Pens beat Flyers 4-2; Lead Series 1-0

Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 9, 11:35 PM | Hype this story!
1 2 3 Tot.
2 0 0 2
 
Tot. 1 2 3
4 3 1 0
 
Series: Penguins (1) – Flyers (0)
 
Summary

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers opened their Conference Finals series with a wild first period. Both teams seemed tense, sluggish, yet willing to hop all over turnovers and mistakes.  The Penguins struck first when Petr Sykora beat Marty Biron with a nifty backhand deke after taking a nice cross ice feed from Ryan Malone and Evgeni Malkin.  The celebration didn’t last long however, as Mike Richards scored a typical Flyer goal, by taking a wraparound and throwing it on goal.  The other Flyers crashed the net and the puck slipped by Marc-Andre Fleury.  Later in the period Mike Richards scored his second goal, again a dirty crashing the net type, to make it 2-1 Philly.  

After a misplay behind the net by Biron, Sidney Crosby took a feed from Marian Hossa and put a nice redirect to the back of the net to tie it all up at 2.  With time winding down Whitney fed Malkin, who screamed up the boards and fired a shot that beat Biron with only 7 seconds remaining, to give the Penguins the lead heading to the locker room.

In the second, with the Penguins on the penalty kill, Malkin was hit hard behind the Flyer net, took a while to get to his feet and never got back into the play.  This however was instrumental in the next event, in which Sergei Gonchar gave a lead pass while Malkin waited at the opposing blue line, he then walked in on Biron and took a 15 foot slap shot, scoring a shorthanded goal to make it 4-2.  That was all the Penguins would need and would cap off the night in scoring.

The third period was brutal and the Flyers tried to outmuscle the Pens, however they would have none of it.  Pittsburgh shut the door and played outstanding defensive hockey for the final 20 minutes and aside from a breakaway chance that never came to fruition, Philadelphia never got much going.

 
Three Stars
# Player Team Pos. Stats
1 Evgeni Malkin PIT C 2 Goals, 1 Assist
2 Mike Richards PHI C 2 Goals
3 Sidney Crosby PIT C 1 Goal
 
Stat Line
  Shots Faceoffs Power Plays
  1 2 3 OT Total Won Lost Converted Total
Pittsburgh 11 6 4 - 21 27 27 0 3
Philadelphia 12 7 9 - 28 27 27 0 3
 
Scoring Summary
Per. Time Team Goal Assist Assist
1 06:19
08:30
12:50
14:11
19:53		 PIT
PHI
PHI
PIT
PIT		 Petr Sykora
Mike Richards
Mike Richards
Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin		 Malone
Umberger
Lupul
Hossa
Whitney 		Malkin
Coburn
Umberger
2 04:50 PIT Evgeni Malkin Gonchar
3 - - -
 
Penalty Summary
Per.
Team Penalty Time Player
1
Pittsburgh delay of game – 2 min 1:22, R. Whitney
2
 Pittsburgh holding – 2 min 3:35, B. Orpik
 Philadelphia hooking – 2 min 5:04, J. Carter
3
 Pittsburgh tripping – 2 min 11:32, R. Whitney
 Philadelphia cross check – 2 min 18:32, S. Upshall
 Philadelphia misconduct – 10 min 18:32, S. Upshall
 Philadelphia roughing – 2 min 18:32, D. Hatcher
 Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 18:32, E. Malkin
 Philadelphia hooking – 2 min 19:55, B. Coburn

Comments

  1. Eric

    May 10, 12:15 AM

    After coming out fairly flat and MAF giving up two iffy goals that shouldn’t have been able to be scored. This team showed the character that they have done recently. Given that MAF gave up those two goals, but shutdown every other attempt – you have to like it.

    I think that the Penguins can be satisfied with this win, as long as they don’t attempt to make these wins a form of habit.

    Also, was there a more satisfying goal than Malkin’s 2nd? Getting hit into the boards, then slamming home a 15 footer. Kudos to Prospal on the whiff and Hossa and Gonchar working to get the puck back to Geno.

  2. TIM

    May 10, 01:55 AM

    That second Malkin goal made me laugh out loud. It was almost like he had a flash back of his penalty shot and decided he was just going to destroy the puck. Biron had no chance.

    Let’s Go Pens!

  3. john

    May 10, 04:12 AM

    That second Malkin goal was a big “**** you” to the Flyers. I guess he should have done that on the penalty shot against Lundquist…

    *Editor's Note: Please refrain from profane language. This is a forum for all ages.*

  4. DaBich

    May 10, 09:59 AM

    I’m with you guys on the penalty shot comments. I LOVED TAHT GOAL!

  5. jon s

    May 10, 03:44 PM

    The second malkin goal, the way it went down was just crazy. Also I need to give more props to this site. The coverage here is really the best pens place out there. I read everyday and I will do the same even when the saeson is over.

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