguins

After their embarrassing 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1, the Philadelphia Flyers could be in for a long playoff series.

Despite being an underdog heading into their first playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the Philadelphia Flyers not just because of how great the city in general has been as of late in sports, but also due to how the team ended the regular season. Unfortunately, the Flyers looked like anything but a playoff team during Wednesday’s Game 1 meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins as this game was far over before the first period even came to an end.

Not only did Philadelphia fail to score a single goal in their first playoff game of 2018, but also they allowed Pittsburgh to cruise for an easy 7-0 win, with Sidney Crosby leading the way by finishing with a hat trick. After failing to defeat the Penguins even once during the regular season in four meetings, the Flyers entered this game knowing they would be in for quite the challenge, but nobody expected things to end up this bad.

In fact, things were so bad for Philadelphia at one point, Brian Elliott was replaced in net by Petr Mrazek in the second period after allowing Pittsburgh to score five goals before the second period was even halfway over. While Elliott doesn’t deserve all of the blame since his teammates clearly failed to come through on their end, this kind of performance from a goalie certainly doesn’t make Flyers fans feel confident about their chances in this series moving forward.

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Without question, this season has been quite the roller coaster for Philadelphia when looking at all of the ups and downs this team has experienced, but what took place in Game 1 against Pittsburgh was completely unacceptable. Instead of looking like a team that some considered one of the hottest in the NHL to end the regular season after winning four of their final five games, the Flyers looked more like a team that should be watching the playoffs from home during their first meeting with the Penguins. If they don’t show some sort of life on Friday in Game 2, the Flyers could be in for a quick series, and not in a good way either.