Pens Pound Flyers 5-1 in Philly!

The Penguins' oft-dormant power play scored twice in just over a minute early in the third period to lead them to a 5-1 victory against Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center tonight.

Daniel Briere gave the Flyers their only lead with a power-play goal at 6:43 of the opening period, as he collected the rebound of a shot off the back boards and flipped it into the net from along the left edge of the crease.

That was the only shot that eluded Penguins backup goalie Brent Johnson, who started for the third time in four games and earned his third victory.

The Penguins got that goal back at 11:31, as Sidney Crosby chipped the puck to Chris Kunitz from along the right-wing boards, allowing Kunitz to go to the net and throw a shot by Philadelphia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Mark Letestu put the Penguins ahead to stay with just 44.2 seconds to go before the second intermission, as he punched in a shot from the slot after a shot from Penguins defenseman Kris Letang had struck Flyers defenseman Matt Carle in the face.

The goal, Letestu's third, netted assists for Letang and Evgeni Malkin.

The Penguins had failed to generate a shot during a 45-second two-man advantage early in the second, but made the most of a similar opportunity early in the third.  Sidney Crosby took a feed from Malkin and beat Bobrovsky from outside the right dot at 3:13 during a five-on-three to put the Penguins up by two.  If that goal staggered the Flyers, the one Crosby scored during another power play at 4:37 pretty much laid them out.

 

Crosby, who had just one goal in his first five games, picked up his second in 84 seconds by beating Bobrovsky with a low shot from the top of the slot to put the Penguins up, 4-1. Alex Goligoski picked up the second assist on Crosby's second goal, giving him at least one point in each of the first six games.  Matt Cooke formally put the game out of reach by scoring into an empty net while the Penguins were shorthanded at 16:36.

The Penguins, 3-3, will face Ottawa at the Consol Energy Center Monday at 7:08 p.m

First published on October 16, 2010 at 8:36 pm on The Post Gazette