Penguins play on with 10-3 win
Pushed to the brink of a sweep, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal pushed back with a vengeance, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins score nine goals in the first two periods in a 10-3 win Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers in their opening-round playoff series.
Staal had a hat trick, Malkin scored his first two goals of the series and Crosby added one to help the Penguins cut the series deficit to 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Pittsburgh.
Marc-andre Fleury settled down after a shaky first period and had his best game of the series, easily outplaying counterpart Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Flyers led 3-2 when the Penguins reeled off seven consecutive goals.
“It was a crazy game in a lot of ways,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “But we got a lot of big saves at key times, and we were able to turn it the other way.”
Claude Giroux, Kimmo Timonen and Jakub Voracek all scored for the Flyers, who blew their chance at a stunning sweep of the 108-point Penguins. Bryzgalov, shaky all series, was at his worst in Game 4. He was yanked for Sergei Bobrovsky after allowing his fifth goal of the game.
The Penguins were the first team to score at least 10 goals in a playoff game since the Los Angeles Kings scored 12 against the Calgary Flames on April 10, 1990, according to STATS.
“I think just our management of the puck, and where we played it, was good in terms of keeping the flow in our favor,” Bylsma said.
Canucks 3, Kings 1
Cory Schneider made 43 saves and stopped Dustin Brown’s penalty shot in his first career playoff victory.
Daniel Sedin sparked Vancouver’s power play in his return from a concussion as the topseeded Canucks avoided a firstround sweep.
Senators 3, Rangers 2
Kyle Turris scored at 2:42 of overtime to tie the series at two games apiece.
Milan Michalek and Sergei Gonchar scored in the second period for Ottawa to erase a 2-0 deficit. Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan had power-play goals in the first for New York.