That Dale Hunter cheapshot was awful because the Isles had enough emotion to knock out the 2-time champion Pens the next round, but really needed him against the Habs. That was the worst cheapshot I saw in my life (didn't see Bertuzzi's or Lemieux's or whomever else,) and Hunter really should've been axed for the season.

Obviously great player, however.

The season was over. As I recall, he was suspended for the first 30 or 40 games of the next season. I was anti-Caps after seeing that, until I ended up living here.

The Bertuzzi and McSorley hits were worse.

30 games is what I remember.

I have just learned the Caps have a player called Shaone Morrisonn. Gnarly naome duodde!

Reed. If I am saying that the Isles were in the next round of the playoffs, and it's established that this was the playoffs, it's pretty much well established that I'm talking about the 1993-1994 seasons. While Hunter received the largest suspension of all-time at the time, it should've been for the entire season.

Bertuzzi's was more devestating, but Hunter's was as low as it gets.

Hunter pushed the guy in the back when he was vulnerable. He didn't deliberately go after his head and Hunter's was more of a crime of frustration (the Isles had just eliminated the Caps). Bertuzzi's and McSorley's were premeditated, First Degree Goonery as opposed to Second Degree.

Thirty games is more than one third of a season. It's a lot. I think a full season would have been fair and I wouldn't mind seeing those sorts of serious penalties applied in these cases but I don't think the players union would let it happen and I don't think the owners would have the stones to do it. It would set a difficult precedent for them. They wouldn't want to have to suspend a valuable player for a full season.

Who is the jackass NBC commentator that just said that "half" the fans in the arena are Flyers fans? Is he at the game? At most its 5%.

Unfortunately for the Caps, and fortunately for Philadelphia, the Flyers haven't really bought into the conventional wisdom that they should try to physically intimidate the Caps. The Flyers are winning because they're just faster and better at passing and shooting and boring fundamentals like that.

For some reason, I'm not comfortable with a two goal lead going into the 3rd period. The Caps have had some great opportunities on the power play, and it's just a matter of time before they start to go in.

Reed, I agree that the NBC announcer must have been either colorblind and deaf or on crack, as it was clear that the stadium was awash in red (not orange) and the noise seemed to be from Caps fans.

The Flyers played very well today, especially at even strength, and Biron bounced back from the disaster in game 1. At least this thing will come back to DC, where I can hopefully catch game 5 (if my brother's connections for tickets come through).

The Caps seem to be having a hard time putting their shots on goal. A lot of their opportunities don't show up as shots on goal because they just miss. I don't know if there's any sophisticated tactical explanation for that. They just miss.

For some reason, I'm not comfortable with a two goal lead going into the 3rd period.

You and Don Cherry both.

I haven't seen anything of this series — or indeed any of the play-offs — but AdeC jr has adopted the Caps due to the lack of 'Nucks. Based on his description it sounds as though this is going the full seven and whoever emerges victorious is going to be so beat up that they'll roll over for whoever they meet next.

The full seven seems likely, as the teams seem fairly evenly matched. The Flyers have no one close to the class of Ovechkin, but are a deeper team. If they can keep Ovechkin under wraps (like in the first 2 periods in game 1 and all of game 2), they look good, but as the 3rd period of game 1 showed, keeping him under wraps is much easier said than done.

As far as having nothing left for the next round, after the disaster of last season, I'd just be thrilled to get passed the Caps.

Last season wasn't a disaster for the Flyers because they managed to finally rid themselves of Bobby Clarke whose malign influence has been an albatross around the neck of the organization and the city.

I find it a bit comical that many fans in Philly and around the league still think the Flyers are going to physically intimidate this or that opponent. It seems to come up every year. Trying to bully one's way to the Stanley Cup has accomplished almost nothing for the Flyers in the last 30 years. At least their current coachign staff seems to grasp that.

Has anyone seen any of the Flames-Sharks series?
What is going on with San Jose?

In other weekend news:

1) Salavat Yulaev won the deciding fifth game and the Russian Championship.

2) Bolzano (official name HC Interspar Bolzano Bozen Foxes, yes really) won the Italian Championship.

3) Boston College won the NCAA "Frozen Four".

Reed,

If I was sure that Clarke was gone for good, I'd agree with you. He's like the Flyers' Johan Cruyff. Of the many things that drove me nuts about Clarke, it was that he never got passed his irritation that Bernie Parent got more of the credit for the two Stanley Cup winning teams. As a result, he never put much emphasis on goaltending. The Flyers got lightning in a bottle twice (Pelle Lindberg before he died, and then Hextall for his first couple of years), but after that, Clarke treated the position with contempt, which seriously hurt the otherwise decent Lindros/Recchi teams.

The "Broadstreet Bullies" mentality is hard to shake. It didn't help that the Flyers were a little, um, overeager early in this season. Fortunately, the team isn't playing that way now.