The Penguins avoided being swept by playing a much better game on Wednesday night. They had to do so without forwards Craig Adams, Aaron Asham, and James Neal who were serving suspensions stemming from Sunday. The Pens were also without defenseman Paul Martin due to injury, but that might have been addition by subtraction. Martin has hardly lived up to his contract this season.
The offense went crazy in this game. They chased goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and then tortured his replacement, Sergei Bobrovsky. Each goalie allowed five goals. Jordan Staal had a hat-trick. Evgeni Malkin finally showed up, scoring two goals. The following players each scored as well: Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, Kris Letang, Matt Niskanen, and Steve Sullivan.
The special teams battle got a little better, but is still a concern. The penalty kill is still scary bad as the Flyers scored on 3 of 5 opportunities. The powerplay improved, going 4 for 9. There were a few powerplays in which the Penguins really struggled to set anything up, however.
You may disagree but the biggest positive I took from this game was the defense and Marc-Andre Fleury after period 1. After giving up three first period goals, the Flyers couldn't get much going. "The Flower" shut the Flyers out for the final 43 minutes of the game, stopping 22 of 25 shots.
Both teams will travel to Pittsburgh for game 5 on Friday. The Penguins have an uphill battle ahead of them, trailing in the series 3-1. If they play like they did in the second and third period on Wednesday, they could very well be unstoppable.
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