WRAPUP

The Flyers showed a lot of heart and determination to send the series back to Pittsburgh. The Flyers moved their feet (at least in the first two periods -- not enough for a stretch in the third ) and got pucks and traffic to the net.

"I thought we came out with real good energy," coach John Stevens said after the game. "We didn't just get the puck through the neutral zone, we got to the pucks with speed."

The line changes the Flyers made seemed to help both the first and second lines, as both units generated chances. I thought Vaclav Prospal hustled more at both ends and was harder on the puck than he'd been since the middle of the Washington series. And Mike Richards and Daniel Briere clicked, with Richards generating puck possession and Briere finding open room on the wing.

"When (Stevens) said to play with Richie, I just felt we've had a lot of chemistry on the powerplay throughout the year and I thought, wow, maybe it can work five-on-five. So I was excited and enthusiastic about the idea," said Briere.


Martin Biron had a strong game in goal tonight, and his rebound control (after a few rebounds left out early in the game) got better and better as the game went on. The goalie credited it to his defenders boxing out better and enabling him to get a clear look at the puck.

The only down night tonight was the way the Flyers once again had trouble protecting a multiple goal lead in the third period. Too much time was spent in the Flyers' end. The first goal was a fluke, but the second weas a missed coverage in front with several players digging behind the net.

"It's really easy to say keep on going, but you don't want to take useless chances," said Briere. "If you look at the beginning of the third period, there were three-on-twos one way, three-on-twos the other way. It was kind of run and gun. When you're up three-nothing, it's not the way you want to play. You want to try to clog the middle as much as possible.

"When they got that first goal to make it 3-1, we kind of sat back, and that's why it looked like we weren't moving our feet. But we just didn't want to take useless chances."

NOTES

* Stevens said that it's possible the Flyers could have Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen or both top-pairing D back in the lineup for Game 5. TImonen was with the team before the game.

* Sidney Crosby said after the game that the Flyers are the club that wants to initiate scrums after the whistles, and the Pens need to "play to our strengths, and that's our speed and our skill, and being physical in a disciplined way."

In reality, both sides initiated a lot of after-the-whistle and behind-the-play activity. It was a nasty game on both sides,

* The extra Flyers players in the pregame skate-around were Riley Cote and Nate Guenin. That means Steve Downie has been demoted to the 14th forward spot on the depth chart and will not return to the lineup even if there's an injury to a starting forward. Cote would be first in line.



****

THIRD PERIOD COMMENTARY

Biron made a clean glove save on a Sergei Gonchar blast through traffic at 1:39. The Pens get on the board at 3:16 as Jordan Staal scored on a funky looking goal where Martin Biron didn't quite squeeze off the post on a play from just behind the goal line where there seemed to be nowhere to stuff in the puck. The puck went off Biron's stick and snuck in over the goal line.


After the goal, the Penguins started to control the territorial play for much of the first half of the period. Pittsburgh turned up the forechecking heat and brought the D An excellent shift by Richards and Sami Kapanen helped settle things down and the Flyers began to break out much more smoothly, finding open ice through the neutral zone.

Fleury made a tough stop in close on Upshall at 12:42 to keep the Pens' deficit at two goals. At 14:11, Staal, parked at the hash marks, takes a pass from the corner from Tyler Kennedy and one times it past Biron to make the game 3-2. As the late Gene Hart used to say in such situations, "Fasten your seat belts, my friends."

On a clean faceoff win by the Pens just outside the Flyers blueline, Crosby got the puck and slid in with a shot and then into Biron at 18:47. Finally Lupul seals the game by hitting the empty net at 19:27.

Bedlam erupts behind the Flyers net at 19:38, and Derian Hatcher got the best of Ryan Malone in a spirited fight. There was also an initial holding penalty on Hatcher, plus a charging penalty given to Upshall and a rough on the Pens. Pens finish the game on a powerplay.

At 18:45, Richards and Crosby go at it off a faceoff after trading slashes. Richards wanted to fight, but Crosby just held on as the linesmen rushed in to break it up. Both players were sent off for slashing and roughing.

