The Pittsburgh Penguins came out with great energy, which lead to another big first period lead. However, the defense let the Penguins down again. Pittsburgh now travels to Philadelphia down 0-2. They wasted their home-ice advantage and gave the Flyers a good deal of momentum for the series.
The Penguins came out flying in this game. Sidney Crosby scored 15 seconds after the puck dropped. Chris Kunitz scored a powerplay goal halfway through the first to stake the Pens to a 2-0 lead. After a timeout by Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, Philadelphia got their first goal as Max Talbot put a rebound past Penguins' goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Paul Martin was able to answer for the Penguins with about 18 seconds left of the clock. For the second straight game, Pittsburgh went into the first intermission with a 3-1 lead.
Unfortunately, not much else was different from the last game either. In the second and third periods, the Flyers scored 7 goals to the Penguins 2 goals. Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier each had a hat trick and Jaromir Jagr added one for good measure. For the Pens, Kunitz put in his second goal during the second period and Tyler Kennedy buried a back hand early in the third period.
The Penguins will have little chance of avoiding the sweep if they are unable to cut down on their turnovers and mental lapses. Each time the Penguins got the lead, they would commit a blunder which would lead to a tied game again. These are not the old, slow Flyers that they used to be. This is a quick-strike, fast-paced team that plays with a lot of passion.
The next game of the series will take place on Sunday at 3:00 PM. The Penguins will have to regroup to come back from this 2-0 series deficit.
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