PHILADELPHIA —
It's only a third of the way through the season, but when the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins play a game with first place in the soon-to-be-defunct Atlantic Division on the line, it's certainly going to have heightened emotion — with or without Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby — or Flyers captain Chris Pronger.
Crosby missed the game as a precaution against a possible recurrence of his concussion problems. Pronger was out recovering from knee surgery and a mystery virus/illness/whatever word the Flyers can come up with that doesn't spell concussion.
And yet, minus that star power, there was still a heck of a hockey game.
The Flyers caught the Penguins napping early, jumping out to a three-goal lead, but the Penguins clawed back, leading to some hairy moments in the third period.
However, the Flyers, who came back from identical deficits twice in the past ten days, weren't about to let the same thing happen to them.
Actually, Ilya Bryzgalov wasn't about to let it happen.
The much-maligned goalie of late was very sharp Thursday, making several big stops - especially in the third period - as the Flyers held on for a 3-2 win at Wells Fargo Center.
"I thought he was really steady," coach Peter Laviolette said. "Especially at the end. He shined the last 10 or 12 minutes of the game. When they started pressing and the puck was coming at our net quite a bit, he did a good job of making the saves we needed him to make to make sure we walked out of here with the two points."
The Flyers built their lead on a crazy, pinball goal by Danny Briere, a power play marker from Wayne Simmonds and a greasy goal from Scott Hartnell from the crease to build the lead.
However, Pittsburgh clawed back and nearly tied the score.
Following goals from James Neal and Evgeni Malkin, all the momentum had swung in Pittsburgh's direction.
The Penguins looked like a team who were waiting in Philadelphia for the Flyers to return home. The Flyers looked like a team who played overtime the night previous in Buffalo.
But Bryzgalov stood tall in net, making 25 saves, and kept many of quality Penguins scoring chances from reaching danger.
"That's my job," Bryzgalov said. "I don't need to tell myself anything. I just want to help the team win. I just want to stop the puck and hopefully that will keep going to the end (of the season)."
It was Bryzgalov's best performance this season as a Flyer.
Whether he was making a sliding pad stop on Craig Adams, or stoning Chris Kunitz in front with his glove, or stopping James Neal's snipe with his mask — a la Roman Cechmanek — Bryzgalov was a difference-maker.
Even down to the final seconds when he had to make a stick save on a streaking Malkin, Bryzgalov stood strong.
"Bryz made some big saves for us," Hartnell said. "He's our No. 1 goalie, he's tough to score on in practice. I know he had a little confidence issue there, he was 'lost in the woods' for a while, but he's been great for us. We have all the confidence in the world in him."
And so does coach Peter Laviolette, who admitted after the game that he might have started Sergei Bobrovsky had the opponent been different.
"Maybe had it been a different opponent maybe I would have considered something different, but we want to get him going and get him playing - get him some games," Laviolette said. "It was a big game. It was for first in the conference and we wanted to make sure that our guys were ready and our goaltender was ready and we put the lineup on the ice that we wanted to. And we wanted to go after a win and make sure we got it. So you know Bobrovsky will get games coming up here, but this was a big game tonight."
The win vaulted the Flyers (17-7-3, 37 points) one point ahead of the Penguins in the standings as well as past the Boston Bruins, who lost to Florida Thursday, for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
"We want to finish as high as possible," Hartnell said. "We got a good streak of wins going here right now and we just want to keep that going. Coming into the dressing room every day is fun, the guys are loose, we're working hard at practice and all that's going into the games."
Penguins
Related Photos
-
Philadelphia’s Kimmo Timonen (44) and Ilya Bryzgalov (30) celebrate as Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz (14) skates off the ice following the Flyers’ 3-2 victory.
Discussion
With Crosby out, Flyers’ goalie give Pens headaches
- Penguins
-
-
NHL Playoffs: Ottawa topples Pens in two OT
Colin Greening wore six stitches on his left cheek, and a wide smile, after Ottawa’s double overtime playoff victory against Pittsburgh. Greening ended the longest game of this year’s postseason with a backhander off a rebound 7:39 into the second OT, and the Senators’ 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins cut their series deficit to 2-1 tonight.
-
‘Puck Dynasty’: Show us your playoff beards!
Are you growing a playoff beard for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ run to the Stanley Cup? If you are, then we want to hear from you.
-
NHL Playoffs: Pens top Senators 4-1 to take series opener
The Ottawa Senators know there is little margin for error if they want to upset the Pittsburgh Penguins. If they don’t slow down Pittsburgh’s potent power play, they’ll have a difficult time against Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Penguins.
-
NHL Playoffs: Crosby delivers as Penguins take command
Sidney Crosby picked up the touch pass from Jarome Iginla near center ice and sprinted toward the New York Islanders' net. Broken jaw or no broken jaw, the Pittsburgh Penguins' captain had only one destination in mind.
-
NHL Playoffs: Fleury struggles in Pens’ loss to Isles
Marc-Andre Fleury sat with his head in hands for several minutes before taking questions in the cramped Pittsburgh Penguins dressing room. After struggling in a disappointing 6-4 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, Fleury needed time to gather himself enough to discuss his difficult outing.
-
NHL Playoffs: Pens bounce back with win over Isles
The Pittsburgh Penguins bounced back from their home disappointment and dished out their fair share to the suddenly shocked New York Islanders. All it took was Sidney Crosby and a very powerful power play to do the trick.
-
NHL Hockey: Vanek powers Sabres by Penguins 4-2
At least Pittsburgh doesn’t have to worry about facing Buffalo in the playoffs. At the moment, the Sabres are the one team in the Eastern Conference that has found a way to beat the Penguins at home.
-
NHL Hockey: Pens beat Sens seventh straight win
The Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak and put a dent in the Ottawa Senators’ playoff hopes. Tomas Vokoun made 34 saves to earn his 300th career win and Dustin Jeffrey had a goal and an assist to lead the Penguins to their seventh straight victory, 3-1 over the Senators last night.
-
Boston manhunt postpones Pens-Bruins game
The Red Sox and Bruins postponed their games on Friday night while authorities searched for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. The Bruins game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden was tentatively rescheduled for Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
-
NHL Hockey: No Crosby, no more winning streak for Pens
Good periods. Bad ones. It didn’t matter much to the Pittsburgh Penguins during their perfect 15-game run through March. In the end, they always found a way. April might be a little tougher, particularly without star Sidney Crosby.
- More Penguins Headlines
-
