In a fight more one-sided than many expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins handily defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in the first game of the series, 4-1.

Pittsburgh dominated on defense this game and controlled the physical game with their star forwards. Though there were only 26 shots against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, he only let one by him during a powerplay and he contributed to the anxiety of the clearly frustrated Flyers team. Forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin both scored for the Penguins as well and the team had the early edge when they scored on a powerplay goal in the first period.

Unless Philadelphia changes things around, they will likely not get past game four. They need to be more aggressive than they were today and physically pound through the defensive unit that will likely continue to play against them until they stop them. If they cannot stop the Penguins defense, they must create their own defense to counter it and reduce costly turnovers in the neutral zone. The team's playmakers like Simon Gagne need to step it up in the next game.