Nick Fruscello: Hey everyone, welcome to Fantasy Friday! Tonight is Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals between our Pittsburgh Penguins and a team that embodies everything that is wrong with hockey, the Flyers. The forces of good should prevail in this one, however the Flyers are just a couple well placed Scott Hartnell slashes away from being able to turn the tables. A few months ago a Flyers fan crashed this chat and tried to do a little trash talking. I encourgage more Flyer fans to do the same. Nothing would make this chat more fun than to put a delusional Flyers fan in his place. Until then, we have some fantasy baseball questions and a few hockey ones.

malkin71: I don't know about you, but I can't wait till tonight. Its going to be great!!

Nick Fruscello: I'm pretty excited and you're right it'll be great, if you're a Pens fan.

malkin71: Max Talbot wants to come back, but that means they'd have to scratch Gary Roberts. Who's more important here? A gimpy checker or a guy that could single handedly kill the entire Flyers team?

Nick Fruscello: Talbot is an important role player that is pretty good on the PK, but I wouldn't take him over Scary Gary. This is going to be a very physical series and putting a guy like Roberts on the bench is unthinkable. Having said that, who can you scratch? Everybody can't play. Adam Hall has proven to be a very valuable role player in the last series.

malkin71: Is this a tougher test than the Rangers or Ottawa? In my opinion, the Sens and Rangers are better teams than the Flyers.

Nick Fruscello: Sens, no. Rangers, yes. The Senators have been struggling since January and the playoffs just put them out of their misery. The Rangers went into the playoffs hot, took out a tough Devils team and gave the Pens a tough 5 game series. The Flyers played the wimpy-never fight back Crapitals and the overrated Montreal Canadiens. This is the Flyers first true test and they're going to fail miserably. Remember, this is a team that lost 10 straight games at one point this season. This same team is going to the Finals?

malkin71: Who's the playoff MVP at the halfway point of the playoffs?

Nick Fruscello: Right now, its Johan Franzen of the Red Wings. 11 goals in the first 10 games of the playoffs and he got another last night. He is absolutely on fire and if the Wings win the Cup and he doesn't get the Conn Smythe, they should just stop giving out the award altogether. Malkin is a close second.

BronxBombers: I've pretty much had it with Kerry Wood. Is there any hope for him?

Nick Fruscello: I had high hopes for Wood coming into the season and heard a lot of great things from spring training, but he's not panning out right now. 16 K's and 3 walks is good, but a 4.24 ERA but 3 blown saves and its only May is scary. He's either lights out or getting lit up. Not what you want in a closer. You may want to pick up Cubs setup man, Carlos Marmol. He has been amazing thus far and will at some point be the Cubs closer either due to the inevitable Wood injury or because of his ineffectiveness.

BronxBombers: Greg Smith of Oakland or Daniel Cabrera of Baltimore? Which will be better?

Nick Fruscello: Its funny you bring this up, I watched him pitch a little bit last night and the parts I saw, his stuff was electric. 7 K's, 1 ER and a complete game. Everyone has always said, "if this kid could get better control, he'll be a monster." Well I think he's started to get that control. He's given up less than 3 runs in 5 of his last 6 starts and is getting around 5-7 K's per game. If you're feeling a little risky, go for it. The reward far outweighs the risk.

Pens_fan: Who do you think will be the MVP in this series between the Pens and Flyers, Malkin or Fleury?

Nick Fruscello: Neither. Crosby has OWNED the Flyers in the past and this series will be no different. Sid has 2 goals and 5 assists in 4 games this season and had 7 goals and 9 assists in 8 games against them last year. If the Flyers had a way to stop Crosby, they would've used it by now.

Pens_fan: I heard that Roberts got hurt alittle bit at practice yesterday, and I really don't think Talbot is ready to come back with that broken foot, so then who do we use?

Nick Fruscello: Roberts will be fine. Half of his body consists of metal already, so he should be good to go tonight. If for some reason, he can't play tonight (stuck in traffic, alarm doesn't go off, etc) I imagine Jeff Taffe would be the man to take the empty spot. His hatred for the Flyers goes back to his Baby Penguins day when they played the Philadelphia Phantoms. He won't need to get up to speed on this rivalry.

BronxBombers: Xavier Nady is ranked 10th overall in the Y! game. He's a very tempting pickup. What if he is the real deal??

Nick Fruscello: Trust me, Xavier Nady is NOT the real deal. He is having a pretty good start to the season, but this is just a flash in the pan. Do not, I repeat, do NOT drop someone that has proven to be a solid producer over the years, for this hot bat or you will be regretting it in September.

Pens_fan: Am I the only one in Pgh, that doesn't like the chemistry between Crosby and Hossa? I want Sid to score and Hossa should have about 10 goals if he could have found the net that was right in front of him

Nick Fruscello: Yes. Yes you are. Seriously, Crosby and Hossa haven't really had time to gel together as a unit so they're still getting used to each other, but so far they're playing pretty well together. Crosby is tied for second in points in the NHL playoffs his year and Hossa scored 3 goals in 5 games against the Rangers including the big OT winner in Game 5. The fact that these two haven't always been on the same page and are still producing numbers like this is scary.

BronxBombers: I dropped Todd Helton for Matt Kemp. What do you think of that move?

Nick Fruscello: I like it. Helton is getting hits, but not HR's or RBI's or anything. Just hits. Kemp is getting hits and getting big hits. He is a great contact hitter, he's hit over 300 in his last two seasons and he's getting more and more at bats and keeps producing. He's a star on the rise while Helton is on the decline.

malkin71: Who do the Pens need to lookout for in this series?

Nick Fruscello: Its tough to say. Richards, Carter and Briere are their three top scorers but none of them have really had a whole lot of success against the Penguins this year. Honestly, they need to watch out for Scott Hartnell. The last time these two teams met in Pittsburgh, Hartnell was taking a lot of cheap shots at our top players and this needs to be addressed early in this series.

Nick Fruscello: A bit of a slow day with the Penguins rally going on right now, but still some good questions. Enjoy the bloodbath that will be the Pens-Flyers series and see you next week!