Giroux Gets Flyers Past Penguins

Claude Giroux wrapped up a dominant series with his sixth goal, Ilya Bryzgalov had his first outstanding effort in net and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Sunday to win their Eastern Conference opening-round series in six games.

Giroux scored only 32 seconds into the game, and the Flyers rolled from there. In a series where no lead was safe, the Flyers scored the first three goals and made it stand behind stout defense and stellar play out of Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov allowed 20 goals in the first five games. He settled down in Game 6 and gave up only Evgeni Malkin's goal in the second period.

The Flyers had stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before Pittsburgh won two straight. Philadelphia finished off the 108-point Penguins and wait to find out who they play in the next round.

A day before Game 6, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell called out his defense and Bryzgalov and said it was their turn to win a game.

They delivered.

Bryzgalov was at last the shutdown goalie the Flyers expected when they gave him $51 million to steady one of Philadelphia's weak links. He outplayed Marc-Andre Fleury and helped the Flyers advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season.

Fleury had seemingly pulled together after some awful efforts in Games 2 and 3. He steadied the Penguins in a Game 5 victory and had the Penguins feeling confident about sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 7.

So much for that.

Moments after Giroux levelled Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, he took the loose puck and fired from the circle for a 1-0 lead. He gestured toward the crowd and slammed the glass in celebration, firing up 20,000 fans that hadn't had much to cheer about the last two games.

It was Philadelphia's first even-strength goal since Giroux scored one 27 seconds into the third period of Game 3.

The team that scored first had lost the first five games of the series. For once, the Flyers piled on.

The Flyers made it 2-0 on the second bad goal allowed by Fleury. He had seemingly stopped the puck and had it covered it up, but Hartnell poked it free and jammed it into the net for a 2-0 lead and Philadelphia's 12th power-play goal of the series.

From there, Flyers fans started their derisive chants of "Fleur-rrrrry! Fleur-rrrrry!"

He was rattled more by the Flyers in the second period than the crowd noise.

Erik Gustafsson was all alone when he fired an uncontested shot from just above the circle for a 3-0 lead.

Gustafsson scored one goal all season. The Flyers put his face on the big screen as he sat on the bench, and the crowd erupted and gave him a standing ovation. Gustafsson cracked a small smile when he looked up at the video board and realised those screaming fans were all for him.

The 3-0 lead looked shaky for a moment when Malkin scored his third of the series to make it 3-1. The Penguins scored 19 goals over Games 2-4 and certainly had the firepower to rally one more time.

The Flyers silenced them 34 seconds later when Danny Briere's shot trickled between Fleury's sprawled legs for his fifth goal of the series and a 4-1 lead.Brayden Schenn added an empty-netter in the final seconds.

Flyers fans chanted "We don't like you!" in the waning moments, a poke at Crosby's comments that he didn't like anyone on the Flyers.

The Penguins were the odds-on favourite to win the Stanley Cup and could find the early elimination leads to sweeping changes on the roster.

The testy series concluded with a peaceful handshake line -- and the Flyers having several days of rest before the next round begins.

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Fleury Restores Penguins Stanley Hopes

Marc-Andre Fleury restored his team's Stanley Cup hopes.

Fleury turned aside 24 shots -- a dozen in a frantic third period -- and the Penguins fended off elimination with a 3-2 comeback victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

"He won them the game, plain and simple," Philadelphia forward Scott Hartnell said.

Facing elimination, Fleury had no choice. The Flyers spent the game's final 15 minutes doing everything they could to rattle him, bowling him over on more than one occasion and forcing him to make stops with one or two players draped around his white pads.

Yet after four wild games in which his goals-against average and his confidence took a beating, Fleury stood tall to trim Philadelphia's lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

"(Fleury) was on and he made some huge ones," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. "It definitely was the difference in the game. It's the time of year when you need those and he came up big for us."

Steve Sullivan, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy scored for Pittsburgh, which won on a night stars Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held pointless. The Penguins dug in, however, after another shaky start to keep their hopes alive of becoming the fourth team in NHL history to rally from a three-game deficit.

"Our defense made hard and good plays," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "We finally got what looks like a playoff game a little bit more tonight."

It was a welcome change for the Penguins, who have struggled to keep up with the Flyers during a series more suited to a video game than the Stanley Cup. The teams combined for a record 45 goals in the first four games. The goal light -- which malfunctioned briefly in the third period -- only came on five times Friday as the wide open sheets of ice that marked the first week of the series suddenly disappeared.

"The pace was still fast and furious," Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was physical ... we just couldn't get it in the back of the net as often. We had opportunities. We had good looks at it. Their goaltender made big saves at the end."

