Philadelphia Flyers rally in third to send Pittsburgh Penguins packing 6-4 - NHL Update
Philadelphia was in playoff mode entering their Sunday night, April 1, 2012, contest against Pittsburgh as Flyers rallied in the final 20 minutes of regulation to overtake Penguins, 6-4, at the sold-out CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United
States.
With tensions high in the third period, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could not keep a grip on their patience any longer after two players collided late into the contest and an uncensored brawl broke out in the ice between players from both sides.
Even the coaches went at it as Dan Bylsma or Pittsburgh exchanged harsh words with Peter Laviolette of Philadelphia standing on the boards. It was a preview of the playoffs as both teams will be facing each other if they end off in the same positioning.
Philadelphia has given a sign to Pittsburgh according to Flyers’ Claude Giroux, which could definitely have a mental impact on the whole team the way they played Sunday night.
"I hope we are because we're going to play them in the playoffs," Giroux said. "I think it's important for us to be sure that they know it's going to be a tough one and it should be pretty fun."
Steve Sullivan and James Neal got Pittsburgh off to a strong start with two straight in the opening five minutes of game-play. Claude Giroux answered for Philadelphia with his 28th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season,
giving Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell the assists.
Maxime Talbot levelled the match 1:25 into the second while Philadelphia picked up the pace in round-three to dominate.
Wayne Simmonds opened the scoring with his power play goal at 2:35 into round-three followed by Jakub Voracek and Marc-Andre Bourdon. Steve Sullivan attempted at breaking the Philadelphia momentum but Jakub Voracek added his second of the night to take the
mach well out of Pittsburgh’s hands by then.
Chris Kunitz potted the final of the match at 19:28 on the added man advantage after all h**l had broken loose on the ice between the two teams and the time had to be brought to a stop.
"Once it was 2-0, our guys really fought. They fought," Laviolette said. "I don't think there was any doubt or scepticism we could win the game. But it wasn't the start we were looking for."
Philadelphia Flyers have the next at home against New York Rangers on Tuesday while Boston Bruins will be hosting Pittsburgh Penguins on the same day.
Tags: