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PHILADELPHIA — Sidney Crosby was both defiant and brutally honest. It was all a result of his frustrations.

While admitting he has no explanation for how Pittsburgh has given up 16 goals in the past two games and 20 in the three against Philadelphia in the much-anticipated Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series between the in-state rivals, Crosby refused to give the Flyers credit for getting under the Penguins’ skin even though it certainly appears to be the case — and one of the reasons why Crosby’s team is in a 0-3 hole heading into Game 4 Wednesday.

“You know, there is more than one team getting in those things so you can make a story all you want about us getting frustrated,” Crosby said after his team absorbed an 8-4 loss Sunday at Wells Fargo Center. “We are playing playoff hockey and they are doing the same things we are. It’s intense and you can say that we got frustrated, but we didn’t.

“We took some penalties, didn’t kill them and got within one and didn’t get back in the game. We know what we have to do, we just need to do it more consistently. Everyone knows the way we need to play and no one is in here pointing fingers.”

Crosby, though, did touch on the dislike his team — and he personally — feels toward the Flyers.

“I don’t like any guy on their team,” he said.

He said that’s why he used his stick to push Jakub Voracek’s glove away from the Flyers forward was bending down to pick it up midway through the first period. That little move set off a wild melee 12:02 into the first period that ended with Crosby and Claude Giroux in the box with fighting majors and Kimmo Timonen and Kris Letang in the dressing room with game misconducts after they engaged in a fight of their own.

“It was near me and he went to pick it up and I pushed it,” Crosby said.

When it was suggested to Crosby that he could have skated away, he scoffed.

“Skate away?” Crosby asked rhetorically. “Oh, well I didn’t that time.

“I don’t have to sit here and explain why I pushed a glove away,” he added. “They are doing a lot of things out there, too. You know what, we don’t like each other. Was I going to sit there and pick up his glove? What was I supposed to do?”

Crosby said he liked the way the Penguins played once the second period started, but his big regret is that they couldn’t get to the second intermission down by just one goal.

Each time the Penguins did cut the deficit down to one, they committed a penalty and Philadelphia cashed in with a power-play goal. It was 6-4 after the second period.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma turned to backup Brent Johnson to start the third, but Giroux scored 27 seconds into the period to extend the lead to three.

“We just weren’t able to get through that second, staying within one,” Crosby said. “That’s really what it came down to. I mean there are all these little things that happen within a game and you can analyze them all you want. The fact is we were within one in the second period and didn’t find a way to tie it up.

“But, I don’t think we need to sit here and analyze it. It is the playoffs and there are a lot of things that happened on both sides. Everyone is guilty of it; no one is blaming anyone here. It’s heated out there and that’s what the playoffs are like.”

The Penguins could be out of the playoffs Wednesday, when Game 4 will be contested at the Wells Fargo Center.

Crosby wouldn’t even entertain that possibility.

“You gotta win one,” he said. “It’s plain and simple. You can’t win all four at once. You gotta win one and I think you know no one is showing any signs of giving up in here.”

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter: @drosennhl

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Crosby remains defiant after Game 3.

DETROIT – If it isn’t already on every team’s scouting report about the Detroit Red Wings, it probably should be.

In fact, it should have a permanent residence atop those reports and read something like this: “Whatever you do, by all means … don’t kick the ‘Mule.’ “

That’s because the “Mule” is the enigmatic Johan Franzen, who makes a habit of making opponents pay for perceived slights – and not just physically. The 6-foot-3, 223-pound forward occasionally strikes back with hard hits of his own, but he’s just as prone to score goals in bunches and transform himself into the best player on the ice with the flip of a switch.

“He takes it up to another level,” Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said of his fellow Swede. “He got the nickname for a reason. He’s a stubborn guy and he’s not going to give up. He’s very hard to play against.”

He’s also a guy with a history that suggests it’s probably not a good idea to agitate him. Franzen has several memorable Stanley Cup Playoff appearances to draw from and is learning when and where to pick his spots for physical responses.

