Flyers beat Penguins 5-1 to win series
Claude Giroux wrapped up a dominant series with his sixth goal, Ilya Bryzgalov had his first outstanding effort in net and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Sunday to win their Eastern Conference opening-round series in six games.
Giroux scored only 32 seconds into the game, and the Flyers rolled from there. In a series where no lead was safe, the Flyers scored the first three goals and made it stand behind stout defense and stellar play out of Bryzgalov.
Bryzgalov allowed 20 goals in the first five games. He settled down in Game 6 and gave up only Evgeni Malkin's goal in the second period.
The Flyers had stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before Pittsburgh won two straight. Philadelphia finished off the 108-point Penguins and wait to find out who they play in the next round.
A day before Game 6, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell called out his defense and Bryzgalov and said it was their turn to win a game.
They delivered.
Bryzgalov was at last the shutdown goalie the Flyers expected when they gave him $51 million to steady one of Philadelphia's weak links. He outplayed Marc-Andre Fleury and helped the Flyers advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season.
Fleury had seemingly pulled together after some awful efforts in Games 2 and 3. He steadied the Penguins in a Game 5 victory and had the Penguins feeling confident about sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 7.
So much for that.
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Giroux scored only 32 seconds into the game, and the Flyers rolled from there. In a series where no lead was safe, the Flyers scored the first three goals and made it stand behind stout defense and stellar play out of Bryzgalov.
Bryzgalov allowed 20 goals in the first five games. He settled down in Game 6 and gave up only Evgeni Malkin's goal in the second period.
The Flyers had stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before Pittsburgh won two straight. Philadelphia finished off the 108-point Penguins and wait to find out who they play in the next round.
A day before Game 6, Flyers forward Scott Hartnell called out his defense and Bryzgalov and said it was their turn to win a game.
They delivered.
Bryzgalov was at last the shutdown goalie the Flyers expected when they gave him $51 million to steady one of Philadelphia's weak links. He outplayed Marc-Andre Fleury and helped the Flyers advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season.
Fleury had seemingly pulled together after some awful efforts in Games 2 and 3. He steadied the Penguins in a Game 5 victory and had the Penguins feeling confident about sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 7.
So much for that.
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