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Everyone knew one day Sidney Crosby would help Pittsburgh return to the Cup Finals. No one could have imagined that he would do it this early in his career. Backed behind more, great young talent, Crosby and the Penguins disposed of the Philadelphia Flyers in five games, including a game five blow out. The Penguins now march to a 12-2 record in the playoffs, but it won’t get any easier. Next up is either Detroit or Dallas, but Pittsburgh may get a significant amount of more rest than their upcoming opponent. Pittsburgh came out flying in game 1 and was rewarded with the first goal of the game. 6:39 in, Petr Sykora took a pass from Evgeni Malkin through the crease and scored top shelf. However, Philadelphia would not go away easy. Mike Richards scored less than two minutes later followed by another goal of his own just four minutes later. Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead midway through the first. But even though they outshot Pittsburgh in the period, and game, the Penguins struck twice more in the period as Crosby and Malkin put one in the back of the net. Pittsburgh led after one period 3-2 and Malkin added one more goal in the second, shorthanded, and the Penguins won 4-2.
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Just as game 1 ended, so did game 2. Crosby started off the scoring midway through the first as he netted a power play goal. Tyler Kennedy and Scottie Upshall got into the first fight of the series as well. In the second period, Jeff Carter tied the game up, on the power play as well. Marian Hossa continued that trend as he scored on the power play eight minutes after Carter tied it. Philadelphia didn’t give up though as Mike Richards was able to score shorthanded to tie the game up once again. Midway through the third, Maxim Talbot broke the tie for good as he scored from Gary Roberts and Georges Laraque. Staal added an empty netter and the Penguins won 4-2.For game 3, the teams traveled to the City of Brotherly Love where it would prove to be everything but that. Ryan Whitney and Hossa gave the Penguins an early 2-0 lead in the first period. Crosby assisted on both goals, the first and only two points of the game for him, but it wouldn’t matter. Though RJ Umberger scored towards the end of the first period to cut the lead to one, that was all the Flyers were going to get. The Penguins added two more third period goals to go up 3-0 in the series and win the game 4-1.
As game 4 got underway, it was quite apparent Philadelphia was desperate. With their season hanging in the balance, the Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 in the first period. Joffrey Lupul, Danny Briere, and Jeff Carter scored all within ten minutes of each other to jump out to a commanding lead. The second period was much less eventful than the first with no scoring and only four penalties, but what happened in the third period made up for it. Jordan Staal scored 3:16 into the period from Kennedy and Talbot and again ten minutes later from the same two teammates to cut Philly’s lead to just one goal. With the goaltender pulled, Pittsburgh could not muster anything as Lupul scored an empty net goal to put the Flyers ahead 4-2. Behind the Flyer’s net with 23 seconds remaining, a fight broke out between Hatcher and Malone that was the start of 10 penalties called in the remainder of the game. Philadelphia held on to win 4-2.
Game 5 was never close, not for one second. Pittsburgh opened up the scoring 2:30 into the game and never looked back. Malkin scored 9:50 into the first to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead at the intermission. Hossa, Malone, and Staal kept Pittsburgh rolling in the second as each of them buried one in the back of the net behind Biron. Though Philadelphia was down and out, they did not take any stupid penalties or any at all in the third. Pittsburgh added another goal to their blowout win. The Penguins won 6-0 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since Mario Lemieux last won the Cup in 1991-1992.
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