Third period shots were 12-9 in the Penguins favor (38-34 Penguins overall), faceoffs were 12-9 Flyers (Flyers led 32-28 overall, Richards won 12 of 17), hits were 12-6 Penguins (23-18 Flyers overall, Kirs Letang led all players with five and Hatcher and Smith tops with four for the Flyers).

The Flyers blocked 13 shots, while the Pens blocked 19. Brooks Orpik led all players with five, Lasse Kukkonen led the Flyers with four. Penguins had 18 giveaways (Crosby with five, Malkin with four) to 11 for the Flyers (Jones, Smith and Carter with two apiece).

Randy Jones leads all players with 25:49 of ice time.

******

SECOND PERIOD COMMENTARY

Great action and lots of physical play in the middle stanza. From a Philadelphia standpoint, the most important part is that the Flyers took their three goal lead to the lockerroom after 40 minutes.

At 5:30, Fleury made a spectacular sliding pad save on Briere to keep the game 3-0. On a 3-on-2 rush with Carter and Kukkonen, Briere received the puck from Carter near the right post.

Lots of nastiness behind the play and after the whistle in the second period, but the players are being allowed to play, so the tempo is staying high.

Over about a 3:30 stretch, the Flyers got away with a couple of bad turnovers, most notably a Jones giveaway right onto the stick of Evgeni Malkin.

The Flyers are making all sorts of hard-working hustle plays -- for example, Prospal controlled the puck while down on the ice, Richards landed a big body check on Letang and later on Gonchar, Kukkonen smothered Crosby, Jones made a perfect defensive read against Hossa and Scottie Upshall won a footrace to cancel an icing. That's the difference between playing with urgency and playing "desperate" hockey.

Malkin draws a tripping penalty on Carter at 1:40. Key penalty kill for the Flyers. Biron made a nice glove stop on Whitney on the Pens best chance.

Flyers get a late period powerplay on a Sykora slash at 1:25. Two good chances, but no goals. There will 25 carry-over seconds at the start of the third period.

Second period shots were 12-9 in the Penguins favor (Flyers ahead 26-25 overall), faceoffs were 11-6 Penguins (Flyers up 20-17 overall), hits were 12-6 Flyers (20-10 overall, Hatcher tops with four overall and three in the period). Randy Jones leads all players with 17:22 of ice time.


*****

FIRST PERIOD COMMENTARY

The Flyers really had their skating legs going and moved the puck as well as they have in any period of the playoffs to go off with a 3-0 lead.

It was a fast start for the Flyers, with Marc-Andre Fleury denying Scott Hartnell on a good scoring chance in the game's opening minute.

There were chances at both ends on the Penguins first powerplay, as Mike Richards sped off on a breakaway and missed high to the glove side. Marian Hossa was then denied the other way by Martin Biron.

Joffrey Lupul scored the type of goal he often scored prior to the high ankle sprain. He accelerated into the right circle and ripped a shot. The puck appeared to deflect off Hal Gill and up under the bar at 8:27.

Marc-Andre Fleury's rebound control has not been as much of an issue this season, but he failed to handle an unscreened Randy Jones shot and Daniel Briere pounced on the rebound for his 9th of the playoffs. The goal was scored with three seconds left on the Sergei Gonchar holding penalty drawn by Briere.

The Flyers generated several good chances early on the powerplay brought about by Kris Letang's clipping penalty, but were unable to extend the lead. Later, Jeff Carter and R.J. Umberger missed the net from prime scoring areas. The Umberger play came on Vaclav Prospal rebound.

Quick puck movement, traffic in front and another rebound opportunity enabled Jeff Carter to convert another powerplay goal to make it a 3-0 game. Jeff Carter potted an Umberger rebound from near the left post.

Martin Biron was excellent when called upon, especially in the first half of the period, when the Penguins peppered him with 11 of their 13 shots.

Shots were 17-13 in the Flyers favor, faceoffs were 14-6 Flyers (Richards was 4-for-4), hits were 8-4 Flyers (Smith tops with three). Randy Jones played over half the period, logging 10:23 of ice time.

******

Pre-game note: Tonight's referees are Marc Joannette and Brad Watson. Linesmen are Steve Miller and Brian Murphy.


