Penguins Rout Flyers 10-3 In Game 4 And Cut Series To 3-1 (VIDEO)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, left, and Marc-Andre Fleury celebrate after winning Game 4 in a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series against the Philadelphia Flyers, Wednesday, April 18, 2012, in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh won 10-3. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) new faster beta version available try it

PHILADELPHIA — Pushed to the brink of a sweep, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal pushed back with a vengeance, helping the Penguins score nine goals in the first two periods in a 10-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday 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 eight straight goals to win the most lopsided game of the series.

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Comments

[Tibby Oct31]

01:19 PM on 04/19/2012

Lovely, just lovely. That's the way to play with class and utilize every bit of your exceeding talent.

Go Pens!!!

[CatfishJohn]

12:23 PM on 04/19/2012

"Defense??? the Pens an Flyers dont need any stinking defense!"....That first period was as willdly entertaining as any hockey i have seen in 40 years!

[Bertski]

10:41 AM on 04/19/2012

That game was the perfect storm of disasters for the Flyers:
1. Penguins came to save their lives, Flyers were lethargic and nervous - they never really showed up
2. Penguins adjusted to the refs' penalty-calling frenzy, Flyers couldn't figure it out
3. Not one, but TWO Devorsky's officiating in this game - Flyers never had a chance, even if they had actually come to compete
4. Penguins star players finally remembered how to score, Flyers assumed that this was a practice session
5. Penguins goaltending sucked, Flyers goaltending changed the level of badness that sucking describes (in fairness, any goaltender will look horrible when his defense collapses)
6. Penguins have more playoff-experienced players than Flyers - nerves finally caught up with the rookies

This game will either be remembered as the hiccup in the Flyers' otherwise remarkable series victory against the Pens, or as the meltdown that marked the start of the most humiliating defeat in Flyers history.

[Benignuman]

12:55 PM on 04/20/2012

I suspect (hope?) the latter.

[chiodo08]

10:30 AM on 04/19/2012

ooops...looks like they didn't "need" those suspended players....

[Bertski]

10:51 AM on 04/19/2012

On the one hand, the thought of Neal coming back for game 5, and the Pens firing on all cylinders is a bit frightening. On the other hand, the Flyers have beaten the Pens consistently this year. This one all comes down to nerves, I think. The Pens have the edge in that department, with more players who've experienced the playoffs. The Flyers younguns will either rise above their jitters, or they'll fold under the pressure.

[fds]

12:44 PM on 04/19/2012

Rinaldo already did.

[Benignuman]

12:57 PM on 04/20/2012

I think that straight up talent for talent, the Pens are easily the better team (i.e. both teams firing on all cylinders, Pens will win). But prior to Wednesday night the Flyers showed more character (and there goalie was less of a sieve)..

[Roland19]

10:26 AM on 04/19/2012

Too bad. Would have been nice to see the Pens swept. Hopefully Philly can close them out in Game 5.

[dvglass3]

10:09 AM on 04/19/2012

Yesterday, at around 10:00 AM, I heard a loud "POP".....I wasn't sure what the sound was but now I get it. The sound was the entire Pen's team pulling their heads out of their butt at the same time. Let's go Pen's! This series should never have gone the way it has. Time to get moving and leave Philly wondering what happened!!!

[Hayduke1969]

01:35 AM on 04/19/2012

What a crazy series. Game 5 is going to epic. Go Pens.

[LillyLyn]

11:36 PM on 04/18/2012

Keep it up boys!

[emrogers]

05:33 AM on 04/19/2012

I guess they didn't...

[LillyLyn]

01:20 PM on 04/19/2012

Do you mean the flyers? Because I was talking about the Pens.