Pens take control of series with 3-1 victory

Pittsburgh can finish off the Flyers in Game 5 at home on Thursday night.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sid the Kid’s momentum on a skate-first slide took him crashing all the way into the back of the net.

Lucky for Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, the puck went along with him. His skates were tangled in the net, Flyers goalie Martin Biron was looking for an interference call and the orange-clad crowd howled in protest for a review.

The goal stood — and so does Pittsburgh’s series lead.

A sliding Crosby scored a goal that ricocheted off his stick, his midsection and into the back of the net to spark Pittsburgh to a 3-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

“That’s how he scores goals and that one right there is a typical goal,” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.

Crosby’s second goal of the series snapped a scoreless tie and helped the Penguins grab a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Now Crosby and the Penguins can finish off the Flyers in Game 5 Thursday in Pittsburgh.

That might sound familiar — the Flyers were knocked out by the Penguins in five games in last year’s conference finals.

“We’re not dead,” Flyers center Danny Briere said.

No, but their season might be finished if Marc-Andre Fleury makes the kinds of sensational stops like he did in Game 4.

He stopped 45 shots, only six shy of the most he’s faced in any game. He was only two saves away from a career best.

“It didn’t matter how many shots they had, I just tried to make the saves and I knew we would be in good shape to win the game,” Fleury said.

Tyler Kennedy and Maxime Talbot also scored for the Penguins to back Fleury’s effort.