Hartnell and Matt Carle scored power-play goals in the first period for Philadelphia, but the Flyers failed to close out Pittsburgh for the second consecutive game. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 20 shots, playing much steadier two days after getting yanked in the second period of a 10-3 loss in Game 4.

Staal had a hat trick in the rout, but his goal Friday might have been more important. The Flyers had the lead and momentum when Staal beat Bryzgalov over the glove 6:15 into the second period to tie it and give the Penguins an energy boost in front of the largest crowd in the Consol Energy Center's brief history.

Kennedy put Pittsburgh in front to stay just more than 3 minutes later, ripping a slap shot past Bryzgalov for his third goal of the playoffs.

And for once, a one-goal advantage in this unpredictable series was enough.

Fleury, who came in with an unsightly 5.43 goals-against average and an .817 save percentage overcame four games of shabby play with 20 brilliant minutes in the third period.

He made seven saves alone during a Philadelphia power play early in the third period to give Pittsburgh's maligned special teams a break, one they needed after the Flyers pumped in two goals with the man advantage in the first.

Carle scored his first goal of the postseason from the point with 2 seconds left on a power play to put the Flyers up 1-0 just more than 8 minutes into the game.

Going ahead early has been a dubious honour in this series. The team that scored first has gone on to lose every time. And in typical fashion, it didn't take the Penguins long to respond.

Sullivan saved a sloppy Pittsburgh power play -- including one sequence in which Crosby and Malkin slammed into each other -- by tapping in a pass from Kris Letang to tie it.

The Penguins, however, failed to play with the composure that highlighted the final two periods of Game 4. Malkin and Craig Adams went to the box with penalties, and Hartnell scored on the ensuing 5 on 3.

On the brink of having a season with Stanley Cup hopes come to a stunningly quick end, however, the Penguins responded by ditching flashy play for more basic, responsible hockey.

It was enough to send the series back to Philadelphia, where the pressure will be squarely on the Flyers, who are hoping to avoid the same fate as the 2010 Boston Bruins.

Philadelphia lost the first three games of its Eastern Conference semifinal series only to roar back and win on its way to an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. The Flyers know the Penguins are brimming with confidence. They're hardly worried even though they haven't scored an even strength goal since the third period of Game 3.

"We've got to find a way to get that fourth one," Philadelphia forward Claude Giroux said. "It's probably the hardest game to win. We've just got to get it done."

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Penguins Puck Flyers 10-3

Sydney Crosby and the Penguins dished out the kind of punishment they can only hope swings the series back their way.

Pushed to the brink of a sweep, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal pushed back with a vengeance, helping Pittsburgh score nine goals in the first two periods of a 10-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in their opening-round playoff series.

"We've given ourselves a chance to get back to Pittsburgh," Crosby said. "And that's all we wanted out of this game."

Staal had a hat trick, Malkin scored his first two goals of the series and Crosby added one to help the Penguins cut the series deficit to 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Pittsburgh.

Marc-Andre Fleury settled down after a shaky first period and had his best game of the series, easily outplaying counterpart Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Flyers led 3-2 when the Penguins reeled off eight straight goals to win the most lopsided game of the series.

"I just want to keep this playoff going," Staal said. "And it was a big game from a lot of guys in the room tonight."

Claude Giroux, Kimmo Timonen and Jakub Voracek all scored for the Flyers, who blew their chance at a stunning sweep of the 108-point Penguins. Bryzgalov, shaky all series, was at his worst in Game 4. He was yanked for Sergei Bobrovsky after allowing his fifth goal of the game.

"We're going to find out what kind of team we are, how we are built," Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr said. "If we are the team like we think we are, we're going to have to respond the next game."

After the team brawled to 158 penalty minutes in Game 3, the nastiness in the series spilled off the ice when Crosby said he didn't like any of the Flyers. So, the Flyers whipped up orange T-shirts for the game that read, "Guess What? We Don't Like YOU Either!"

The tabloid Daily News photoshopped Crosby's head on a lion with the headline, "The Cowardly Penguin: Time to Finish Off Sniveling Sidney." One Philadelphia restaurant stuck a sign in its window that read: Crosby: (n). a) a baby penguin. b) slang term for extremely weak.

It was Pittsburgh's captain that got to savour the moment in Philadelphia, though.

"It's not the first time I've seen something like that," Crosby said. "Probably not surprised it was here that it came out."

The Penguins were the first team to score at least 10 goals in a playoff game since the Los Angeles Kings scored 12 against the Calgary Flames on April 10, 1990, according to STATS LLC.

There's little chance of a goalie controversy in Philadelphia. After earning huge cheers for stopping his first shot, Bobrovsky was worse than Bryzgalov, allowing four goals the rest of the second period.

"At that point, Bryz needed to come out," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Generally speaking, we all need to be better at what we do. But he needed to come out of that situation. So, I changed it up, tried to shake the tree a little bit."

