43
PENS LET 1 GET AWAY
Photo
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jordan Staal (11) watches as the Philadelphia Flyers’ Jakub Voracek, back right, scores the game-winning goal past Penguins’ goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the overtime period in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfi nals Wednesday at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The Flyers won 4-3 to grab a one-game lead in the series.
Flyers rally for overtime victory
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
Jakub Voracek has no idea how good the Philadelphia Flyers could be if they played 60 full minutes, or beyond.
At the moment, it’s hardly necessary.
Voracek beat Marc-Andre Fleury from in close 2:23 into overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
“‘It was a lucky bounce for me but I’ll take it,” Voracek said after scoring his first career playoff goal.
So will the Flyers, who hardly panic when things don’t go their way early.
Philadelphia led the NHL with 20 victories when the opponent jumps in front. Pittsburgh did that with ease. The Penguins scored the first three goals, all in the first period.
No matter. Daniel Briere scored twice, Brayden Schenn added a goal in his playoff debut, and Ilya Brzygalov settled down after a shaky start to finish with 25 saves.
Briere missed the final week of the regular season after taking a hard hit from Pittsburgh’s Joe Vitale during Philadelphia’s 6-4 win at Consol Energy Center on April 1. Briere returned to steady a team that was “in shock” after getting dominated during the first 20 minutes.
“Sitting here after the first period we were saying we’ve done it all year, let’s start with a goal,” Briere said.
Briere’s breakaway midway through the second period gave the Flyers life. He pulled Philadephia within one midway through the third period before Schenn tied it shortly thereafter to send it to overtime, where the 22-year-old Voracek ended it quickly.
“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.”
Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis scored for the Penguins, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 shots, but Pittsburgh struggled after dominating the first period.
“We got away from our game, that’s really what it was,” Crosby said.
The rivals delivered on their promise to play “whistle-to-whistle” and leave out the rough stuff that highlighted their six regular-season meetings. The game featured only a handful of penalties and little of the typical animosity.
Dupuis gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 advantage with just 37 seconds left before the first intermission, scraping a puck off Bryzgalov’s pads and into the net.