Penguins silence Philly crowd in Game 3

PHILADELPHIA Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Matt Murray stopped 26 shots to help the Pittsburgh Penguins silence a raucous Philadelphia crowd and beat the Flyers 5-1 on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the firstround playoff series.

Two of the so-called fiercest rivals in the NHL have provided three lopsided games: Pittsburgh’s 7-0 win in Game 1 and Philadelphia’s 5-1 victory in Game 2 could about qualify as nail-bitters in this series.

Game 4 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

Crosby scored his fourth goal of the series in the first period, and Derick Brassard, Evgeni Malkin and Brian Dumoulin scored in the second to make it 4-0. Malkin and Dumoulin scored 5 seconds apart.

Justin Schultz made it 5-1 in the third on Pittsburgh’s third power-play goal of the game.

Brian Elliott, yanked in Game 1, had another rough outing and might need to borrow fellow Wells Fargo Center tenant Joel Embiid’s black mask to have a better look at the puck.

The Flyers haven’t won a playoff series since 2012 and pulled out all the theatrical stops in their return to the post-season after a one-year absence. Light-up bracelets flickered in the darkened arena and another packed house roared “Crosby sucks! Crosby sucks!”

Here’s the thing Philly fans haven’t realized, he really doesn’t — and especially not against the Flyers.