PHILADELPHIA -- It seems the Pittsburgh Penguins are still in need of a little more maturity.
While they have grown remarkably despite their youthful makeup, the Penguins could use more experience when it comes to the killer instinct. For the second NHL playoff series in a row, they failed to close the deal in an elimination game.
In the last round, they let the New York Rangers off the mat in the fourth game of their series and so it went last night in the fourth game of the Eastern Conference final. The Penguins let the Philadelphia Flyers outplay them by a wide margin in the first two periods and then could not complete a comeback in the third, despite a furious effort that produced two goals, both by Jordan Staal. This allowed the Flyers to avoid elimination with a 4-2 win.
The Penguins' lead in the best-of-seven series is now 3-1 and the series now goes back to Pittsburgh for the fifth game on Sunday at 3 p.m. (EDT).
It may be rather presumptuous to say the Penguins are in need of maturity since the loss was just their second one of this year's playoffs. But last night's performance was their weakest of the postseason.
For the first time, the Flyers were allowed to establish their game. They fore-checked the Penguins enough to establish some traffic in front of Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-André Fleury. And they were much more physical than they were in the previous games.
Much of the credit for this has to go to the Flyers themselves. Despite missing their top two defencemen to injuries for the second game in succession, they bottled up Penguins stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, leaving them a frustrated group by the end of the night.
The Flyers also tightened up two areas that had been costing them dearly in this series. Every time they've made a mistake, the Penguins have pounced on it. As well, the Flyers were taking too many penalties. Last night, there were no mistakes of note for the Penguins to capitalize on and the Penguins were given just two power plays by the third period, neither of which they scored on.
At the same time, the Flyers made the most of their opportunities. They scored two power-play goals in the first period to take a 3-0 lead that stood up into the third.
And where the Penguins scored two quick goals early in the third game of the series to take the 19,972 screaming fans at the Wachovia Center out of the game, the Flyers turned those tables, too. They scored twice in a little more than three minutes midway through the first period to keep the atmosphere pumped up.
"We got some goals early, kept the momentum going and kept the fans in it," Flyers defenceman Randy Jones said.
They also kept most of their players involved. Eight players had a hand in the first three goals of the game.
"[The Penguins] have some great forwards, top D [defencemen] and a great goalie, so it will take all of us to keep this going," Jones said.
The Flyers also received improved performances from a couple of important players, centre Daniel Brière and goaltender Martin Biron. Brière scored his first goal of the series on a power play to put the Flyers ahead 2-0 and he was noticeable all evening for the first time as well.
Biron, who was outstanding in the Flyers' win over the Montreal Canadiens in the previous round, was merely ordinary against the Penguins until last night. He was much sharper this time around.
Late in the second period, Penguins head coach Michel Therrien tried to spark some offence by putting his Big Three on a line - Crosby, Malkin and Hossa. They controlled the puck in the Flyers' end for a long stretch and drew a penalty.
But the Flyers escaped from the power play, thanks in part to Biron. He robbed Pittsburgh defenceman Ryan Whitney on a good scoring chance.
When the Penguins finally scored on him, it was a matter of luck. Staal's shot hit the back of Biron's leg and bounced into the net at 3 minutes 16 seconds of the third period.
Flyers head coach John Stevens moved Brière from centre to left wing on a line with Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell, which paid off. Brière was effective from the start. He scored by following Jones's shot to the front of the net, diving between two Penguins defencemen and batting in the rebound.
"Danny made a great play," Jones said. "I was able to get a shot on goal and Danny crashed the net. That was huge for us."
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