Box score
Game summary
Event summary
Play-by-play
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Crosby and Richards, also dancing, with 14.9 seconds to go.
Purists cringe.
Megadeath Center is entertained.
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Derian Hatcher and Ryan Malone, one last dance with 22.8 second left.
Hatcher wins on points.
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Lupul into the empty net with 32.3 seconds to go.
That's 4-2, and that's that.
Game 5, Sunday in Pittsburgh.
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Goalie out for Pittsburgh with 1:05 to go.
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Flyers are hanging on, 1:22 to go.
Desperate people are really loud, it turns out.
Timeout, Pittsburgh.
Booooooo.
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Yikes, officially.
Staal, again -- this time from in the slot, unmarked, on a pass from behind the net from Max Talbot.
It's 3-2 with 5:49 remaining.
Yikes, officially.
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The waves have stopped crashing.
The Flyers have regained their footing.
Seven minutes to go.
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Waves of pressure by Pittsburgh now.
Pucks whistling through the slot.
Ten minutes to go.
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Crosby from the slot, into Biron's body.
Crosby is being booed at every turn now.
12:45 to go.
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Fourteen minutes to go. The Penguins now lead in shots, 30-28. It is a fair measure of what is happening. This has a chance to get a little more interesting. Normally, when it's 2-1, the easy cliche is, "Next goal wins." Tonight, at 3-1, I kind of have that feeling.
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Well, it's 3-1. The Pens' Jordan Staal has scored on a really funky goal, one involving a shot from behind the goal line and a three-cushion bank shot in front. I'm still not sure who it hit, or how it squeezed between Biron's pad and the post. But there it is, 3-1.
Building is a little quieter.
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Still 3-0 at the end of the second. Flyers lead in shots, 26-25.
It's in the bag, right?
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Jeff Carter for tripping at 14:17. It is the Penguins' first power play in nearly 30 minutes.
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The Penguins haven't rolled over, not by any stretch. With 7 minutes to go, we've just seen a really exciting few minutes, up and down, a lot of puck possession by the Pens, chances both ways.
Prediction: if the Flyers were to give one up here, before the end of the period, it might get a little bit interesting.
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Five minutes in, Fleury makes a great stop on Briere -- great, stack the pads stop. But the Flyers still look very good here.
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Now, it's 3-0 -- Jeff Carter this time, banging one in from right on the doorstep on a power play.
At the end of the first period, it is now all Flyers. Shots on goal are 17-13, and the whole thing feels different.
The big change? Traffic in front of Fleury. The Flyers are parked in his lap and it is making an enormous difference. They are finally, finally, finally playing their game -- which is not always about beautiful but more often about messy, elbowy, all of that stuff.
About time, you say?
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Now it's 2-0.Briere fought his way through the crease to bang in a big, juicy rebound on the power play.
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After more pressure, the Flyers get the 1-0 lead.
On the rush, Joffrey Lupul fired from about 40 feet, the shot deflected off of the stick of Pens defenseman Hal Gill and sailed over the shoulder of Fleury.
A pair of 18's trade breakaways during the penalty.
Richards shoots wide.
Marian Hossa, saved by Marty Biron.
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In the first 6 minutes, the Pens lead in shots, 6-3. It's pretty wide open, and the Flyers have had a decent amount of puck possession.
But, now, the first hurdle:
Danny Briere, tripping, 5:50.
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Scott Hartnell is stopped on the doorstep.
Mike Richards whistles one wide on the rush.
And we begin, loudly.
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For whatever it's worth, Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury looks terrible in warmups. He isn't stopping anything. Whether that is meaningful or not, we will find out soon enough.
And, in case you missed it, here's a story in today's Daily News about history and 3-0 deficits in the NHL playoffs. It's interesting. You can decide if it's plausible.
Then again, the Flyers will tell us soon enough.
Rich Hofmann has been at the Daily News since 1980. He previously blogged the Eagles' postseason run in 2006. 
Ed Barkowitz was the first Philadelphia Newspaper journalist to write a blog, starting back in 2002.
Comments (26)
Good start. Who knows.
Posted by Tony Wesolowsky | May 15, 2008 7:57 PM
Sounds like the Pens are flat.
Probably because they were bored today
by Will Bunch's rants...
WBB
Posted by Walter Benjamin Barry | May 15, 2008 8:05 PM
Here's a big "what if." What if the Flyers torch Fleury for a whole bunch of goals tonight. What do the Pens do? Bench him and maybe rattle his confidence?
Posted by Tony | May 15, 2008 8:06 PM
Who is their backup goalie?
Someone earlier told me its Will Bunch.
Posted by WBB | May 15, 2008 8:26 PM
Who is their backup goalie?
Someone earlier told me its Will Bunch.
Posted by WBB | May 15, 2008 8:26 PM
Who is their backup goalie?
Someone earlier told me its Will Bunch.
Posted by WBB | May 15, 2008 8:26 PM
watch for cheap shots from Malkin the rest of the night. I hope the flyers remember game 1 of the rangers series
Posted by RJ | May 15, 2008 8:27 PM
After the first period, this looks a lot more like the Flyers team we saw in the first two rounds. The play-by-play guys talked about the way Stevens is moving Briere around... You have to give Stevens credit for the coaching job he did getting the team prepared for the game.
Posted by Mike P | May 15, 2008 8:29 PM
Flyers look like a different team and are playing a LOT better, but the Pens are probably sitting back, hoping to win the series at home ... over-confidence like that could hurt them, especially if Detroit can finish off the Stars
Posted by Jenn | May 15, 2008 8:32 PM
FYI the back up is ty conklin, he is the guy who came in and kept them in it while sid and fluery were out with high ankle sprains. no drop off with the back up he has playoff expereince too
Posted by Jay | May 15, 2008 9:24 PM
As I predicted the other day we would loss one in philly to win in the burgh in front of our fans. It lets you save face from being swept. Don't get all excited your still not in it.
