NHL PLAYOFFS : Penguins strike early in victory
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/225694/
PHILADELPHIA — Quick strikes by Ryan Whitney and Marian Hossa raised the Pittsburgh Penguins to heights not reached since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr donned the black and gold.
Whitney and Hossa scored less than three minutes apart in the first period, and the Penguins held the Philadelphia Flyers to 18 shots Tuesday night in a 4-1 victory that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final.
One more victory against their cross-state rivals, and the Penguins will advance to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since Lemieux and Jagr led Pittsburgh to back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992.
R. J. Umberger, born in Pittsburgh, answered with a first-period goal for the Flyers, but the Pittsburgh defense then locked them down. That made things easier for Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 17 saves after two 4-2 home victories.
Ryan Malone scored with 10: 02 left to make it 3-1 and silenced a crowd hoping to see Philadelphia get back in it. Instead, the Flyers can be eliminated as soon as Thursday in Game 4. Hossa added an empty-net goal with 53. 7 seconds remaining.
Pittsburgh, which recorded 25 shots, is 11-1 in these playoffs and has led 3-0 in all three series. Detroit holds the same advantage over Dallas in the West, and can advance with a victory today.
The excitement and enthusiasm from the “Flyer-ed Up,” orange-clad fans was dampened by Whitney’s power-play goal 5: 03 in, then extinguished when Hossa made it 2-0 2: 38 later.
It was reminiscent of how Pittsburgh took out the Madison Square Garden crowd 1: 02 into Game 3 of the second round when Hossa scored against the New York Rangers.
The loudest noises that rained down from the rafters at Wachovia Center came in the form of groans, first when Evgeni Malkin drew a questionable hooking call against Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher with a dive in the offensive zone, then when Whitney scored the Penguins’ third power-play goal of the series.
Hossa needed no help to further frustrate the Flyers. He rushed the puck through the neutral zone, stick-handled around Jeff Carter near the blue line, and sent a shot between the legs of Philadelphia defenseman Lasse Kukkonen, who screened goalie Martin Biron as the puck sailed by at 7: 41.
The goals came on the Penguins’ second and fourth shots. At a glance
CONFERENCE FINALS Best of 7 TUESDAY’S GAME Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 1 Pittsburgh leads series 3-0 TODAY’S GAME Detroit at Dallas, 7 p. m. Central Detroit leads series 3-0