Jakub Voracek leads Philadelphia Flyers past Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime 4-3 -NHL Playoffs Update
Pittsburgh gave up a strong first period lead as Philadelphia Flyer stayed consistent in the last 40 minutes of regulation to force it into overtime and take game one of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Eastern Conference playoff quarterfinals, 4-3,
at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Giving up the first at home is never a good sign as Penguins will have to match Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center if they hope to stay alive in this competitive series.
Penguins had everything going their way as Sidney Crosby potted the first of the night at 3:43 into the opening period. Pascal Dupuis missed on his shot that hit a Flyers defender and Crosby was right there to back hand the rebound past Ilya Bryzgalov.
The home team extended the lead as Tyler Kennedy got a quick feed from Jordan Staal on the breakaway after a luck turnover to fire it past the Philadelphia goalie.
It was Pascal Dupuis with the Penguins third straight goal as Steve Sullivan set him up with a smart backhanded pass going behind the net with Dupuis tipping the puck which hit Bryzgalov first and then slide past the goalie.
Philadelphia was having second thoughts on starting Bryzgalov and were even thinking about pulling him out of the net but Flyers head coach, Peter Laviolette, expressed confidence in his goalie and let him stay.
That move paid off as Bryzgalov literally shutdown Pittsburgh for the remainder of the match, blocking 15 shots in the second and third periods. Penguins made a foolish move nearly midway through the second as Danny Briere was fed the puck on a breakaway
and fired it past Marc-Andre Fleury.
"They came back, which is what they've done," Pittsburgh coach, Dan Byslma, said. "They're a good team. They don't stop. The second half of the game, we didn't get to our game and where we needed to play as much as we needed to and they got back in it."
Briere made it a one point game by 9:17 into the third followed by the equaliser from Brayden Schenn on the power play to force an uncertain overtime extension and shocking the sold-out crowd.
Jakub Voracek got lucky in OT as Matt Carle missed on his narrow attempt as he fired off on the rebound to take the match.
"It was a lucky bounce for me but I'll take it," Voracek said, who got his first career playoff goal.
Philadelphia and Penguins will be facing off in game-two of the quarterfinal series in Pittsburgh on Friday, April 13.
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