The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 Thursday night after giving up four goals in the first period. The Penguins and Flyers were tied at one before Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals in less than five minutes of play to end the first.
Fleury was relieved in net after one period by backup Tomas Vokoun who went on to stop all 14 shots he faced. The Flyers Ilya Bryzgalov was pulled from the game late in the second period after the Penguins tied the contest at four.
Chris Kunitz led the way for the Penguins with two goals and an assist including the game winner in the third period. Sidney Crosby added three assists in the win, giving him 28 on the season.
Jakub Voracek scored twice for the Flyers in the losing effort, while teammate Kimmo Timonen finished with a goal and two assists. Evgeni Malkin appeared in just his second game back with the Penguins after missing a few games due to concussion-like symptoms. Malkin went scoreless in just over 20 minutes of ice time.
The Flyers have now lost two straight games and take on the Boston Bruins Saturday afternoon. The Bruins are 16-3-3, which would give them the lead in any NHL division in the Eastern Conference except the one they play in. The Montreal Canadiens lead the Bruins by one point in the Northeast Division.
The Penguins have won three straight and lead the New Jersey Devils by two-and-a-half games in the Atlantic Division. The Penguins take on the Toronto Maple leafs Saturday before a match up with the New York Islanders Sunday.
The Flyers scored first against the Penguins Thursday night, the first time they have done so in the past eight meetings with Pittsburgh. After taking a 4-1 lead into the second period, the Flyers fell apart as Pascal Dupuis, James Neal, and Tyler Kennedy scored, one after the other, to make it 4-4.
Brian Boucher took over for Bryzgalov with a little less than three minutes remaining in the second period. Boucher faced six shots in relief of Bryzgalov, giving up the game winner just 18 seconds into the third period.
The huge defeat slides the Flyers down to 11th in the Eastern Conference, well out of playoff contention at 11-13-1. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Flyers in style, giving them a three goal lead before surging back to stun the Flyer’s faithful fans in Philadelphia.
