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Flyers crush Penguins to snap home-ice skid

Dec 12, 2007 - 5:57 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Joffrey Lupul, R.J. Umberger and the Philadelphia Flyers put an emphatic end to their home-ice woes.

Lupul had a six-point night, including his first regular-season hat trick, as the Flyers pounded the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2, on Tuesday night.

Umberger also recorded his first career hat trick and added two assists, while Mike Richards set up three tallies for the Flyers.

"Everywhere I went, the puck seemed to be bouncing in the air and falling right to me," Lupul said. "It was just one of those games. Umberger and Richards had good nights, too."

Philadelphia won its first six home games as part of a surprisingly fast start to the season. Still among the leaders in the Atlantic Division, the Flyers entered Tuesday 0-3-2 in their last five on home ice. Lupul scored the first two goals of the game, giving the Flyers an early 2-0 lead.

"I haven't been able to score in a while," Lupul said. "I was hoping for a goal or one point. Three and three is kind of a nice way to break out."

After receiving a pass from Richards at the blue line, Umberger skated to the left faceoff circle before making a cross-ice feed to Lupul, who banged the puck past the glove side of Pittsburgh goaltender Dany Sabourin just 71 seconds into the contest.

Lupul started the rush that produced his second goal of the night as he knocked the puck out of the Flyers' zone to Richards. Lupul ended up with the loose puck at the right point and fired a slap shot that beat Sabourin high to the stick side at 3:44.

"We were excited," Lupul said. "We came out and got the two early ones, and I think that our mind set was really good tonight. We stuck with it and took the game over in the second period."

Pittsburgh got consecutive power-play goals in the opening session from defenseman Ryan Whitney and Petr Sykora to even the game at 2-2. Whitney got a cross-ice feed from Sidney Crosby at the left circle and fired a wrist shot that beat netminder Martin Biron high to the glove side at 12:39 for his sixth goal of the season.

Crosby again was key for the Penguins on their second goal. He picked up the rebound of a shot by blue-liner Sergei Gonchar and went behind the net before passing to Evgeni Malkin.

The reigning Calder Trophy winner dished to Sykora, who stopped the puck with his skate at the right side of the net before putting it past Biron at 14:28 for his 11th goal of the season.

Umberger scored his first two goals of the game in the second period to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead.

Umberger took a pass from Lupul in the right circle and fired a wrist shot that beat Sabourin top shelf at 8:10. Exactly two minutes later, Lupul again set up Umberger, who skated around defenseman Rob Scuderi and put the puck past Sabourin.

"From the opening shift, the puck seemed to find our line," Umberger said. "We came out with a lot of energy. We just knew that the game was going to go our way and we were going to do nothing but win the game."

"We got into some penalty trouble throughout the second, and it was a mess in the third," Crosby said. "We battled back and we were pretty even. Then those two goals hurt us."

Mike Knuble added a power-play goal in the second to make it 5-2, burying the rebound of blue-liner Kimmo Timonen's shot with 10 seconds left in the session for his ninth goal.

Lupul, defenseman Braydon Coburn and Umberger each tallied in the third to cap the scoring.

"We were just on the puck," Lupul said. "All three of us were on our feet and we kept moving. If we stay on the puck and we keep going to the net, we can contribute every night."

Lupul added three assists to record the first six-point game by a Flyer since Eric Lindros in March 1997 at Toronto. Lupul registered a four-goal game in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.

"I want to be a scorer, but it's not going to happen for me every night," Lupul said. "I have to go out and do other things right. When I go through stretches where I don't score, I hope I can still have a positive on the team."

The game was marked with a number of fights and misconduct penalties, particularly in the third period. When the smoke cleared, each coach tried to put the blame on the other.

"I don't want to hear any more talk about how undisciplined we are," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "They got one penalty in the third on a play where they could have had two or three."

"Are we talking about the same team that got five guys suspended this year?" asked Penguins coach Michel Therrien, who was irked that the Flyers had their top unit out on the power play late in the game.

"It was a lack of respect what he did. (At) 7-2, you do not send your best power play on the ice. Even Daniel Briere did not want to go on the ice. Never put yourself in a position to show a lack of respect on the other team, and that's what he did tonight."

The game also marked the first time a pair of Flyers had hat tricks in the same contest since Tim Kerr and Dave Poulin accomplished the feat on December 18, 1986 in a 9-4 win over the New York Islanders.