Pens fly past Philly
PITTSBURGH — After losing to Pittsburgh in each of the last two Eastern Conference playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers reconfigured their lineup to make an already rugged team more physical and better capable of taking out the Penguins. So far, it's not working.
Jordan Staal scored twice and Sidney Crosby's goal and assist early in the first period amid a succession of fights lifted the Penguins to a 6-1 victory over the Flyers Tuesday night in a feisty renewal of an intensifying rivalry.
Crosby scored an infrequent Penguins power-play goal 3:30 in — before a flurry of three fights in 16 seconds — and set up Bill Guerin's goal about 2Z\x minutes later, immediately after the first round of pushing, shoving and punching. Crosby had a three-point night and now has 21 goals and 28 assists in 28 career games against Philadelphia.
The Flyers managed to fill up the penalty box, but it was Pittsburgh that filled the net.
The cross-state rivals hadn't played since the Penguins accused the Flyers' Scott Hartnell of biting defenseman Kris Letang's finger during Pittsburgh's 5-4 victory in Philadelphia Oct. 8, and they picked up the rivalry as if that game had been played last week. There were fights between Arron Asham and Mike Rupp, Riley Cote and Eric Godard, and Dan Carcillo and Craig Adams in the first 5:33.
The game settled down a bit after that, but there appeared to be considerable on-ice jawing and agitating. Not that it was any surprise.
"In juniors I've seen that — back to back to back (fights) like that — but not up here," Crosby said. "It was pretty exciting for both teams. It lived up to the rivalry, that game."
The Flyers, 3-1 winners in Boston Monday night, set the tone with their aggressive style, but couldn't match the Penguins' scoring. And the surprise was the Penguins were as eager to fight as Philadelphia.
"Those guys did a great job in those fights and got us going," Staal said. "It's real easy to get up for these games, it's an exciting match every time we play. It's a battle and I think it's something everyone enjoys."
The Flyers have lost 11 of 14 and are 2-5 under new coach Peter Laviolette. They have not lost a home-and-home series against Pittsburgh in 17 years — something they will try to avoid when the teams meet Thursday in Philadelphia.
