Flyers fight way to 3-0 lead over the Penguins

4/16/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell winds up as he and Pittsburgh’s Craig Adams battle during one of many simultaneous third-period fights.
Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell winds up as he and Pittsburgh’s Craig Adams battle during one of many simultaneous third-period fights.

PHILADELPHIA — Fists were flying faster than shots on goal. Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux even became knotted in the pushing, pulling, and shoving, a pair of superstars willing to mix it up to prove which team was the baddest on the ice and the scoreboard.

The Penguins and Flyers talked trash, laid the smack down, and played one wildly entertaining game. The result was still the same. The Flyers rallied from another early deficit for a decisive Game 3 victory that placed them on the brink of an improbable sweep.

Danny Briere, Matt Read, and Max Talbot each scored two goals to lead Philadelphia to an 8-4 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday in a fight-filled game in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal.

Giroux and Wayne Simmonds also scored to help the Flyers take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The Flyers scored 20 goals in the first three games.

“Our goal is to finish it right away,” Briere said.

The goals might be hard to find on a highlight reel. This one was all about the brawls more suitable for a UFC card. Three players were tossed in the first period. There was a rare fight between superstars when Crosby squared off against Giroux.

No one got the better end of that scrap. But by the end, Flyers fans serenaded the Penguins with booming chants of “You can’t beat us!”

“All three games were kind of weird games,” Giroux said. “I guess I like weird games because we always finish by winning.”

Jordan Staal and James Neal scored twice for a Penguins team pushed to the limit by its hated, intrastate rival. Marc-Andre Fleury was benched after allowing six goals in two periods. He has allowed a whopping 17 goals in the first three games.

Coach Dan Bylsma said Fleury would start “the next four games.”

Hard to imagine at this rate, especially with NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin (109 points) yet to score a goal for the Penguins.

The Flyers played a video that billed their run as the “Fight to the Cup.” They never expected a first period that would have left those old Broad Street Bullies smiling.

Each team had their top defenseman — Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Philadelphia’s Kimmo Timonen — tossed. So was Penguins forward Arron Asham.

But the scene ripped straight out of the pages of Ripley’s came when Giroux and Crosby went at it against the backboard.

“In the end, that’s really playoff hockey,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “A couple of the best players in the world dropping the gloves going at it. Would I rather have G keep his gloves on? Sure. But when he’s fighting Sidney Crosby, that’s playoff hockey. That’s this series.”

Crosby ignited the scrum when he twice jabbed goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s glove against the ice. Giroux, third in the NHL in points this season, shoved Crosby from behind. Crosby, clearly not caring about his history of concussions, retaliated by shoving Giroux’s head against the glass.

While the 20,092 fans dressed in their matching Hulk Hogan-inspired orange T-shirts roared, Timonen and Letang exchanged shots, and Voracek and Pittsburgh’s Steve Sullivan each were penalized for roughing.

Timonen and Letang were both hit with 5 minutes for fighting and were ejected because they were assessed a major penalty after the original fight had started.

Crosby insisted the Penguins weren’t getting rattled.

“There’s more than one team getting in those things,” he said. “You can make a story all you want about us getting frustrated. They’re doing the same things we are. It’s intense.”

PANTHERS 4, DEVILS 2

SUNRISE, Fla. — Stephen Weiss scored the first two playoff goals of his 10-year NHL career, Jose Theodore stopped 23 shots, and Florida got its first playoff victory in nearly 15 years, beating New Jersey to even the first-round series at a game apiece.

Marcel Goc had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who survived a frantic Devils rally in the third.

Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk scored in the first 2:02 of the third period, and Martin Brodeur made 20 saves for New Jersey, losing a playoff game to Florida for the first time in six career postseason starts against the Panthers.

Tomas Fleischmann had an empty-net goal as time expired and Florida fans littered the ice with hundreds of toy rats — a tradition that dates to the Panthers’ run to the 1996 Stanley Cup finals.

KINGS 1, CANUCKS 0

LOS ANGELES — Jonathan Quick made 41 saves, Dustin Brown scored on a long rebound with 13:30 to play, and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings pushed the Vancouver Canucks to the brink of elimination with a victory in Game 3.

Brown’s fourth goal of a stellar series put the Kings one win away from their first playoff series victory since 2001. He also put the two-time Presidents’ Trophy-winning Canucks on the edge of a shocking playoff departure.

Quick hung on for his second career playoff shutout after setting a club record with 10 in the regular season, and the Kings snapped a five-game playoff losing streak at Staples Center in front of a sellout crowd starved for playoff success.

Game 4 is Wednesday night.