Amid Controversy, Flyers Hang on To Win Game Four

The Philadelphia Flyers played their game from beginning to end.

The Pittsburgh Penguins?  Not so much.

They seemed to be tanking, throwing away the game in order to benefit the team.  They did it in the last game of the regular season, against this same Flyers' team, in order to face the Ottawa Senators in the first round.  The benefit tonight?  The chance to win the Prince of Wales Trophy in their home building in Pittsburgh Sunday at 3:00 EST.

Either way, though, the Flyers played well for the majority of the game to come out with a 4-2 win in order to take game four of this best-of-seven Conference Finals series.  They now trail 3-1.

Joffrey Lupul opened the scoring by putting a blistering slap shot past Mar-Andre Fleury at the 8:27 mark of the opening frame.  Danny Briere scored the Flyers' second goal at the 11:48 mark on the power play by slipping by big defenseman Hal Gill and tipping in a rebound.  Jeff Carter also scored on a separate power play at the 18:50 mark of the period, backhanding a shot past Fleury to give the Flyers a three goal lead that no one would have thought to be possible against the Penguins.

The Penguins got on the board for the first time just over three minutes in to the third period, as Jordan Staal banked a shot off of Martin Biron from behind the net.  He also scored almost eleven minutes later on a one timer from the slot to bring the Penguins within one.

Staal had just returned from his grandfather's funeral in Ontario, but was back in time for practice this morning, and the game at night.  He fought back tears during interviews after morning practice, and played this game for his grandfather, scoring two goals in the Penguins' loss.

Joffrey Lupul added an empty netter with 33 seconds remaining to ice the game for the Flyers.  It was his second of the night.  Scott Hartnell had three assists, while Ryan Parent got his first career NHL point on an assist on Lupul's first goal.

The game was not too ugly or dirty until the end of the third period, when there was a brawl behind the Flyers' net with 23 seconds to go in the game.  Scottie Upshall leveled a Pittsburgh forward against the boards, and Ryan Malone came in to fight Upshall.  Derian Hatcher came in, grabbed Malone, and punched the jersey off of Malone, sending them both to the locker room for the night after fighting majors.

Eight seconds later, Mike Richards and Sidney Crosby had to be held back by the officials from knocking each others' heads off.  Richards was given a minor penalty, and both were sent off of the ice.

Game five is in Pittsburgh at Mellon Arena on Sunday at 3:00 PM EST.  The Penguins will try to close it out in front of their home crowd.

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