Posted by Jay | May 15, 2008 10:09 PM
Jay - We'll keep that in mind. Now why don't you go and slake your thirst with some Iron City swill.
Posted by Tony | May 15, 2008 10:16 PM
Great game by the Flyers, especially early on. It's going to take a 60-minute effort to win game 5, but hey, there's still air in our lungs. If we can win the next game and bring the series back to Philly, we'll be in business and Pens fans will be sweating.
Posted by Mike P | May 15, 2008 10:20 PM
This game just showed that Crosby commands no respect on the ice. All the accusations of him being a wuss and a whiner were only proven further tonight. How can he look at himself in the mirror? First of all, he has a mustache. Second of all, he'll only stick up for himself until his keepers can do the dirty work for him.
Richards > Crosby.
Posted by Brian | May 15, 2008 10:21 PM
Cindy Crosby is a skating vagina. He ran from that fight with Richards. He looks like a registered sex offender with his mustache.
Posted by KMG | May 15, 2008 10:28 PM
Cindy Crosby is a skating vagina. He ran from that fight with Richards. He looks like a registered sex offender with his mustache.
Posted by KMG | May 15, 2008 10:28 PM
Actually if you watched the play, Crosby went after Richards and someone on the Flyers came in from behind and started punching at Sid's head while he and Richards were tangled up. Just another cheap play by the Flyers that didn't get called tonight.
Posted by Cousin | May 15, 2008 11:08 PM
No- if you watched the play, Richards wanted to go and Cindy refused to.
Cindy's girlfriend in Pittsburgh has more hair on her lip than he does.
Posted by KMG | May 16, 2008 12:12 AM
One thing is obvious after tonight...
The Flyers are just too loaded. Anyone surprised that clown hasn't shown up this evening?
Posted by PSUFlyers | May 16, 2008 1:17 AM
Flyers rule. Will Bunch too. And it's spelled "Megadeth."
Posted by deddawg | May 16, 2008 1:58 AM
As Pittsburgh residents all over town spill out into their cars this morning to drive down their dull, sucky streets and grey stupid buildings, they'll make plans to join each other after work to drink terrible Iron City beer and incite denial rituals about Sidney Crosby. "He didn't run from Richards," and "Boy, his mustache looks great," and "Jeez, the Pens are just too loaded."
Drink whatever awful beer you want, Pittsburgh. Your city and your team fell far short last night, and it's almost hysterical that it took until the third period for those adolescents on your team to score a goal. The Penguins suck.
Posted by Todd Bridges | May 16, 2008 7:29 AM
I would like to congratulate the Cryers on their "72 hour, season-extending victory".
This series ends on Sunday afternoon, in Pittsburgh, in a dominating Penguin performance. I guarantee it.
Enjoy me while you can. You'll only have me around for another 57 hours, then I'll be on to the Detroit Free Press.
The PENS ARE JUST TOO LOADED!!
Posted by PensAreJustTooLoaded | May 16, 2008 8:47 AM
Too loaded? They have three star players - Malkin, Hossa, and Crosby. Everyone else is considered talented by association because of those three.
Posted by Brian | May 16, 2008 10:13 AM
Brian,
You're stupid.
Posted by PensAreJustTooLoaded | May 16, 2008 11:19 AM
Saying that the Pens only have two or three players is a little harsh. In all honesty, I see six players on that team that are really good. Crosby, Malkin, and Hossa, of course, have received the most press. You have to give credit to Fleury, who has made some great saves this series. Gonchar is a solid defenseman, though I don't think he's as good as he was in the late 90s with the Caps. And, finally, Jordan Staal is a very good young player. His production dipped this year, but he's going to get better with age.
That being said, the Pens are far more dependent on fewer players than the Flyers are, particularly on the front end. The Flyers have a more balanced scoring attack, and while the Pens are largely reliant on their first two lines for scoring production, the Flyers have been able to rely on all four lines throughout the playoffs. The Flyers' problem in this series has been hitting the blue line with enough speed to break the Pens' trap, largely due to the fact that Philly's best puck moving defensemen were out. Particularly in the first two periods of last night's game, the Flyers overcame this problem, and if they continue to have success in this regard, this series could get really interesting.
Game 5 is huge. If the Pens win, of course, the series is over. But if the Flyers win, they'll have a heap of confidence coming back home, and there's a good chance that they'll be able to pull off a miracle. Dare I say, the people of Detroit (or Dallas) would be glad to know that they wouldn't have to see the inane comments of TooLoaded littering their message boards.
Question: Does anyone doubt that Richards will be wearing the C next year? Even if they somehow keep Smith (and I don't think they will), I have a feeling that Stevens will reassign the C to Richie.
Posted by Mike P | May 16, 2008 3:58 PM
I would give the Pens defense more credit than Fleury. They've done a great job stopping the Flyers at the blue line, keeping our forwards to the outside, and forcing turnovers from younger players like Downie, Parent, and Jones. Fleury has come up as solid as is necessary in a playoff series, but nothing spectacular.
I don't see Smith playing for the Flyers next year. As much as I liked him this season, he doesn't seem to fit in with the long-term needs of the team. He's the ultimate team player, much like Richards, and a huge physical force when he's playing healthy and mean.
Still, this post-season has only added to what has been an incredbile year for Mike Richards, who has continued to develop as a player and a leader. He plays with the right mixture of intelligence, skill, and physicality to be a top-line center and has the intangibles to be a captain.
Posted by Brian | May 16, 2008 4:19 PM