Flyers fight through Penguins, near sweep
PHILADELPHIA — Fists were flying faster than shots on goal. Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux even became knotted in the pushing, pulling and shoving, a pair of superstars willing to mix it up to prove which team was the baddest on the ice.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers talked trash, fought and played one wildly entertaining game. The result was the same as the first two in the series. The Flyers rallied from another early deficit for a decisive Game 3 victory that placed them on the brink of an improbable sweep.
Danny Briere, Matt Read and Max Talbot each scored two goals to lead Philadelphia to an 8-4 victory Sunday in a fight-filled game in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Giroux and Wayne Simmonds also scored to help the Flyers take a 3-0 lead in the combustible best-ofseven series. Game 4 is Wednesday in Philadelphia. The Flyers have 20 goals in the series.
“Our goal is to finish it right away,” Briere said.
Despite the scoring, this one was all about brawls. Three players were tossed in the first period. There was a rare fight between superstars when Crosby took on Giroux.
No one got the better end of that scrap. But by the end, Flyers fans serenaded the Penguins, chanting, “You can’t beat us!”
“All three games were kind of weird games,” Giroux said. “I guess I like weird games because we always finish by winning.”
Jordan Staal and James Neal scored twice for the Penguins, pushed to the limit by their hated, cross-state rival. Marc-andre Fleury was benched for Brent Johnson after allowing six goals in two periods. Fleury has allowed 17 goals in the first three games.
Coach Dan Bylsma said Fleury would start the rest of the series.
The Flyers played a video that billed their run as the “Fight to the Cup.” They never expected a first period that would have left those old Broad Street Bullies teams smiling.
The teams combined for 158 penalty minutes, well short of the record 298 minutes set by the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues in 1991.
Each team had its top defenseman — Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Philadelphia’s Kimmo Timonen — tossed. Penguins forward Arron Asham was ejected after punching Brayden Schenn. But the surprise scene came when Giroux and Crosby went at it.
“In the end, that’s really playoff hockey,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “A couple of the best players in the world dropping the gloves going at it. Would I rather have ‘G’ keep his gloves on? Sure. But when he’s fighting Sidney Crosby, that’s playoff hockey. That’s this series.”