Fleury made it stand the rest of the way and started to make up for a miserable first three games that saw him allow 17 goals.

Then again, Pittsburgh's offense was so potent, not even Fleury could blow this one. He stopped all 14 shots over the final two periods.

Long despised in Philadelphia, Crosby scored his second goal of the series on a deflection that tied the game at 3-all in the first. Staal followed with a goal from the slot for a 4-3 lead and the Penguins never looked back.

The Penguins were short-handed in their last-gasp effort at trying to stave off elimination. Forward Arron Asham served the first game of a four-game suspension; and James Neal and Craig Adams served a one-game ban for their actions in Game 3.

Defenseman Paul Martin also sat out with an undisclosed injury.

Trying to stir the pot of an already emotional series, the Flyers showed league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan's video explanations of the Asham and Neal suspensions.

The crowd was fired up. But so were the Penguins.

Kris Letang shot high over Bryzgalov's right shoulder in the opening minutes of the second for his first goal of the series and a 5-3 lead. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette saw enough and yanked his $51 million goalie.

The goals kept coming at a clip more appropriate for an All-Star Game. Staal scored his second, Steve Sullivan and Pascal Dupuis each scored, and Staal slid an easy one through Bobrovsky's legs for the hat trick and a stunning five-goal third. The Penguins scored four power-play goals.

For a few minutes in the first, it looked like the Flyers were set to roll toward a sweep. The Flyers scored eight goals in each of the last two games, and scored three on the power play in the first. But the offense dried up and the Penguins took over.

By the time Malkin scored to make it 10-3 in the third, most of the fans had left and the crazed atmosphere from the opening faceoff was a distant memory.

"It was a crazy game in a lot of ways," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "But we got a lot of big saves at key times, and we were able to turn it the other way."

Flyers fans roared when Lauren Hart, the daughter of longtime former Flyers broadcaster Gene Hart, sang "God Bless America," alternating lyrics with Kate Smith, who was on a video image. Smith's rendition of the song has been a rallying anthem for the Flyers since the mid-1970s. And before the game, fans placed roses in the hand of Smith's statue outside the new entertainment complex across from the arena

They might need a new good-luck charm if the series returns to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Sunday.

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Flyers and Penguins Mix it Up

Fists were flying faster than shots on goal. Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux even became knotted in the pushing, pulling and shoving, a pair of superstars willing to mix it up to prove which team was the baddest on the ice and the scoreboard.

The Penguins and Flyers talked trash, laid the smack down, and played one wildly entertaining game. The result was still the same. The Flyers rallied from another early deficit for a decisive Game 3 victory that placed them on the brink of an improbable sweep.

Danny Briere, Matt Read and Maxime Talbot each scored two goals to lead Philadelphia to an 8-4 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday in a fight-filled game in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

Giroux and Wayne Simmonds also scored to help the Flyers take a 3-0 lead in the combustible best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The Flyers scored 30 goals in the first three games.

"Our goal is to finish it right away," Briere said.

The goals might be hard to find on a highlight reel. This one was all about the brawls more suitable for a UFC card. Three players were tossed in the first period. There was a rare fight between superstars when Crosby squared off against Giroux.

No one got the better end of that scrap. But by the end, Flyers fans serenaded the Penguins with booming chants of "You can't beat us!"

"All three games were kind of weird games," Giroux said. "I guess I like weird games because we always finish by winning."

Jordan Staal and James Neal scored twice for a Penguins team pushed to the limit by its hated, intrastate rival. Marc-Andre Fleury was benched after allowing six goals in two periods. He has allowed a whopping 17 goals in the first three games.

Coach Dan Bylsma said Fleury would start, "the next four games."

Hard to imagine at this rate, especially with NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin(109 points) yet to score a goal for the Penguins.

The Flyers played a postseason video that billed their run as the "Fight to the Cup." They never expected a first period that would have left those old Broad Street Bullies smiling.

Each team had their top defenseman -- Pittsburgh's Kris Letang and Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen -- tossed. So was Penguins forward Arron Asham.

But the scene ripped straight out of the pages of Ripley's came when Giroux and Crosby went at it against the backboard.

"In the end, that's really playoff hockey," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "A couple of the best players in the world dropping the gloves going at it. Would I rather have G keep his gloves on? Sure. But when he's fighting Sidney Crosby, that's playoff hockey. That's this series."

Crosby ignited the scrum when he twice jabbed goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's glove against the ice. Giroux, third in the NHL in points this season, shoved Crosby from behind. Crosby, clearly not caring about his history of concussions, retaliated by shoving Giroux's head against the glass.

While the 20,092 fans dressed in their matching Hulk Hogan-inspired orange T-shirts roared, Timonen and Letang exchanged shots, and Jakub Voracek and Pittsburgh's Steve Sullivan each were penalized for roughing.

