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Flyers score early, end slide vs. Penguins

Nov 8, 2007 - 5:38 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Last campaign, the Pittsburgh Penguins owned their intrastate rivals. On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Flyers showed that this is a different season.

Joffrey Lupul scored 28 seconds into the game and Jeff Carter and Mike Richards added tallies as the Flyers skated to a 3-1 victory over the Penguins.

Martin Biron made 26 saves for Philadelphia, which was outscored, 42-21, while being swept of last season's eight-game series by Pittsburgh.

"We kind of want to leave that in the past, and the guys who experienced it know what it was like," said Flyers captain Jason Smith, who was acquired from Edmonton over the summer. "It's a fresh season and a fresh start, and we want to go out and win games and play well every night."

"As far as I've heard, it's kind of a bit of a rivalry, so these are the types of games you want to show up and kind of make a statement," Lupul said. "I mean, we have them seven more times, and all it is, really, is that we got the first one and hopefully we can build on it the next time we play them."

Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby notices a difference in the Flyers since last season.

"I think they are deeper," he said. "They have a few more guys that can score and are more dangerous. Defensively, they are solid. I think they're pretty well-balanced."

Entering with a 2-4-0 record on their eight-game road trip, the Flyers also have struggled of late in the first period, having been outshot in the opening session in each of their previous eight contests. While shot totals in the first were even in this one, Philadelphia made the most of its first several, scoring twice on three shots in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the game.

Lupul got things started on the first shift of the contest. Following a turnover by Penguins captain Crosby in the neutral zone, Daniel Briere gained possession of the puck and carried down the right wing before feeding Lupul, who beat goaltender Dany Sabourin from the slot at the 28-second mark for a 1-0 lead.

"We got off to a good start, and that's something we have done a lot lately," Briere said. "Tonight, we got going right off the bat."

It was important to come out and play well and get off to a good start, which we did," Philadelphia coach John Stevens said. "We got up early in the hockey game and we were able to maintain the lead."

Carter doubled the lead at 5:33 with his seventh goal of the season. From behind the net, Scott Hartnell dished to Carter, who fired a shot past Sabourin from the low slot for a 2-0 advantage.

"The first goal was a turnover, and he shot and the puck went in," Sabourin said. "The second one, after a couple really quick passes, it was in the net. It was a nice play in front. We're going to have to look at those goals to see what we can do better."

Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik admitted it was not the way his team wanted to start.

"(The Flyers) were stressing they wanted to have a good start after having a few bad starts," he said. "We knew they were going to come out hard, and we gave them a couple-goal lead there. After that, they did a great job trapping us in the neutral zone. We couldn't get any speed going into their zone."

The Penguins halved the deficit in the final minute of the period as Ryan Malone converted a 2-on-1 rush with Crosby. After Evgeni Malkin was tripped, Crosby gathered the puck in the neutral zone and carried down the right wing before making a perfect setup pass to Malone, who was a stride ahead of Mike Knuble and tallied from the doorstep with 37 seconds remaining.

"We had such a good first period, and to give up a late goal like that, we just said, 'Look, we just can't let that deflate what we did in the first period,'" Stevens said.

With the assists, Crosby and Malkin extended their points streaks to 14 and eight games, respectively.

Philadelphia regained its two-goal lead at 8:46 of the middle session. Richards, who along with Carter was selected in the first round of the 2003 draft, grabbed the puck in his own zone and led a 2-on-1 down the left wing before beating Sabourin to the stick side with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle.

"They just played smart," Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora said. "They were ready for their chances. When we made a mistake, they scored a goal. This is how you want to play in the modern NHL - get the lead and then play a smart hockey game. The other team is going to open it up and that's how you get your scoring chances. I thought they played very well tonight."

It was the team-leading ninth goal of the season for Richards, whose scored 11 as a rookie in 2005-06 and 10 last season.

"It was nice to play (from) in front instead of playing from behind," Richards said. "It's always nice to win on the road, especially (with) the struggles that we had last year against them. It feels good to play the way we did and win the way we did. It was a total team effort."

Sabourin stopped 17 shots for Pittsburgh, which had won five straight at home against Philadelphia.

The Penguins, who have dropped five of their last seven games, failed to score a power-play goal for the first time in 15 contests this season.

"You've got to give the Flyers a lot of credit," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said of his team's man-advantage troubles. "In the meantime, I don't think we executed very well. ... They were tough to play against. We couldn't open up the game. It was tough for us to generate a lot of offense."

"When your penalty kill does well against a team that's got gifted offensive players like Pittsburgh, it's a bonus," Smith said.