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Friday, April 13, 2012

Philadelphia Flyers rumble with Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 - USA TODAY

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Philadelphia Flyers rumble with Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 - USA TODAY
Apr 14th 2012, 02:27

PITTSBURGH – It unintentionally became '80s night at the Consol Energy Center Friday night.

By Gene J. Puskar, AP

The Philadelphia Flyers' Maxime Talbot celebrates his first-period goal with teammate Claude Giroux (28) during Game 2.

Leaky defense. Open ice. Slick puck movement. Breakaways. Flashy saves. Goals by the bushel.

When the ode to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux era hockey was finally over, the No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers owned a 8-5 victory against the No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins and a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal. The series now moves to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Wednesday.

"It was obviously a wild game," said Philadelphia's Claude Giroux, who set a new Flyers' playoff record of six points in the game.

Giroux and 19-year-old Philadelphia rookie Sean Couturier both had hat tricks. There were two power play goals, two shorthanded goals and one empty-netter. Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov also made a memorable second period glove save to rob Kris Letang that left the Penguins shaking their heads.

"That was the save of the year," Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr said. "It kept us in the game."

The Flyers didn't claim the lead until Jaromir Jagr netted the 11th goal of the game at 9:13 to put Philadelphia ahead, 6-5. The tone for the night was set when Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby scored 15 seconds into the game to tie Greg Malone's 31-year-old team record for fastest goal at the start of a playoff game.

"Don't forget I've played 20 years, and I've seen a lot of wild ones," Jagr said. "But it was pretty wild today."

Couturier's four-point game ties the late Peter Zezel's franchise record for most points by a rookie in a playoff game. Couturier's big night came 27 years to the day after Zezel had four points against the New York Rangers in a Patrick Division semifinal.

"Don't forget (Couturier) had to play against the best player in the league in (Evgeni) Malkin," Jagr said. "If he wouldn't have scored any goals, I would say he had a great game. But he played great defense and also scored three goals. I don't know if I know any words to describe his game today. Awesome, or something better than that. He was unbelievable."

Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette had trust in Couturier's defensive ability from the beginning, but Couturier's role is now starting to expand. Couturier was plus-4 in the game and Malkin was minus-4.

"I think (Couturier) plays older than he is," Laviolette said.

The Flyers are 17-0 historically in series when they have won the first two games. The Penguins say simply they have to play better to climb back in the series.

"(Our) defending in the defensive zone has to be better," said Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. "We have to be a tougher team to play against.

The fact that Jagr scored the game-winner added insult to the Penguins' injured pride. Jagr spurned the Penguins last summer when he elected to sign with the Flyers after returning from the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League.

Although thrilled with the win, the Flyers weren't happy that for the ninth time in the last 14 games they fell behind 2-0 in a game. They had to erase a 3-0 deficit to win Game 1.

"I wish we didn't have to come back," Jagr said. "We got ourselves in a hole again. Even for the last month of the season, we have had a lot of games like that. I don't know what the problem is. We just don't make any plays in the first 10 minutes."

Laviolette preferred to look at the positive. "Fighting back like that isn't easy, and the players were so resiliant," he said. "I really thought after that first period we played our brand of hockey."

Jagr broke his stick on the follow-through as he twirled and fired a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury for the winning goal.

Couturier completed his hat trick with 1:49 remaining in the game after James Neal had just missed tying the game at the other end of the ice.

The entertaining game began the third period with the score tied, 4-4. That lasted 64 seconds before Tyler Kennedy scored to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead.

That lead stood 17 seconds before Couturier scored after stealing the puck from defenseman Ben Lovejoy. It was also Lovejoy trying to stop Jagr on game-winning goal.

As has been their custom in recent weeks, the Flyers didn't start their offensive machinery until they fell behind 2-0.

After Chris Kunitz scored a power play goal at 9:27 of the second period to provide the Penguins with a two-goal lead, the Flyers began to become more involed.

While the Flyers were shorthanded, Giroux knocked the puck away from Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby inside the Flyers' blue line, and then raced down the ice on a breakaway. Fleury stopped Giroux, but Maxime Talbot cleaned up the rebound to pull the Flyers within in a goal.

Pittsburgh fans seemed to boo even more loudly than usual after that goal because Talbot, the Penguins' Game 7 Stanley Cup hero in 2009, had left Pittsburgh to sign with the Flyers last summer. Talbot was plus-5 in the game.

The Penguins seemed as if they were going to stay in control when Paul Martin scored on a drive from the high slot at 19:42 to regain Pittsburgh's two goal lead.

Similar to what happened in Game 1, the Flyers began to become the better team in the second period.

At 5:11, Giroux scored a power play goal to make it a 3-2 game. When the Flyers were shorthanded, Giroux added his second goal, with Talbot picking up the assist, to tie the score at 11:04 of the period

But six seconds later the Penguins answered with Kunitz scoring his second goal on the power to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.

It stayed tied until the Flyers tied the game at 4-4 when Sean Couturier scored on a rebound after Fleury stopped Braydon Coburn's shot from the point.

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