*******

Here's a look at the secondary stats for all the Flyers defensemen in the playoffs. As always, keep in mind that the RSS is an imperfect system and things such as playing style and ice time can distort some of the numbers.

In the case of giveaways, failed clears are rarely charged as giveaways. Cleanly picked off pass attempts are what generally get called gives.

Time on ice per game
Timonen 24:55 (12 GP)
Coburn 22:25 (14 GP)
Hatcher 21:28 (13 GP)
Jones 21:05 (14 GP)
Modry 19:49 (8 GP)
Smith 16:47 (15 GP)
Parent 15:41 (2 GP)
Kukkonen 15:07 (12 GP)

Hits
Smith 51 (3.4 per game)
Hatcher 30 (2.3 per game)
Coburn 24 (1.7 per game)
Timonen 21 (1.75 per game)
Kukkonen 21 (1.75 per game)
Modry 10 (1.25 per game)
Jones 8 (0.6 per game)
Parent 2 (1.0 per game)

Blocks
Smith 43 (2.87 per game)
Timonen 34 (2.83 per game)
Kukkonen 31 (2.58 per game)
Jones 31 (2.21 per game)
Hatcher 23 (1.76 per game)
Coburn 17 (1.21 per game)
Modry 6 (0.85 per game)
Parent 2 (1.0 per game)


Charged Giveaways
Modry 2 (0.25 per game)
Kukkonen 3 (0.25 per game)
Parent 4 (2.0 per game)
Smith 5 (0.33 per game)
Timonen 8 (0.67 per game)
Coburn 18 (1.28 per game)
Hatcher 18 (1.38 per game)
Jones 19 (1.35 per game)

Credited Takeaways/Charged Giveaways
Jones 9 takes/19 gives (-10)
Timonen 5 takes/ 8 gives (-3)
Coburn 5 takes/18 gives (-13)
Kukkonen 4 takes/3 gives (+1)
Hatcher 3 takes/ 18 gives (-15)
Modry 2 takes/ 2 gives (E)
Smith 1 take/ 5 gives (-4)
Parent 0 takes/ 4 gives (-4)

Plus/minus
Jones +6
Timonen +5
Coburn +4
Hatcher +2
Kukkonen +2
Parent +1
Smith -3
Modry -5

******

I'll spare you the cliches and focus instead on the game tonight. The Flyers have not lacked for effort in the first three games of the series. But in order to send this series back to Pittsburgh, they'll need to elevate their play from up high in the defensive zone out to the Pittsburgh goal line.

Scoring first is critical. The Flyers have had to play catch-up hockey all series, managing to briefly pull ahead early in Game One and rally twice in Game Two to send the game to the third period tied. But chasing the game is a recipe for losing, especially when you're struggling to get through the Penguins neutral zone trap.

Another factor that hasn't gotten as much attention as the Penguins' 1-4 against the breakout has been the way Pittsburgh has been able to stack their coverages in their own zone. There is no fear of the Flyers' defenseman sneaking in from the point or jumping into the rush. That has enabled the Penguins to force the Flyers forwards to the outside and to block shots.

Martin Biron has been outplayed by Marc-Andre Fleury in every game of the series. That needs to change immediately. Beyond that, it's a matter of the team staying out of the penalty box and making Pittsburgh earn its goals. The Pens generate enough on their own without giving them gift goals.

John Stevens has made some major changes in the lineup, trying to spark the struggling Daniel Briere line by putting Mike Richards on it as the left wing. Vaclav Prospal moves from the Briere to line to center R.J. Umberger and Joffrey Lupul. The Flyers will not have Braydon Coburn back in the lineup tonight.

FLYERS LINES AND SCRATCHES

Richards - Briere - Hartnell
Umberger - Prospal - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Thoresen - Dowd - Kapanen

Hatcher - Jones
Smith - Parent
Modry - Kukkonen

Biron
[Niittymäki]


SCRATCHES
Coburn (swelling, stitches near left eye)
Timonen (blood clot)
Downie (healthy)
Cote (healthy)
Tolpeko (healthy)
Gagne (concussion)
Guenin (healthy)
Potulny (healty)
Ruzicka (healthy)
Greentree (healthy)
Munroe (healthy)

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