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Knuble, Biron lead Flyers past Penguins

Apr 6, 2008 - 11:48 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins must not have wanted to face the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Mike Knuble scored a goal and set up another and Martin Biron made 20 saves for his second consecutive shutout as the Flyers skated to a 2-0 triumph over the Penguins on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Scottie Upshall also tallied and Jeff Carter added a pair of assists for the Flyers (42-29-11), who secured the sixth seed in the East to avoid a showdown with the Penguins and set up a meeting with the Washington Capitals in the conference quarterfinals.

"We had a will and a determination that was not going to be denied," Philadelphia coach John Stevens said. "I knew today was going to be a tough game coming off of such an emotional game (on Friday). To get jacked up again when we are already in (the playoffs) was great."

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 shots for Pittsburgh (47-27-8), which finished two points behind Montreal (47-25-10) for the top spot in the East and will open the conference quarterfinals against the Ottawa Senators.

Entering with a 4-0-1 mark in their previous five games, the Flyers grabbed the lead with 90 seconds remaining in the second period.

Knuble's backhander from low in the right faceoff circle was deflected to the doorstep, where Upshall gained possession and deposited the puck past Fleury for his 14th goal of the season.

"When you look at how big and strong (Knuble) is, you can see he has a big shot," Upshall said. "That play will trick anyone. It even tricked me. I was very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time."

"It was just on the rebound," Fleury said. "The defense skated by it and it went to his blade. It was a tough play."

The tally proved to be enough as Biron was impenetrable in helping Philadelphia end a three-game skid against Pittsburgh and finish the season series with a 5-3-0 mark.

"The fact that we made the playoffs is great, but we couldn't look past this game," Stevens said. "It was important to come back and play well again."

With captain Sidney Crosby sitting this one out, the Penguins registered just 20 shots against Biron, who stopped four in the first period and eight in each of the final two sessions for his fifth shutout of the season and 23rd career.

"They kept us to the outside a lot, and part of that was our fault," Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal said. "We really didn't shoot the puck as much as we wanted to and put it on the net. Biron played well, but it wasn't our greatest effort."

Penguins coach Michel Therrien elected to keep Crosby out of the lineup in order to prevent a possible injury.

"I liked the way he played in his last game, and it was an intense game," Therrien said. "But it was not worth it to risk any injury going into the playoffs."

Biron recorded a 22-save blanking against the New Jersey Devils on Friday. It marked the second time this campaign Biron posted consecutive shutouts, as the 30-year-old stymied Atlanta on October 16 and repeated the feat two days later against New Jersey.

"We took care of the business that we had to, winning two of the last three to get in," Biron said. "To finish that way, you could not have asked for a better way to get in the playoffs."

Philadelphia's penalty-killing unit helped Biron, successfully extinguishing all eight of Pittsburgh's power-play opportunities.

"The penalty kill was great," Carter said. "It seems like we had chances every time we were out there. It will be a huge part of the playoffs, and hopefully, we can keep it going."

"Philadelphia did a great job to contain us," Therrien said. "The factor for us was our power play. It was not good. We made wrong decisions and we gave up more scoring chances than we took. That was a good indication that the power play was not effective."

Knuble sealed the victory and the sixth seed for the Flyers by scoring an empty-netter with 53 seconds remaining in the third.

With the triumph, Philadelphia ended the season with a five-game winning streak at home and a 30-1-3 record when leading after two periods.