Penguins on brink of NHL finals
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Marian Hossa scored two goals to lead Pittsburgh past Philadelphia 4-1 here Tuesday, pushing the Penguins to the brink of advancing to the National Hockey League finals.
Ryan Malone and Ryan Whitney also scored for the Penguins, who took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series. Pittsburgh will advance to the Stanley Cup final with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.
"We're being consistent right now," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "We have a great attitude.
"The reward you get for making sure that you take each game serious and that you're consistent - but I don't think we feel like we've achieved anything. We are just happy with the attitude and way we're working."
NHL regular-season champion Detroit owns a 3-0 lead over Dallas in the Western Conference final entering Game 4 of that series on Wednesday in Texas.
Only twice in NHL playoff history have teams overcome an 0-3 hole to win a playoff series - the Toronto Maple Leafs did it against Detroit in the 1942 final and the 1975 New York Islanders rallied to oust Pittsburgh in 1975.
Unless those prior victims repeat their ignoble piece of hockey history, they will meet for the title.
"We cannot lose again," Flyers standout Joffrey Lupul said. "It has happened before where teams come back. We are in a pretty big hole. We are not going to quit. We are going to come out in Game 4 and play as hard as we can."
The Penguins became only the fourth team in NHL history to open the playoffs 11-1, a feat no team has achieved since the 1983 Edmonton Oilers, who were swept by the New York Islanders in the final but went on to win five of the next seven Cups and cement Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky as a hockey icon.
Crosby, who was not even born until 1987, is seen as the next Canadian star and could bring the Cup back to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1991 and 1992 when another Canadien hero, Mario Lemieux, sparked the Penguins' success.
Pittsburgh looks to deny the state-rival Flyers a chance at their first Cups since back-to-back crowns in 1974 and 1975.
Whitney opened the scoring with a power-play goal 5:03 into the game and Hossa scored his seventh goal of the playoffs just 2:38 later, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
Philadelphia's R.J. Umberger netted his 10th playoff goal on the power play just one second shy of 11 minutes into the game but the Flyers could not make the red goal light glow again.
AFP
(China Daily 05/15/2008 page24)