Timonen and Letang were both hit with 5 minutes for fighting and were ejected because they were assessed a major penalty after the original fight had started.

Crosby insisted the Penguins weren't getting rattled.

"There's more than one team getting in those things," he said. "You can make a story all you want about us getting frustrated. They're doing the same things we are. It's intense."

The on-ice violence was just warming up.

Flyers forward Brayden Schenn rammed Paul Martin into the boards, turned around and was crosschecked in the upper body by Asham. Asham jumped a defenseless Schenn and connected with a vicious right to earn the match penalty -- a penalty imposed on a player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner. Asham could get suspended for the punch.

As the game wound down, Crosby yanked the back of Scott Hartnell's jersey and the fireworks went off again. Simmonds, Neal and Pittsburgh's Craig Adams also were socked with penalties.

The slugfest on the ice overshadowed the one on the scoreboard.

Staal scored only 3:52 into the game to give the Penguins the first goal for the third straight game. It marked the 13th time out of the last 15 games the Flyers have trailed 1-0. At that point, the Flyers had been outscored 7-1 in the first period in this series.

The Flyers rallied from a 3-0 hole in Game 1, and deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 in Game 2.

They did it again. Talbot tapped a rebound toward Fleury that the Penguins goalie tried to stab at with his glove. The puck trickled by for the tying goal.

Briere scored consecutive goals off a 5-on-3 power play and a one-timer to leave Fleury reeling.

"I thought the first two games in Pittsburgh were crazy," he said. "This one was even wilder."

Neal scored the first of his two goals to make it 3-1. Read ended the period when he snagged the puck behind the net, skated around and buried it for a 4-2 lead.

Crosby and Bryzgalov jawed at each other as the teams skated toward the locker room.

Philadelphia's lead stood even as the 108-point Penguins attacked with their offense instead of their fists in the second period.

Neal and Read swapped goals to open the second. Staal knocked in a rebound to help the Penguins close to 5-4.

Simmonds, though, took a perfect entry pass from Braydon Coburn and backhanded in the fast-break attempt for the insurance goal. That was their third power-play goal and the Flyers also had a short-handed score.

The Penguins were assessed 46 penalty minutes, and the Flyers 34, through the first two periods.

"I don't like them, because I don't like any guy on their team," Crosby said.

Fleury, having a series to forget, was replaced by Brent Johnson to open the third. New goalie, same result. Giroux scored 27 seconds into the third on Philadelphia's first shot of the period.

The scoring continued and so did the hard hits. Neal flattened Game 2 star Sean Couturier in the waning minutes and sent the Flyers rookie center to the locker room. Players from both teams -- including Schenn and Crosby -- had to be separated during a melee along the boards. Neal appeared to target Giroux's head in the third, though the Flyers star ducked and landed softly on the ice.

"We saw Neal going after Sean's head and Claude's head," Briere said. "Obviously, he had a plan in mind."

It's a plan Bylsma wants to avoid.

"The way the game was called, there was a lot of extracurricular activity during and after the plays," he said. "That's an area of the game we want to stay away from. We don't want to be involved in those situations against this team."

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NHL Linesman Troubles

NHL executive Colin Campbell said Thursday that linesman Tony Sericolo erred in not whistling the play dead for offsides before Danny Briere's first goal in Game 1 of the Penguins-Flyers series.

"There's no other way to explain it but a missed call," the NHL's senior executive vice president of hockey operations told The Canadian Press. "We're as upset as Pittsburgh, almost. It's a mistake."

Briere scored Philadelphia's first goal on Wednesday night after being sent in on a breakaway by teammate Brayden Schenn. The long pass came immediately after a neutral-zone turnover and replays showed Briere was a couple feet offside.

The play started a big comeback for the Flyers, who erased a three-goal deficit and beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime. However, the Penguins refused to use it as an excuse for their collapse.

"That's not why we lost the game," coach Dan Bylsma said immediately afterward.

Added captain Sidney Crosby on Thursday: "It affected the game, but at the end of the day worrying about it or thinking about it is not going to change anything. It's over."

Campbell believes Sericolo was in position to make the right call, but failed to do so because of how quickly the play went from one end of the ice to the other. It appeared as though the linesman considered blowing the play dead just before indicating it was onside.

"It was a quick turnaround," Campbell said. "You can see it was a quick 70-foot pass -- the linesman was up with the play and then had to move quickly back and he saw it from the angle he saw it from.

"But still his job is to get the right call and he didn't."

Sericolo is a veteran linesman with more than 800 games of NHL experience dating to October 1998. He was among 40 officials -- 20 referees and 20 linesmen -- selected to be part of the pool for playoff assignments.