Flyers Force Game 5 in 2008 Eastern Conference Finals
May 16, 2008 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Eastern Conference, NHL, NHL Playoffs, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins
Well, well, well… the similarities between the Eastern and Western Conference finals continue. The Dallas Stars raged back to force the Detroit Red Wings to go to Game 5 and now so have the Philadelphia Flyers. Before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, I was wondering if this would be the outcome. Just like the Stars, the Flyers were one game away from being swept and, all of a sudden, they turned on the magic.
In fact, for the first two periods, this game was all about Philly. It looked like they totally took the Pens by surprise which is to be expected after the way they’ve been playing this series.
Joffrey Lupul (Flyers) opened scoring at 08:27 in the first, Daniel Briere followed up with a power-play goal (11:48 in 1st) and then Jeff Carter (PPG)put Philly on the scoreboard for the third time within the first 20 minutes of the game!
Finally, in the third period, a hero emerged for Pittsburgh. Jordan Staal, who had just returned from his grandfather’s funeral the day before, scored TWICE (the only two goals for the Pens!) in the third period (03:16 and 14:11). Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. With less than a minute left in the game, Lupul scored once more for the Flyers and the deal was sealed.
The Pens and the Flyers will meet again in Game 5 on Sunday May 18, 2008.
image provided by Newscom
This game reminded me of game one of the series, where the score was really kinda misleading.
Fleury played remarkably well, making some saves that were good enough to give Nabakov and Turco a run for their money in terms of “best save of the playoffs”. And for awhile there, it really did seem like Pittsburgh was going to tie things up.
Ah well, at least this means we have another game in the series to look forward to!