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PHILADELPHIA — Yes, the Philadelphia Flyers were without their top two defencemen, but it was their offence that was missing in action last night.
The Flyers skated smack into a stingy Pittsburgh Penguins lineup that surrendered only 18 shots on goal. The Penguins continued to exhibit a deadly transition game in a 4-1 victory over the Flyers to take Philadelphia to the brink of elimination in the NHL Eastern Conference final.
The Penguins, who enjoy a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with the next match back at the Wachovia Center tomorrow, stood up at their blueline and didn't require much patience to make the Flyers pay with more sloppy turnovers in the neutral zone and at the Pittsburgh blueline.
"Well, it's exactly what it is, it's a trap," Flyers coach John Stevens said when asked about the Penguins' defensive system. "They executed very well. They pounce on turnovers. They're very committed to the checking game right now. They're creating all their offence from the checking side of the puck, and they're doing it very well.
Ryan Malone of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his goal in the third period with teammate Evgeni Malkin. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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"You know, our puck-support execution is not where it needs to be, and I think you have to give them some credit for it. They're checking us into turnovers. We're not executing with the pressure that we're receiving, and they're feasting on the turnovers."
The Flyers were without defenceman Kimmo Timonen, who will miss the entire series with a blood clot in his ankle, and Braydon Coburn, who required more than 50 stitches to close a gash on the bridge of his nose and left-eye area when he was hit with a deflected puck early in the second game on Sunday. He was unable to play because the eye was swollen shut.
"I think as soon as my eye opens up, they'll re-evaluate, but my self-prognosis is, as soon as it opens up, I want to play," Coburn said.
His teammates didn't want to play well in the early going last night. Before the game was eight minutes old, the Penguins went ahead 2-0 on a power-play goal from defenceman Ryan Whitney and on a nifty rush from Marian Hossa, who added an empty-net goal in the game's final minute.
"I really don't have an explanation right now," Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul said. "We not only didn't get chances, but when we did, we shot wide or they blocked our shots."
Philadelphia blocked 14 shots and the Penguins missed the net 10 times. Another telling statistic was the Flyers' 19 giveaways, compared with only 10 by Pittsburgh.
The Flyers' goal came midway through the first period, when Vaclav Prospal's wraparound attempt was knocked in by R.J. Umberger for his 10th goal in 15 games.
But any chance of a rally died midway through the third period when fourth-liner Steve Downie threw a pass to the middle as he entered the Pittsburgh zone. The Penguins quickly turned the miscue into a Ryan Malone goal. Downie, who failed to chip the puck out of the Flyers' zone in the third period of the second game, a faux pas that resulted in Maxime Talbot's game-winner, won't be in the lineup tomorrow.
"I think his feelings are not important right now, to be honest with you," Stevens said. "We put him back in because you know he's a big-game player, but he's got to learn, and, obviously, he hasn't. You can't make that play. A flat pass, going in the offensive zone with [Pittsburgh's Evgeni] Malkin on the ice, it hasn't worked all series. I don't know why we think it's going to work now."
The Pittsburgh victory allowed the Penguins to keep pace with their Western Conference counterpart, the Detroit Red Wings. They went up 3-0 in their West final series on Monday. If both the Wings and Penguins can complete their sweeps tonight and tomorrow, respectively, it will be the first time that both conference finals ended in four games since 1992, when the Penguins swept the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks followed suit against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Penguins went on to win their second Stanley Cup title in a row by defeating the Blackhawks in four games, and they haven't been back to the final since.
