Times wires
Friday, April 13, 2012
PITTSBURGH — The Flyers fell behind. Again. And it didn't matter. Again.
Claude Giroux had three goals and three assists to set a franchise record for points in a playoff game, rookie Sean Couturier had a hat trick and Philadelphia rallied for a wild 8-5 victory against the Penguins on Friday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Two nights after turning an early three-goal deficit into a 4-3 overtime win, the Flyers came back from deficits of 2-0, 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4 to take a 2-0 series lead. This was the ninth time in their past 14 games the Flyers went down by multiple goals.
"I don't know how many times we'll be able to do comebacks like that," Giroux said. "We've got to have a better start."
Giroux is the first player to have three goals and three assists in a playoff game since the Penguins' Mario Lemieux on April 23, 1992, ESPN said. The last team with at least two players with a hat trick in a playoff game was the 2006 Sabres. Couturier is the first rookie with a playoff hat trick since the Sabres' Jason Pominville on April 24, 2006.
Chris Kunitz had two goals, and Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy scored for Pittsburgh, which had another electric start.
Crosby scored 15 seconds in, tying Pittsburgh's franchise mark for fastest goal to start a playoff game, set by now-Lightning head pro scout Greg Malone against St. Louis in 1981. It also was the quickest allowed by a Philadelphia playoff opponent, breaking the mark of 21 seconds set by Chicago's Jim Pappin in 1971.
The lead grew to 3-1 by the end of the first period.
"We need to limit our mistakes. That's really what it comes down to," Crosby said. "The mistakes we've made have ended up in our net."
Devils 3, Panthers 2: Martin Brodeur stopped 24 shots for his 100th postseason win and a three-goal first period on 26 shots was enough to help the Devils spoil the host Panthers' first playoff appearance since 2000 in their East opener. Brodeur became the second goalie to reach triple figures in playoff wins. Patrick Roy has 151. "It's kind of nice to be in the 100s, even though there's no chance … I'll catch (Roy)," Brodeur said. The win was the first in the playoffs for Devils first-year coach Pete DeBoer, who spent the past three seasons on Florida's bench.
red wings 3, predators 2: Ian White and Cory Emmerton scored in the first period, and host Detroit evened the series at one game each. The Red Wings, angry that Nashville defenseman Shea Weber was only fined $2,500 for smashing Henrik Zetterberg's head into the glass at the end of Game 1 on Wednesday, targeted Weber 1:36 into the game when Todd Bertuzzi fought him. "The game was more important, and it was good to get a win in here," Bertuzzi said.
playoff news: Bruins center David Krejci, who was hit by a pane of glass jarred loose by celebrating fans after Boston's 1-0 overtime win over the Capitals in Game 1 of their series, didn't practice because he was sore. Coach Claude Julien expected Krejci to play today in Game 2. … Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said he would make lineup changes, though not in goal, in the wake of a 3-2 double overtime loss to the Sharks in Game 1 of their series. The loss was St. Louis' third straight going back to the regular season. Hitchcock said in goal he'll stick with Jaroslav Halak over Brian Elliott. Otherwise, he wouldn't say what his changes might be. … Coyotes leading scorer Radim Vrbata was day to day after leaving their Game 1 victory against the Blackhawks after a hit from Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw.
around the league: Brent Sutter, who stepped down as Flames coach Thursday, was hired as Canada's coach for the world championship next month. Lightning coach Guy Boucher and Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller will be his assistants. There had been speculation Boucher might be a candidate for the top spot after Sabres coach Lindy Ruff declined it this week.
Flyers | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
at Penguins | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
First Period—1, Pitts, Crosby 2 (Sullivan, Dupuis), :15. 2, Pitts, Kunitz 1 (Neal, Malkin), 9:27 (pp). 3, Phila, Talbot 1 (Giroux), 12:44 (sh). 4, Pitts, Martin 1 (Crosby, Dupuis), 19:42. Penalties—Grossmann, Phi (hooking), 8:34; Grossmann, Phi (holding), 10:55; Read, Phi (roughing), 12:23; Letang, Pit (diving), 12:23.