In other words, when the “Mule” is angry he can be a real bear – which is what the Nashville Predators are apparently facing going into Sunday’s Game 3 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series at Joe Louis Arena (12 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).

Franzen and his teammates took exception to Henrik Zetterberg’s head being rammed into the glass by Shea Weber after the horn sounded to end Game 1 and had a couple of his own altercations with Mike Fisher – who he accused of throwing an elbow to his face early in Game 2. Franzen was still fuming about it on Saturday when reporters asked him if he thought Nashville was simply trying to draw retaliation penalties out of him.

“Hitting me?” Franzen asked. “As long as they don’t call it, I would do the same. If I could throw an elbow at someone’s nose, I would probably do it too. I don’t know why they’re not calling anything, but you know, it’s getting a little old right now. I guess you’ve got to go down and scream loud to get penalties. I don’t know.”

While sounding off on calls or non-calls in the series, it was clear that Franzen ultimately wants his retribution on the scoreboard – not necessarily by fighting fire with fire, which could result in a costly penalty.

“I usually do something back,” Franzen said of on-ice incidents. “If you get an elbow in the nose, you’re not too happy about it and you’re going to try and get the other guy. If the ref only sees what I do and not what they do, it’s going to get called.”

Hitting, however, is something he relishes.

“Oh yeah, I like that,” said Franzen, who delivered a pair of hits in Game 2 and scored the eventual game-winning goal by having a shot deflect off his knee and into the net. “I like the physical part of the game, either throwing a hit or getting one. That usually fires you up a little bit. I like that part of playoff hockey.”

It’s just that for some reason or another, that part of his game fades sometimes for lengthy stretches during the course of a full season. And yet, he’s still led the Red Wings in goals the past two seasons – finishing this one with 29 goals and 27 assists.

It’s in the playoffs, however, where Franzen has made his biggest impact – thanks to a couple of hot stretches that saw him score goals in bunches. Franzen scored 13 goals in the 2008 playoffs, which ended with Detroit’s most recent Stanley Cup victory, and he followed it with 12 more in 2009, when the Wings came within one goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final from repeating as champions.

After seven NHL seasons of watching his intensity level increase every year in April, Franzen’s teammates have come to realize there’s basically two versions of him – the regular-season Franzen and the playoff edition.

“I think something that he really relishes are big games,” said Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who’s gotten to know Franzen, a fellow Swede, pretty well. “That’s something that he’s been doing so well for us, ever since he got here. Any time the game is on the line, you want the ‘Mule’ to have the puck.”

Lidstrom agreed. The legendary 41-year old Red Wings captain did notice a big uptick in Franzen’s intensity after the hit by Fisher in Game 2, but said that kind of thing isn’t a requirement to get Franzen’s best.

“He takes it up to another level. He got the nickname for a reason. He’s a stubborn guy and he’s not going to give up. He’s very hard to play against” - Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom on teammate Johan Franzen

“I think it’s just a matter of lifting his game to another level once the playoffs come around,” Lidstrom said. “I don’t know if you have to do something to get him going. I just think it’s playoff hockey that brings the best out of him.”

That’s good, because Nashville doesn’t plan to ease up on Franzen or any of the Red Wings from the physical aspect. As fellow members of the highly-competitive Central Division, the Preds have played Detroit quite a bit and know all about No. 93-s streaky play – both hot and cold.

It should be noted, however, that Franzen’s mood or intensity level doesn’t seem to factor into Nashville’s overall game plan in this series.

“In the playoffs, there’s no ordinary players and no ordinary situations,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said Saturday evening. “You’ve just got to play everybody hard, whether it’s Franzen or [Gustav Nyquist] or anyone in their lineup. You’ve got to play them all hard, because they can all hurt you. You’ve seen in this series already, the third and fourth lines have contributed as much as the top guys on both teams.”

While that’s true, Franzen already has one game-winning goal in the first two games of the series and has shown in the past that he’s got the ability to impact a series in a big way. When he’s hot, not many opponents can keep him from going wherever he wants on the ice – with our without the puck. When he’s cold, the opposite appears to happen.

