As a long-time Penguins fan, writing the summary for yesterday’s Game 6 loss to the Flyers was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. It was somewhat akin to writing an obituary for a dear friend who suddenly had passed away.

Watching the game was even more painful. With dreams of a dramatic comeback from an 0-3 series deficit dancing in their heads, the Penguins never got untracked. Indeed, the enduring image from Sunday’s defeat occurred five seconds in, when Philly superstar Claude Giroux deposited our captain, Sidney Crosby, on his wallet. That pretty much summed up the whole game—if not the entire series—in a nutshell.

Give Philadelphia credit. While the Pens appeared to be skating in mud, the Flyers played with purpose and fire. They scored early. They capitalized on the power play. They forechecked hard. They protected their goalie to the tune of 40 blocked shots. When Evgeni Malkin scored a potential momentum-changing goal, they immediately countered to take the wind out of our sails. In short, Philly did all the right things.

The Flyers also got big-time performances from their best players. Giroux, who had a fabulous series (14 points), scored the game-opening goal and assisted on two others. Philly’s leading regular-season goal getter, Scott Hartnell, notched the game-winner by diving into the crease on his belly and poking the puck home. Maybe it was goaltender interference and maybe it wasn’t. Either way, Hartnell displayed a ton of passion.

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