Make no mistake about tonight's Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center.
While the FLyers admit they never thought they'd be in position to sweep the Pittsburgh Penguins, now that they are, they don't want to give them any reason to think they can come back in this series.
They want to end if tonight and not chance another game in Pittsburgh on Friday.
“It’s not over,” Max Talbot said. “There’s one more game to be played. The three games don’t mean anything until the fourth one. This is a big test. They will come out and give everything.
“They’re been one of the best n the league since for a while now. The second half of the season, they were really dangerous. It’s about Game 4 now.”
On-ice leader Claude Giroux said the same thing.
“We really don’t want to give them any life,” Giroux said. “They’re kind of a streaky team. They can win a lot of games in a row. I think it’s important for us right off the bat.
"We take that momentum from last game, and we know our fans are going to be out of control tonight so that’s hopefully going to give us a boost, and hopefully we’re going to play the same way.”
Pens captain Sidney Crosby put on a brace face this morning after the skate. Losing James Neal in an elimination game is nothing short of disaster for the Penguins given he has been the only guy on Evgeni Malkin's line who's giving them some help.
“He’s a big part of our offense, but I think we have a lot of depth,” Crosby said of Neal, who will be serve a one-game suspension tonight.
“That’s something we’ve prided ourselves on all year. I think we’re more than capable of providing offense here in the absence of him for one game.”
The Penguins still think they can win this series. They have 11 guys who won the Stanley Cup on their active roster. Those players did not face an 0-3 deficit but they did face an 0-2 in the Cup Final against Detroit and won.
"We’ve just got to think about tonight,:" Crosby said. "That’s where our mindset is. It’s a big game. We’ve got to win a hockey game.
"That’s really all that we’re thinking about. Everyone just wants to make sure we’re individually ready, know what we need to do and go out there and get a win."
Danny Briere said one thing that the FLyer veterans have talked about in their dressing room is not to underestimate how much one win can turn a series. They use the Flyers 0-3 comeback vs. Boston in 2010 as an example.
Yet even Briere says that the Boston comeback may not be entirely relevant here.
“We keep repeating," Briere said. "Pittsburgh is one of those teams where they get on a roll, they get confidence, they’re a dangerous team.
"We want to make sure we have a chance right now, we have to take care of it.”
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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