After losing to Pittsburgh in each of the last two Eastern
Conference playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers reconfigured their
lineup to make an already rugged team more physical and better
capable of taking out the Penguins. So far, it's not working.
Jordan Staal scored twice and Sidney Crosby's goal and assist
early in the first period amid a succession of fights lifted the
Penguins to a 6-1 victory over the Flyers on Tuesday night in a
feisty renewal of an intensifying rivalry.
Crosby scored an infrequent Penguins power-play goal 3:30 in
— before a flurry of three fights in 16 seconds — and
set up Bill Guerin's goal about 2 1/2 minutes later, immediately
after the first round of pushing, shoving and punching. Crosby had
a three-point night and now has 21 goals and 28 assists in 28
career games against Philadelphia.
The Flyers managed to fill up the penalty box, but it was
Pittsburgh that filled the net.
The cross-state rivals hadn't played since the Penguins
accused the Flyers' Scott Hartnell of biting defenseman Kris
Letang's finger during Pittsburgh's 5-4 victory in Philadelphia on
Oct. 8, and they picked up the rivalry as if that game had been
played last week. There were fights between Arron Asham and Mike
Rupp, Riley Cote and Eric Godard, and Dan Carcillo and Craig Adams
in the first 5:33.
The game settled down a bit after that, but there appeared to
be considerable on-ice jawing and agitating. Not that it was any
surprise.
"In juniors I've seen that — back to back to back
(fights) like that — but not up here," Crosby said. "It was
pretty exciting for both teams. It lived up to the rivalry, that
game."
The Flyers, 3-1 winners in Boston on Monday night, set the
tone with their aggressive style, but couldn't match the Penguins'
scoring. And the surprise was the Penguins were as eager to fight
as Philadelphia.
"Those guys did a great job in those fights and got us
going," Staal said. "It's real easy to get up for these games, it's
an exciting match every time we play. It's a battle and I think
it's something everyone enjoys."
The Flyers have lost 11 of 14 and are 2-5 under new coach
Peter Laviolette. They have not lost a home-and-home series against
Pittsburgh in 17 years — something they will try to avoid
doing when the teams meet Thursday in Philadelphia.
"When you're not working, you're going to look like that,"
Laviolette said. "We were on our heels, we're not on our toes, last
night (in Boston) we were on our toes. We won the battles, won the
races to loose pucks and open areas and tonight we did not."
Flyers captain Mike Richards said something else is missing
with a team that is a disappointing 15-16-1.
"We're not playing with enough heart right now to win,"
Richards said.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the Penguins, who won
their third in a row and ninth in 12 games.
Ruslan Fedotenko also scored for Pittsburgh and indirectly
set up Crosby's goal 3:30 into the game as Sergei Gonchar's slap
shot deflected off Fedotenko to Crosby in the lower right circle.
Guerin scored at 6:09 by putting in a rebound of Crosby's hard
wrist shot from the right circle as goalie Brian Boucher failed to
cover the puck.
Carcillo scored on a power play about five minutes later, but
Staal put the Penguins ahead 3-1 at 14:51 of the second with his
second short-handed goal of the season and 10th of his career.
Staal also scored with 15 seconds left in the second period, his
10th. Evgeni Malkin added a late goal and had an assist.
NOTES: Carcillo's apparent goal early in the third was waved
off when replays showed him turning his skate to steer the puck
into the net. ... Penguins F Max Talbot, who scored both goals in
the 2-1 victory over Detroit in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals,
was a healthy scratch. The Penguins have 13 healthy forwards. ...
The Penguins were 1 for 15 with the man advantage and were next to
last in the NHL in power-play efficiency before Crosby scored.
Pittsburgh was 1 for 4 on the power play, Philadelphia was 1 for 6.
