Flyers Avoid Elimination With 4-2 Win
Posted on: Friday, 16 May 2008, 06:00 CDT
By Kevin Allen
PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins five times during the regular season, and Thursday night they finally recalled how they did it.
Unleashing a hard-checking, relentless skating attack, the Flyers scored three unanswered first-period goals and rode those to a 4-2 triumph that keeps them alive in the Eastern Conference finals.
Still trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Flyers will have to win Sunday in Pittsburgh (3 p.m. ET, NBC) to bring the series back to Philadelphia.
Philadelphia goalie Martin Biron played sharply in net, but Jordan Staal beat him twice in the third period to pull the Penguins within a goal.
Biron surrendered a goal to Staal at 3:16 of the period. Although Biron seemed to be hugging the post, Staal found a way to push the puck past him from the crease. Then he beat Biron from the slot with 5:49 left.
The Penguins produced a couple of other quality chances in the third, particularly when Ryan Malone sailed a one-timer just wide.
The Flyers had insisted that their best hope of climbing back into the series was a group effort, and that was accomplished during the first period, when eight different players had points on the three goals.
Forward Joffrey Lupul put Philadelphia in front 1-0 at 8:27 when he cranked a shot that struck 6-7 defenseman Hal Gill and ricocheted past Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
A little more three minutes later, Philadelphia's leading scorer, Daniel Briere, netted his first goal of the series on the power play to make it 2-0. And at 18:50 the Flyers added a second power-play goal when Jeff Carter pushed the puck past Fleury.
Lupul scored an empty-netter with 32.3 seconds left.
Philadelphia winger Scott Hartnell had a strong game, particularly in the first 40 minutes when he had two assists, three hits and three shots on goal.
This was only the second loss of the playoffs for the Penguins, who have claimed a 3-0 series lead on every playoff opponent this spring.
The Flyers could have had a bigger 40-minute lead if not for some nifty saves by Fleury, including a stacked-pads effort to thwart Briere's attempt to score his second goal of the game. Philadelphia's Mike Richards also shot a breakaway attempt just wide of the net in the first period.
Source: USA TODAY
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