Pens Clobber Flyers to Force Game 5

For the first 15 minutes of the game, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked down and out.

Already missing a 40 goal scorer due to suspension and forced to dress seven defensemen due to an injury to Paul Martin, Pittsburgh went down 3-1 after Jakub Voracek’s power play goal 15:52 into the first.

But something changed. The Penguins stood their ground, scored eight unanswered goals, and found a win to stay alive for at least one more game.

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Game 5 is Friday in Pittsburgh.

Just 17 seconds into the game, Steve Sullivan took a high sticking penalty which lead to a Claude Giroux powerplay tally one minute later. Just as Sullivan came out of the box, Evgeni Malkin took a hooking penalty to put the Penguins in a short handed situation again.

The Penguins killed the penalty and found Malkin coming out of the box. He dropped a pass back to Pascal Dupuis whose shot handcuffed Ilya Bryzgalov. Malkin swooped in front of his fellow countryman and buried a backhand shot to tie the game.

A powerplay goal from Matt Niskanen gave Pittsburgh their first lead 8:05 into the first.

Pittsburgh appeared to grab the momentum after a penalty to Zac Rinaldo but an interference penalty to Chris Kunitz quickly created a 4 on 4 situation. The Penguins committed one undisciplined play after another as Brooks Orpik and Matt Cooke went to the box 24 seconds apart. After the brawl that took place in game 3, it was clear the referees were looking to control the game.

The Flyers scored back to back power play goals, putting the home team ahead 3-2. From there, however, the route was on, in favor of the Penguins.

Matt Niskanen’s shot from the point bounced off of Sidney Crosby and into the net to tie the game at three. Just 1:10 later, Jordan Staal pounced on a rebound in front to put the Penguins up 4-3 by the end of the first period.

The Penguins held a lead of at least one goal in each of the first three games of the series only to see the Flyers erase it and end up with a win. But in game 4, the Penguins scored five goals in the second period and one in the third to blowout the Flyers, 10-3, and avoid an embarrassing sweep.

Jordan Staal tallied his first playoff hat trick and, more importantly, Evgeni Malkin scored his first two goals of the 2012 playoffs. All sides appeared to click for the Penguins after a rocky first period. Even Marc-Andre Fleury, who was yanked in game 3, recovered to stop 14 shots in the last two periods.

The same could not be said for Flyers’ goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov, who was pulled (and booed) early in the second period. Peter Laviolette inserted Sergei Bobrovsky, who only replicated Bryzgalov’s final numbers: 13 saves on 18 shots.

Now, the Penguins head back to Consol Energy Center in hopes of preserving the same success to force a game 6 back at the Wachovia Center, Sunday afternoon. To do that, however, the Penguins need to win a home game, something they’ve failed to do in 7 of 8 chances against Philadelphia since the new arena opened a year and a half ago.

Jordan Staal has 9 goals in 16 playoff games against the Flyers.
Game 4 produced 100 penalty minutes to bring the series to 262 total penalty minutes in the first 4 games.
Ilya Bryzgalov has surrendered 17 goals in three and a half games.

Three stars