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 Their latest visit to the Steel City proved no different, only
this time the struggling Flyers got a boost from a hometown guy for
the latest road win against their rivals.
Matt Read and Pittsburgh native R.J. Umberger scored third-period
goals, carrying the Flyers past the Penguins 5-3 during a
nationally-televised game between the rivals Wednesday in
Pittsburgh.
"Coming in here tonight and beating a good team on their ice to
finish off a road trip, to me it shows a lot of character," said
Umberger, who grew up 20 minutes East of Pittsburgh.
Center Umberger and right winger Read netted their first of the
season, while left winger Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the first
goal of his career for Philadelphia, which completed a three-game
road trip with two wins.
"You're not happy about certain things, but you look at the big
picture and we got two wins on the road, so we'll take it and go
home," said Flyers' coach Craig Berube.
Defenseman Mark Streit scored his second for the Flyers, who avoided
their sixth loss in seven games, winning for the fifth straight time
in Pittsburgh. Center Sean Couturier added an empty-netter and two
assists, while right wingers Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek both
added a pair of helpers for Philadelphia, which is 10-1-1 in 12
regular-season games at Consol Energy Center, winning 12 of 15
overall, including playoffs.
"I think playing against the Penguins, it's no secret we have a good
rivalry," Flyers' goaltender Ray Emery said. "The elite players they
have on their team is easy for guys to get up against. It's a good
measuring stick playing against guys like (Evgeni) Malkin and
(Sidney) Crosby."
Center Nick Spaling scored his first for the Penguins, who failed to
score a power-play goal for the first time in five games. Right
winger Pascal Dupuis and center Marcel Goc also scored for
Pittsburgh, which plays seven of its next 10 away from home.
"Our second period wasn't good," Penguins center Sidney Crosby said.
"We still found a way to get ourselves back in the game, but we
didn't set ourselves up for the third the way we wanted. We had a
bad third period."
Emery stopped 22 shot for the Flyers, holding off a late charge
after Pittsburgh pulled within a goal. Penguins goaltender
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in defeat.
About seven minutes into the third period, officials reviewed
forward Malkin's shot that hit Emery's pad, but never crossed the
goal-line.
Seconds later, Umberger gave the Flyers the lead off the rush when
he one-timed Giroux's saucer pass past Fleury.
Read gave the Flyers a two-goal lead two minutes later. He took a
pass from Couturier on the rush and switched to his backhand to
avoid Fleury's diving pokecheck, making it 4-2 from the top of the
crease.
Goc scored with less than three minutes left, finishing a
give-and-go from Spaling to cut the Flyers' lead to a goal, but it
wasn't enough.
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"I think it was one of those games where their energy caught fire
and ours took a step back," Penguins' coach Mike Johnston said.
Slow starts have been the norm for Philadelphia this season, but not
on Wednesday. The Flyers, who allowed nine first-period goals in
seven games, including three in a 4-0 loss against Chicago on
Tuesday, held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes on goals from Streit and
Bellemare.
Pittsburgh, however, opened the scoring less than four minutes into
the game and seven seconds after an early power-play expired.
Spaling grabbed defenseman Christian Ehrhoff's blocked attempt at
the left faceoff dot and fired a shot that beat Emery on the blocker
side.
Philadelphia got it back a little more than five minutes later,
tying the game on Streit's twice-deflected blast from the right
point that got past Fleury.
The Flyers took the lead 14 seconds after a Penguins' power play
expired as Bellemare re-directed Couturier's shot over Fleury's
glove during a three-on-one.
Pittsburgh tied it nine minutes into the second when defenseman Paul
Martin's shot from the point, following Malkin's faceoff win,
deflected off Dupuis and in.
"We played back-to-back games, but we felt like, after the second
period, they were the ones who were tired," Umberger said. "We
jumped on them in the third."
NOTES: Philadelphia's scratches were D Braydon Coburn (lower body),
C Vincent Lecavalier (lower body) and C Blair Jones. Pittsburgh sat
D Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), D Scott Harrington and C Andrew
Ebbett. ... The Canadian national anthem was played along with the
U.S. national anthem prior to the game as a gesture acknowledging
the tragedy in Ottawa. ... The Penguins wore their third jersey for
the first time, a throwback to black and yellow-gold color scheme
from when they won their first two Stanley Cups in 1991 and '92. ...
Flyers C Brayden Schenn is a game shy of 200 for his career. ... The
Flyers won the season series against the Penguins three of the past
four years.
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