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Game 5 Wrap: Flyers Gut Out 4-2 Win in Pittsburgh |
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GAME 5 WRAP: FLYERS GUT OUT 4-2 WIN IN PITTSBURGH
The first-round playoff series between the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins is going back to Philadelphia for Game Six on Sunday after the Flyers skated off with a 4-2 win at PPG Paints Arena in Game Five on Friday night.
The Flyers were the better team in the first period and went off with a 1-0 lead at intermission. Pittsburgh dominated the second period and Philly was lucky to take it to the third period tied at 2-2. Then, after Pittsburgh controlled most of the play in the third period, two late goals by the Flyers sealed the win.
Returning to the lineup at clearly far below 100 percent health due to a lower body injury suffered at practice on Tuesday, Sean Couturier scored the game winning goal (2nd of the series) and logged 6:51 of penalty killing time amid 16:55 of total ice time over 19 shifts.
Couturier centered the third line in Game 5, with Valtteri Filppula moving to the top line. Filppula assisted on a first period goal by captain Claude Giroux, and notched a short-handed goal late in the second period to knot the game at 2-2. Late in the third period, he pressured a turnover and earned the lone assist on a Matt Read empty net goal that iced the win. Filppula's three-point effort were his first points of the series.
Michal Neuvirth got the start in goal for the Flyers. He was spectacular at times, adventurous at other times. Both Pittsburgh goals were stoppable chances. However, Neuvirth kept battling and stepped up with a host of key saves that balanced off the two bad ones by the end of the night. He finished with 30 saves on 32 shots.
Special teams ended up having a huge impact on the outcome, although not in a way the Flyers would ever have scripted it. They were shorthanded five times -- three times legitimately, twice on awful calls -- and not only went 5-for-5 that included a lengthy 4-on-3 kill but later got the vital shorthanded goal by Filppula that re-tied the game. Philly went 0-for-1 on the power play.
Ivan Provorov was an absolute tower of strength for Philly, logging 30:07 of ice time. He was credited with six hits and a pair of blocked shots. Provorov was especially strong during 6:52 worth of penalty killing time. He sustained an injury late in the game and was unable to finish.
Jakub Voracek had his best offensive game to date, looking dangerous off the rush several times. He also generated an assist (3rd of the series) on Giroux's goal. Jori Lehterä (2nd assist) got the helper on the Filppula shorthander. Wayne Simmonds (2nd assist) got an assist on the game-winning goal.
The Flyers were credited with 48 hits in Game Five: the most they’ve had in a playoff game since they were credited with 49 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 30, 2004.
Bryan Rust (2nd goal of the series) and Jake Guentzel (2nd) scored for Pittsburgh. Conor Sheary (2nd assist of the series), Derick Brassard (2nd assist) Sidney Crosby (5th assist) and Dominik Simon (2nd assist) collected assists.
Evgeni Malkin, on a play where he appeared to be slew-footing Jori Lehterä late in the first period, went down on pain when Lehterä fell on his leg. Malkin returned for the second period.
Matt Murray took the loss in goal for Pittsburgh. He stopped 21 of 24 shots. The Giroux goal was unstoppable and the Couturier game-winner deflected. The sequence on the Filppula shorthander was one he could have handled better.
1ST PERIOD SYNOPSIS
The Filppula line started against the Crosby line. A Brandon Manning shot from up high that deflected on net off Phil Kessel was the game's first shot. Two shifts later, Provorov put a puck at the net, creating a scramble in front. Pittsburgh got the clear.
The Flyers iced the puck at 5:57. Shots were 2-0 Flyers.
Tom Kuhnhackl got wide open in the right slot but a Malkin pass intended for him missed the mark. One shift later, Matt Read turned a puck over behind the Flyers' net but no harm resulted.
Neuvirth made saves on Jake Guentzel from the left circle and then Crosby from the top of the circle. Dominik Simon ran interference on Andrew MacDonald to open up space for Crosby. The Flyers then got the game's first power play Simon was called for interference at 7:14.
On the power play, Patrick ripped a shot just wide of the top left corner. With the second unit out, Gostisbehere fired a left point shot on net with Simmonds looking for a tip in front.
At 10:04, the Flyers were called for too many men on the ice, giving Pittsburgh their first power play of the game. Malkin snapped a right circle shot on net that rebounded into the left slot but the Flyers got the clear. The Flyers killed the penalty successfully.
Malkin had a wrap-around attempt. Neuvirth made the save.
Couturier snapped a left circle shot on net, snapped up by Murray at 14:44.
With 4:07 left, the Penguins iced the puck. Jori Lehterä lost the ensuing draw and the Penguins broke out. The Flyers regained the offensive zone. After putting a shoulder into Malkin, Lehterä tumbled on top of Malkin's leg. The trainer came out and Malkin got up slowly and went off up the tunnel.
Giroux scored his first goal of the series, giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 17:29. Filppula had an initial chance, cutting in front from the left side but losing the handle. From behind the net, Voracek fed a nice pass out to an open Giroux in the right slot and and he hammered the puck home under the crossbar. The assists went to Voracek and Filppula.
Gostisbehere had a giveaway on the next shift on a pass into the neutral zone but the Penguins did not generate a dangerous chance from it.
First period shots were 9-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were 17-11 Flyers. Flyers were credited with 22 hits to 12 for Pittsburgh (Dale Weise led with 4 hits).