“He was physical [in Game 2] and I think anytime he’s involved physically he’s a better player,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He has the ability to be a big-time player and being a big-time player at this time of year is real simple.”

The formula?

“A lot of guys have regular-season success and can’t have any in the playoffs, just because they’re not gritty enough and determined enough,” Babcock continued. “They need more space and when there’s no space you’ve got to make your own space. You’ve got to dig in and find a way to do that, so [Franzen] has the tool set and he’s always found a way to do that and we need him to do that again this year.”

It’s exactly how he’s has playoff success in the past … and this year, if the Predators’ physical style kick-starts Franzen’s game to a high level again, the Red Wings will be real pleased.

“This is his time of year,” Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader said. “He’s always been a big-time playoff performer. He’s a big body. That’s what you need in the playoffs, [a] big body that can really shoot the puck and create havoc. He definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s an emotional guy.’

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Wings’ ‘Mule’ ready to kick in Game 3.

VOORHEES, N.J. — Flyers center Claude Giroux was happy his team emerged from Game 1 of its Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-3 overtime win, but on a personal level, he wasn’t particularly happy with how he played.

He had one shot in 20:37 of ice time and won 11 of 17 faceoffs, but it wasn’t enough.

“I know he was mad after the first game for I guess not chipping in offensively,” Danny Briere told NHL.com. “Basically, I told him we’re a team. It’s not just about one guy … I’m sure you’ll be there when it matters.”

It mattered Saturday in Game 2, and Giroux was there in a huge way in the Flyers’ 8-5 victory that gave them a 2-0 series edge heading into Game 3 back in Philadelphia on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, TSN).

In 22:30 of ice time, he had three goals, three assists, a plus-4 rating, a game-high 10 shots on goal and won 15 faceoffs. The six points were the most ever scored by a Flyer in a single playoff game.

“I think I could have been better in Game 1,” Giroux said. “I just kind of pushed myself to do better in Game 2. Obviously it was a weird game in Game 2. But to get the job done altogether was fun.”

If winning in the playoffs is about having the best players be the best players, then Giroux showed why he’s the Flyers’ best player.

“He was phenomenal from start to finish [Friday],” coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think that’s what we’ve grown accustomed to here from last year to this year, the regular season and now in the playoffs. He’s ready when the puck drops. He played 60 minutes and gave his all. He was talented and resilient — a tremendous combination.”

The game Friday wasn’t the first time Giroux has raised his level of play. Like many great players, the postseason always has seemed to bring out the best in Giroux.

As a rookie in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he led the Flyers with five points in six games in a first-round loss to the Penguins. The following year, he was second on the team with 10 goals and third with 21 points in 23 games to help Philadelphia advance to the Stanley Cup Final, and last season he had 11 assists and 12 points in 12 games to again lead the team in scoring.

He’s averaged 1.05 points per game in 44 playoff games, compared to 0.85 points per game in 285 regular-season games.

“He’s got a knack for being there when it matters most,” Briere said. “That’s not something you can teach. You have it or you don’t. There’s guys that score a lot when games are out of hand or they don’t mean much. He always seems to score the big goals or make the big plays when it matters most.”

He certainly did that in Game 2. His shorthanded rush in the first period led to Maxime Talbot’s goal to get the Flyers within 2-1, and then he scored twice in the first 11:04 of the second period to pull the Flyers even at 3-3. And with 9:13 left in the third, he started the play that led to Jaromir Jagr’s game-winning goal.

Big plays at big moments have become a hallmark of Giroux’s short career. After all-stars Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were traded during the offseason, it fell to Giroux to become the team’s lynchpin. He was third in the League with 93 points, but just as impressive were his 11 goals and 37 assists in 33 games following a Flyers loss. It’s a big reason Philadelphia went 26-6-2 during the regular season in games following a loss, and why they went winless in consecutive games just seven times all season, and three straight only once (Feb. 4-7).

