PHILADELPHIA -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are the first team since the Dallas Stars in 2000-01 to lose in the Stanley Cup finals and then win at least one playoff round the next playoff year. The Stars lost to New Jersey in the 2000 Cup finals and then beat Edmonton in the first round in 2001 before losing to St. Louis in the Western Conference semifinals.
Not all bad for Flyers
One of the positives coming out of this series for the Flyers was the play of rookie Claude Giroux of Hearst, Ontario (hometown of our ESPN.com teammate Pierre LeBrun!). Giroux tied for the team lead with the five points, including a terrific cross-ice feed to Joffrey Lupul for the Flyers' second goal in Saturday's Game 6. He also hit the crossbar when the score was 4-3 Pittsburgh in the third period.
Where's the Hart?
Whether it was a potential dark omen or not, Flyers anthem singer Lauren Hart was not on hand to perform "God Bless America" for the first time in eight seasons. Hart and her husband Todd Carmichael are headed to Ethiopia, where they will be adopting their first child. The Flyers used a video of Hart singing the song along with vintage footage of Kate Smith to launch Game 6.
The dreaded 3-1 hole
The Flyers have never erased a 3-1 series deficit to win a series. The last time they forced a seventh and deciding game was in the 1987 Stanley Cup finals against Edmonton. They have managed once in 13 tries to come back from a 3-2 series deficit to win a series, that against Pittsburgh in the 1989 Patrick Division finals. Strangely, the Flyers have managed to force a seventh game five times in those 13 situations.
Check out what NHL writers Scott Burnside, E.J. Hradek and Pierre LeBrun and other members of ESPN.com's team have to say as they cover the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. They'll be checking in from various sites all the way through the Cup finals.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
