Fleury, Penguins Grind Flyers to a Nub

Tough loss, but nowhere near as bad as Game 4. It'd be hard to sink lower than that one… The good news is, the Flyers' effort was leaps and bounds better in Game 5. The bad news is obvious—the Pens are absolutely back in this series after winning a tight battle, 3-2. 
Recappish notes, video, below.  
We're not going to linger too much on this one. It's Friday night after a long week of hockey, and there's not actually a lot to dissect here. After a game like that, the recap is a few more beers and maybe a back yard fire. 
Again buoyed by their success on the power play, the Flyers got out to an early lead in Pittsburgh. The game looked like it would be called tight, which benefits the Flyers so long as they're getting the calls. All three of their Game 4 goals came on first period power plays, and in Game 5, they punched in two more on the man advantage. 
Again, they'd be the only goals the Flyers would score on the night. Five-on-five play wasn't dominated for 60 minutes by the Pens, but they held the even strength advantage on the scoreboard, and that's all that mattered on the night. 
The first period was a tease. The Pens appeared ready to come unglued, taking dumb penalties and paying the price. Deryk Engelland's mauling of Danny Briere led to the first goal, a sharp wrister by Matt Carle. After Steve Sullivan scored on a Pittsburgh power play (after a Braydon Coburn interference we never saw on replay), Evgeni Malkin would take the first of his two dumb penalties. Geno mugged Brayden Schenn into the net, and after Craig Adams was sent to the box for a slash on Jaromir Jagr (one I didn't agree with), the Flyers scored on a 5-on-3 for the second time in the past two games. 
It was gorgeous too, despite the caveat that it was a 5-on-3. Watch how the umbrella draws the Pens' top pair up, then drops the puck down to an open Danny Briere, who saucers a pass over the outstretched stick of Brooks Orpik to Scott Hartnell for the water bottle shaker…

At that point, it felt like the Flyers really had the edge. The second period's been their jam frame all season, but not on Friday night… They looked gassed, with forwards and defenders double-shifting to compensate for injured regulars. 
A pair of Penguins goals in the second changed the landscape in that middle period. Jordan Staal tallied off a great outlet relay from Kris Letang to Tyler Kennedy through the neutral zone, and a Kennedy blast beat Bryz as a weary shift of Flyers failed to challenge an open shooter. 
The power play gravy chain was halted, with only one call for each side in the frame. Malkin went hunting on Sean Couturier and drew a call, but the Flyers couldn't score on the advantage. Fresh out of the box, Malkin put a shot on Bryz, then ran him over, but didn't get a second call. 
The Flyers looked better in the third, controlling play for much of it, but Marc-Andre Fleury came up huge. No matter what they threw at him, he was square to it. In two games, MAF hasn't been beaten at even strength, and two of the five goals he's allowed came on 5-on-3's. 
Neither side scored in the third, and only one penalty was called. After showing a strong hand in the first period, the officials really let them play as the game went on, and it didn't necessarily favor the Flyers. [Watch JVR get mugged in plain sight.]  
To close out this series, they'll need to get their even strength scoring back on track. And, they'll need better luck. They appeared to have MAF beaten a few times early (ping!) and late (whiff!). Connecting on just one of several missed opps would have meant a different game altogether. But when isn't that true? 
Hat's off to MAF for being the difference in a pretty good hockey game. 
Notes:Bryz came up big in the third period, but clearly looks slowed by his pair of injuries. 
How's this for an ice time breakdown for the Flyers: Per Flyers PR, "Matt Carle played 29:40 in the game; Braydon Coburn played 29:11 and Kimmo Timonen 25:01. Pavel Kubina, Andreas Lilja and Erik Gustafsson played 25:52 combined." Hope Nick Grossmann makes it back for Sunday's game 6. 
Riemer was eased back in, playing sparsely early but showing some legs late. He still played just 7:31 in the game. 
At least Malkin put a huge hit on Crosby. Yes, really. 
Game 6 will be at noon on Sunday. 
I've about had it with talking about that pair of losses. Not the end of the world, but the Pens earned their way back into the series, winning the least laughable game of the series to date. The Flyers rebounded in the third though, showing they're nowhere near ready pack it in. 
Photo: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE