The anticipation of the “Keystone Clash” as Comcast SportsNet is calling it was dulled Thursday night by the news of Kimmo Timonen’s blood clot in his left ankle, but the Flyers and Penguins faced off Friday night to put an end to the speculation and finally drop the puck on the Eastern Conference Finals. The physical battle that will surely preview the rest of this war was won by the Penguins They have the 1-0 series lead after a 4-2 victory Friday night.

Especially with the absence of Timonen on the Flyers blue line, this series was thought to be a big offensive war, and they proved it early with a combined five goals in the first period. Petr Sykora struck first at 6:19 with the assists coming from Ryan Malone, and clearly the Penguins best player, Evgeni Malkin. Not long thereafter, Mike Richards evened it up at one apiece when he banked the puck off the chest of Marc-Andre Fleury for a nifty goal and the equalizer for the time being. Richards struck again ramming home the sixth or seventh rebound that resulted from a big scrum in front of the Penguins net at 12:50. The Penguins captain would answer the Flyers tallies with a goal of his own at 14:11 as he very smartly played the rebound that resulted from a rare Biron mistake as he vacated the net trying to play the puck. Crysb Crosby put the puck in between the legs of Marty Biron to tie the game again. Despite having the better period period, the Flyers struggled once again to get the puck out of their zone in the final moments. With merely 6.5 seconds to go in the first period Malkin wristed the puck behind Biron. The Flyers were flat footed in their own zone to end the period for a change.

In the second, it appeared that perhaps the officiating would not be as bad as many Philadelphia faithful expected. Brooks Orpik absolutely laid out Scott Hartnell in what looked like a very good and clean check, but the call was holding on Orpik who got a hold of Hartnell until he was ready to upend him. On the Flyers power play, the puck was in the Flyers end far too much, as they were unable to get anything set up. To refute the Hartnell check, Mike Richards laid out Evgeni Malkin with just as big of a shove into the boards. Malkin lay down on the ice in a Crosby like fashion but eventually was able to regain his footing to receive a home run pass from Sergei Gonchar. Malkin then wound up from 15 feet away with a slap-shot that beat Biron. There was no Flyer to be found to stop Malkin’s breakaway chance. That was the only goal of the second stanza. The majority of the period was spent head hunting as there was only a combined 13 shots in the period.

The Flyers had to come out desperate to start the last period of the game. They didn’t have the sense of urgency they needed to make a comeback. There was more of the pace of the second period with the attempt more focused on trying to win the physical battles, something that was pretty even all game. The Penguins were happy to dump and chase against the Flyers who rarely got offensive pressure. They didn’t have as many turnovers in the third, something that foiled them in the first two periods, but they weren’t able to both improve defensively and offensively. They looked rather dead in the final period.

Surprisingly, there were only four penalties in the game. Even more surprisingly, there was only one against the Flyers. There were multiple opportunities for the orange and black to be shorthanded for actual rule infractions, something that was not necessarily the case in the first two rounds. The Flyers were unable to capitalize on their opportunities however, going 0 for 3 on the man advantage. Their power play really never got a chance to set up and looked more like the terrible power play unit they had in the horrendous 2006-07 season.

The Flyers clearly didn’t show up tonight and lost by two in a half-hearted effort. If the Flyers can come back with a better effort throughout the rest of this series the game will have a much different tempo, and we will see a much more competitive Finals match-up. The Flyers have now lost game one of each of their three series and allowed four goals each time.

Dave’s 3 Stars of the Game

1. Evgeni Malkin - 2 goals, 1 assist
2. Mike Richards - 2 goals, 6 hits
3. Marian Hossa - 1 assist, +2

Photo courtesy: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images