2ND PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Malkin returned to the bench for the start of the second period. The Crosby line started again versus the Filppula line. Guentzel missed the net on a one-timer from the left hash marks.
Patrick led a 2-on-1 with Raffl. Murray stopped the initial Patrick slap shot from the right circle and Raffl was not able to do much with the rebound that bounced to the opposite slot. A golden chance to take a 2-0 lead went by the wayside.
The Brassard line got the Filppula line hemmed in on a shift that produced a couple of shots for Pittsburgh. Neuvirth finally held a puck for a stoppage.
A weak pass by Simmonds got held in by Pittsburgh and caused a heap of trouble. Doing battle down low with Brandon Manning, Malkin lost his cool and the two got coincidental roughing minors to set up 4-on-4 play.
During 4-on-4, Neuvirth absorbed a Brian Dumoulin point shot; the shot itself was routine but the Penguins had the territorial edge the entire shift. Exiting the box, Malkin joined the play for a scoring chance. Pittsburgh got a power play a 6:42 as Gostisbehere was called for slashing (the defenseman broke his stick) Malkin.
On the kill, Ivan Provorov had two cracks at a zone clear, succeeding on the second. A quick stick by Lehterä denied an entry. Gudas broke up a play down low and shoveled to Lehterä for a clear. The Penguins finally got set up late in the power play and had a wave of pressure that continued into the resumption of 5-on-5 play. Conor Sheary rang a shot off the crossbar.
With 10:31 left, Neuvirth snared a Dumoulin shot with good box out work in front. On the next shift, Malkin elevated a shot from in close over the net.
At 12:00 of the second period, after extended pressure deep in the Flyers' end, the Penguins tied the game. Rust slipped away from Read behind the net with Hägg leaving his post behind to engage with Brassard in front. Rust then scored on a wraparound just inside the right post to the the game at 1-1. Sheary and Brassard got the assists on what was a bad goal all the way around for Philly.
At 12:55, the teams went back to 4-on-4: MacDonald went off for interference, Zach Aston-Reese for roughing. The Penguins then got 1:36 of a 4-on-3 power play as Gostisbehere wrapped up Crosby behind the net and took a holding penalty. The Flyers staged a very strong kill to keep the game tied.
With 3:30 left, Neuvirth was able to knock down a bouncing dump-in that took a funky hop up over his glove but into his chest. Fifteen seconds later, Neuvirth was beaten through the five hole on a shot from the left circle along the ice by Guentzel as Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead.
With 2:58 left, right after the next face off, Aston-Reese went around Gudas and drew a holding penalty that angered the Flyers' bench because they did not think Gudas actually grabbbed onto the attacker.
Filppula stepped up huge on the kill. He made a drop pass to Lehterä, who put a routine wrist shot at the net. Murray didn't handle it cleanly and Filppula jammed it through the pads for a shorthanded goal at 2-2 tie at 18:15. The Flyers killed the remaining penalty time.
Shots were 15-8 Penguins (20-17 Pittsburgh overall). Provorov already had a whopping 19:09 of ice time through two periods.
3RD PERIOD SYNOPSIS
Voracek passed up an open shot and then forcing a pass to Filppula. The Flyers center was then called for a phantom tripping penalty on Dumoulin, who had stumbled on his own in the corner. The Flyers were once again shorthanded. The Penguins generated massive pressure for the first 1:40-plus before the Flyers finally got a clear.
With 16:13 left, Neuvirth made a good glove save on Kuhnhackl. Two shifts later, the Brassard line created a massive scramble in deep. Then Neuvirth had to rob Dominik Simon.
Giroux went off the ice slowly after taking a hit away from the puck by Oleksiak. Gudas fought the massive Pittsburgh defenseman at the other end of the ice at 4:47.
Shots were 6-0 through 5:30 when Konecny narrowly missed a short side goal. The Couturier line then had an excellent shift, hemming the Penguins in deep for the first extended stretch since the first period.
With 11:02 left, the Penguins iced the puck. The Filppula line wasn't able to generate possession. Two shifts later, Provorov fired a center point shot through some traffic. Murray made the stop.
Pittsburgh generated another wave of pressure on back-to-back shifts. Shots were 11-3 Pittsurgh through 13:13 as Dumoulin broke his stick on a shot that knuckleballed in on net with traffic in front.
With timing ticking down near 5 mins left, Raffl swatted an aerial puck heavily on net from the right slot. Murray fought it off for a save. On the next shift, the Couturier line generated pressure. Then Neuvirth handled a tough chance from Letang at the other end.
Provorov left the ice in a lot of pain in the final 90 seconds. He left the bench and did not return.
Couturier gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead with 1:16 left in the game. The Penguins turned the puck over on a breakout. Held in by Couturier at the point, the wrist shot from up high deflected off Dumoulin's shinpad and into the net.
The Penguins took timeout and then pulled Murray for a 6-on-5. A bouncing puck went to Crosby alone at the right post. Neuvirth made a 10-bell glove save with 50.3 seconds left. The Flyers called timeout. Filppula got a clear. He then forced a turnover and Read pounced to score into an empty net from the blueline at 19:44 to seal a 4-2 win.
Third period shots were 13-8 Penguins (32-25 Pittsburgh overall).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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