Recap: Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Sports Network | March 27, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves and Sidney Crosby picked up three assists, as the Pittsburgh Penguins secured a playoff berth with a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Mellon Arena.
Ruslan Fedotenko registered a power-play goal and a helper in the third period for the Penguins, who snapped a three-game winless streak.
Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke also tallied for Pittsburgh, which is now tied with New Jersey atop the Atlantic Division with 93 points after the Devils topped Montreal later Saturday.
"All our goals were the result of going to the net. That's what you have to do (to be successful)," said Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma.
Arron Asham had the lone goal for the Flyers, who have dropped five straight. Johan Backlund made 22 saves in his NHL debut for Philadelphia before exiting after the second period with a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old Swede has recently been battling a groin strain.
Brian Boucher allowed two goals on seven shots in the last 20 minutes.
Philadelphia and Boston currently hold the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference with 80 points apiece. The ninth-place Thrashers are two points behind both clubs thanks to Saturday's 4-0 win over Carolina.
A favorable bounce resulted in an early 1-0 lead for the Flyers. Asham pushed the puck down the right side and sent a pass to Scott Hartnell who was driving down the middle, but the puck bounced off the ice and skipped past Fleury 62 seconds into the contest.
Pittsburgh knotted the score with 57.9 seconds remaining in the first period. Backlund kicked out Jordan Leopold's blast from the point, but Kunitz collected the rebound in the right circle and snapped a shot before the rookie goaltender could get over in time.
The Flyers appeared to grab the lead near the five-minute mark of the middle stanza. However, Simon Gagne's goal was waved off as a result of an incidental contact ruling since Ville Leino was pushed into Fleury.
"It was a tough call against us. It could have been a totally different game," Gagne said.
Moments later, Crosby fired a shot from the slot off Backlund's pad and Dupuis banged home the rebound at 6:03.
Pittsburgh led 3-1 when Cooke tapped in a Fedotenko feed at 7:32 of the third. Fedotenko's marker cemented the win with 5:29 left.
Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin missed his third straight game and fifth in the last six because of a bruised right foot...Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar sat out his second consecutive game due to illness...Philadelphia defenseman Matt Carle was out of the lineup for the second straight game because of a bone bruise in his left foot...Pittsburgh opened a six-game homestand...The Penguins took five of six from the Flyers in 2009-10...Philadelphia played its final regular-season game at Mellon Arena. The Flyers finished with an all-time record of 44-55-22-3. The Penguins are scheduled to move into Consol Energy Center next season.