“That’s what it’s all about, to step up in the right moment,” Jakub Voracek said. “I can tell that he’s even more dangerous than he was in the regular season. He wants it so bad — you can tell.”

Giroux said he’s embraced the increased responsibilities he inherited when Richards and Carter departed. He not only centers the first line, but is on the first power-play and penalty-kill units. And when the team needs a goal or needs a lead defended in the final minute of game, he’s the first one over the boards.

“Coaches put a lot of responsibilities [on me],” he said. “I play a lot of minutes and I got to make sure I’m responsible offensively and defensively. … At the same time I want to be the go-to guy, I want to be a guy the coaches trust to put on the ice at the end of every game or at the start of the game. I think anybody that plays hockey wants to be like that. Obviously with that comes a lot of responsibility, but it’s something I look forward to.”

His work ethic has rubbed off on his teammates.

“He works really, really hard,” said Wayne Simmonds. “He leads by example. All the boys can just follow him.”

Brayden Schenn said he’s been watching Giroux closely all season. Both were first-round draft picks who arrived in the NHL at age 20.

“He came up kind of the same way [as I did] as a 20 year old and got better year by year, now he’s a star in the NHL,” he said, “and you can learn from a player like that on and off the ice. I hung around him a lot this year and learned a lot from him.”

Laviolette said he hopes Schenn isn’t the only player watching and learning from Giroux.

“It’s hard not to watch him and see what he does on the ice and be inspired by that,” he said.

Contact Adam Kimelman at akimelman@nhl.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Giroux continues playoff, big game excellence.

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more college football news see: Nebraska to turn spring game over to young players.

HAZELWOOD, Mo. - The St. Louis Blues showed up Friday morning ready, eager and willing to be better than they were on Thursday night.

Even though there were good portions of a 3-2 double-overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals, the Blues came in with the type of attitude after a tough loss that a coach wanted to see.

But with every loss at this time of year comes adjustments, and coach Ken Hitchcock said to expect them from the Blues.

He just wouldn’t name any.

“It’s our turn to make adjustments. We’ve got to make adjustments,” Hitchcock said. “Any time you lose, you don’t want to stand and live on the just-abouts, so we’re going to have to make some adjustments.

“For whatever reason, our best period was the first overtime. That was our chance. We really played well. I thought they played a little better than we did in the third even though we got the two goals, but I thought we really played well in the first overtime. Obviously the second one didn’t last very long.”

And with that, the Blues were in no mood to pat themselves on the back. There were video sessions and players willing to listen to what the coaches had in store, including what changes will be made.

“We’re in the playoffs now. It’s results-oriented,” said Blues captain David Backes, who was held without a shot in 24:53 of ice time. “We just need to be better. Portions of the game, we really controlled it, and portions of it, they controlled us. We’ve got to make sure that we sway those scales in our favor. If we do that, we’re a dangerous team. When we don’t, we leave it up to coin-flip type opportunities. Two overtimes … it was there. We could have won that game, but a little bit more was needed.”

In the first overtime, when the Blues outshot the Sharks 14-8, there were a number of quality opportunities to beat Antti Niemi, but the Sharks netminder was up to the task. What the Blues needed was more time like they had in the first extra session.

“You have to take away the positives and you’ve got to look at the negatives and find ways to even get better,” Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “It’s never going to be a perfect game. If it was, you’d win every game.

“We’re feeling pretty good in here still with the performance that we had. It’s not always going to take 60 minutes. It might take more. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end last night.”

So for a veteran coach like Hitchcock, his message was pretty simple.

“It’s more keeping them hungry,” Hitchcock said. “We’re hungry and we want more. We’re not living on the fact that we played well and lost. We want more. I think there’s a fine line at this level between being happy to be here and being happy to want more. We’re hungry, we want more. We think we can play better.

“I don’t put any stock until four games are won anymore. Oh-two, Boston wins [in the opening round last season against Montreal]. They’re facing closure three times. I don’t put any stock until the four games are over.”

