CBC-Sports

Talbot unwittingly sparks Pens to second round

April 25, 2009 08:11 PM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

Max Talbot’s name didn’t show up on the score sheet Sunday and he was not on the ice for any of the Penguins’ five goals on Sunday.

But when the handshake line ended and the Penguins gathered in their locker room to celebrate their amazing come-from-behind, series-clinching 5-3 win over the Flyers, Talbot was the one who received most of the credit.

“We were on the ropes in their building,” said Penguins defenceman Sergei Gonchar, whose goal 2:19 into the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and sent the Penguins to a win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final. “Sometimes it’s really tough to get back into it, but Max did a great job with that fight. It seems like we had a new start and got us going.”

Back-to-back-to-back goals by Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul and Danny Briere had given the Flyers a commanding 3-0 lead and Dan Carcillo had just pounded Talbot to the ice like a sledgehammer when the Penguins comeback began.

Twenty-six seconds after the fight, Evgeni Malkin, who had a monster series with four goals and five assists, got things going when his wraparound resulted in a rebound goal by Ruslan Fedotenko. Defenceman Mark Eaton made it 3-2 by swatting a pass by Tyler Kennedy out of the air and Sidney Crosby tied it when he, too, picked the puck out of the air for a fluky goal with less than four minutes remaining in the middle period.

When Gonchar stepped into a slap shot that beat Marty Biron to the far post 2:19 into the third period, the air completely went out of the Wachovia Center and the Penguins were on their way to eliminating the Flyers for the second straight spring.

“Character,” Talbot said. “You got to give it to the guys. You know we battled hard [and] we came back. I think it was our best game of the series. We played for 60 minutes. You know they’re a very good team, they definitely played to win the series, but tonight was a big team win and [Marc-Andre] Fleury did it again at the end.”

Fleury looked shaky early but the fourth-seeded Penguins limited the fifth-seeded Flyers to just five shots in the final period to advance to the conference semifinal, where they’ll await the outcomes of the Devils-Hurricanes and Rangers-Capitals series.

For the Flyers, it marked the first time since 1988 they had lost a playoff game after leading by three goals. The last time occurred during the 1988 Patrick Division semifinals, when Washington Capitals forward Dale Hunter beat Ron Hextall for the game-winner in Game 7.

“They got those two quick goals, and it just gave them energy, and we were just trying to survive after that,” Briere said. “Maybe we thought we were heading back to Pittsburgh, but we lost our focus.”

While Malkin and Sidney Crosby, who totaled 4 goals and four assists for the series, combined for 17 points, the Flyers’ top two centres, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, combined for two goals and four assists. Carter might have been the biggest disappointment for Philadelphia.

After finishing second in the NHL with 46 goals, he managed just one on 30 shots and finished a minus-2.

“It’s tough,” Carter said. “I had a pretty good regular season and coming in I had high hopes of myself. I’m looked upon to put the puck in the net and one goal doesn’t cut it. I had some shots and some chances but you’ve got to put it in the back of the net. I’m not overly pleased with my performance.”

" Previous Post | Main
  •