Second Period—5, Phila, Giroux 1 (Voracek, Timonen), 5:11 (pp). 6, Phila, Giroux 2 (Talbot), 11:04 (sh). 7, Pitts, Kunitz 2 (Neal, Malkin), 11:10 (pp). 8, Phila, Couturier 1 (Coburn, Grossmann), 19:57. Penalties—Rinaldo, Phi (hooking), 1:53; Crosby, Pit (interference), 3:57; Schenn, Phi (interference), 10:53; Letang, Pit (delay of game), 13:24.
Third Period—9, Pitts, Kennedy 2 (Cooke, Staal), 1:04. 10, Phila, Couturier 2, 1:21. 11, Phila, Jagr 1 (Kubina, Giroux), 9:13. 12, Phila, Couturier 3 (Giroux, Voracek), 18:11. 13, Phila, Giroux 3 (Couturier), 19:53 (en). Penalties—None. Shots on Goal—Phila 7-13-11—31. Pitts 11-8-9—28. Power-play opportunities—Phila 1 of 2; Pitts 2 of 4. Goalies—Phila, Bryzgalov 2-0-0 (28 shots-23 saves). Pitts, Fleury 0-2-0 (30-23).
Devils | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
at Panthers | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
First Period—1, NJ, Elias 1 (Zubrus, Salvador), 6:31. 2, NJ, Zubrus 1 (Clarkson, Brodeur), 14:11 (pp). 3, NJ, Carter 1, 14:56. Penalties—Matthias, Fla, double minor (high-sticking), 10:18; Fleischmann, Fla (cross-checking), 16:35.
Second Period—4, Fla, Bergenheim 1 (Goc, Samuelsson), 7:44. 5, Fla, Versteeg 1 (Samuelsson, Fleischmann), 15:42 (pp). Penalties—Zidlicky, NJ (delay of game), 3:03; Wolski, Fla (interference), 9:01; Wolski, Fla (tripping), 11:57; Gionta, NJ (tripping), 15:23; Elias, NJ (roughing), 15:42; Weiss, Fla (slashing), 15:42; Volchenkov, NJ (interference), 17:23.
Third Period—None. Penalties—Versteeg, Fla (hooking), 15:35. Shots—NJ 26-6-6—38. Fla 9-11-6—26. PP opps—NJ 1 of 6; Fla 1 of 3. Goalies—NJ, Brodeur 1-0-0 (26 shots-24 saves). Fla, Theodore 0-1-0 (38-35).
Red Wings | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
at Predators | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
First Period—1, Det, White 1 (Holmstrom, Miller), 8:25. 2, Det, Emmerton 1, 15:33. Penalties—Bertuzzi, Det, major (fighting), 1:36; Franzen, Det (cross-checking), 1:36; Weber, Nas, major (fighting), 1:36; Radulov, Nas (cross-checking), 12:04.
Second Period—3, Nash, A.Kostitsyn 1 (Radulov, Legwand), 9:01. 4, Det, Franzen 1 (Stuart, Datsyuk), 9:57. Penalties—Hudler, Det (goaltender interference), :26; Ericsson, Det (tripping), 2:34; Kronwall, Det (delay of game), 4:04; Halischuk, Nas (tripping), 6:23; Quincey, Det (high-sticking), 12:02.
Third Period—5, Nash, Weber 1 (Gaustad, Spaling), 15:16. Penalties—V.Filppula, Det (hooking), 6:12. Shots —Det 8-5-4—17. Nash 5-10-11—26. PP oppss—Det 0 of 2; Nash 0 of 6. Goalies—Det, Howard 1-1-0 (26 shots-24 saves). Nash, Rinne 1-1-0 (17-14).