But the Blues certainly don’t want to go out West to San Jose down 0-2.

“There should be urgency every game,” Blues veteran winger Jamie Langenbrunner said. “That must-win gets thrown out a lot in the playoffs, but you play every game as a must-win. You don’t want to give teams momentum, you don’t want to fall down games. You play every game that way. Our focus is going to be no different when it comes to that point of us wanting to win. It’s going to be what we’re willing to do in order to do that. I think maybe we learned a little lesson in playoff hockey and the desperation we’re going to need to play with.

“We need to be better. You win or lose in this League because you don’t do enough.”

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Blues seek a more complete effort in Game 2.

NEW YORK - Falling behind by four goals isn’t usually an indicator that a team had a chance for a victory in a Stanley Cup Playoff contest.

But that’s not how Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean sees it.

The Senators were trailing 1-0 midway through the second period against the top-seeded New York Rangers on Thursday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series at Madison Square Garden, but they were beginning to overwhelm the heavy favorites. The Rangers were hemmed in their own zone for two consecutive shifts, resulting in a timeout from coach John Tortorella to relax the troops — who were seeing the game start to slip away.

The Senators held a 22-12 shot advantage at that time, and only some terrific saves by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had kept Ottawa off the scoreboard.

After that stoppage, the Rangers took over, scoring three goals on their next four shots to roll to a 4-2 victory.

All in all, MacLean saw a lot of positives, uncharacteristic of a game that was virtually over with 17 minutes left in the third period.

“I think for us, we were pretty pleased with how the first period went,” MacLean said. “But for the last four, maybe five minutes of the second period is when we end up giving up a couple goals and (another) early in the third period. If you could take away those six minutes, we are pretty happy with how we played the game. We will build on the 54 minutes we played reasonably well and try to see what we can do to correct the six minutes we didn’t.”

It sounds a little crazy, but MacLean isn’t just trying to encourage his young team in what is the first postseason for many of them.

Goaltender Craig Anderson allowed four goals, but he was hung out to dry on three of them. Ryan Callahan opened the scoring for the Rangers in the first period, sweeping home a rebound while defenseman Filip Kuba wasn’t as physical in front of the net as he could’ve been.

Marian Gaborik made it 2-0 after a turnover by Senators defenseman Jared Cowen, an unchecked Brian Boyle snapped a wrist shot from the slot late in the second period to make it 3-0, and Brad Richards finished a pass from Carl Hagelin alone in front of the net to put the Rangers ahead 4-0 early in the third period.

It was only a six-minute flourish, but it was enough to drop the Senators into a 1-0 series hole.

“I thought it was a pretty even game,” center Jason Spezza said, “then we kind of got off our game plan for a little bit for a few minutes, and it’s 4-0. It’s building off what we tried to do here in the third period. I’m looking forward to the next game.”

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson cut the lead to 4-1 midway through the period, and forward Erik Condra gave the Senators a flicker of hope when he cut the lead to 4-2 with 2:19 left in regulation.

The problem for Ottawa was the turnovers that translated directly into Rangers goals.

“We lose the game so were not happy with it,” Spezza said. “But there’s things we can learn from it. I don’t know if you’d call them positives. There’s little lapses in our game that we can learn from.

“You can talk to guys about how the pace is going to be quicker, decisions are going to have to made quicker, but now we’ve been through it and guys are going to know what to expect in the next game. We didn’t anticipate this would be an easy series. There’s things to draw from.”

It was too little, too late in Game 1, but it could give the Senators some optimism heading into Game 2.

“We need to be better through the neutral zone to get more possession in their end,” defenseman Sergei Gonchar said. “It’s nice to get a couple of goals to make us feel a bit better, but we know we have to be better on Saturday. We get one day to regroup and get ready.”

Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter: @DaveLozo

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Senators find some positives in Game 1 loss.

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MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more MLS news see: Monday MLS Breakdown: Chris Wondolowski changes yet another game for San Jose (Goal.com).