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Malone nets Penguins berth in Stanley Cup Finals

May 19, 2008 - 12:32 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Ryan Malone lifted his hometown team back to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Steel City native had two goals and an assist Sunday as the Pittsburgh Penguins returned to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992 with a 6-0 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference finals.

All-Star Marian Hossa had one goal and three assists and Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Pascal Dupuis also tallied for the Penguins, who improved to a franchise-best 8-0 in the postseason at Mellon Arena and finished off their Keystone State rivals, four games to one.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 21 shots he faced for his third shutout of the postseason for second-seeded Pittsburgh, which claimed the Prince of Wales Trophy and awaits the winner of the Western Conference final pitting the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars. The Presidents' Trophy-winning Red Wings lead the series, three games to two.

"It's what you play hockey for is to put yourself in this situation," Malone said. "I think everyone dreamt about it as a hockey player, to get a chance now to battle for the best prize there is out there. So it's going to be fun. I think we're all excited to get going."

"It's unbelievable just to realize that we are four wins away," Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "It hasn't really sunk in that the next few games will be the Stanley Cup Finals. I'm sure these next few days, it will."

Martin Biron finished with 19 saves for sixth-seeded Philadelphia, which saw its successful campaign come to an end after posting the league's worst record with a franchise-low 56 points in 2006-07.

"We didn't match their intensity," Flyers All-Star Mike Richards said. "They came out hard, I don't know what it was, but it was just one of those games where they had it and we didn't.

"I don't think too many people gave us a chance to be in this position right now. It was a good year for us, but it's still disappointing that we lost."

Prior to the game, the Flyers received a boost when All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen returned to the lineup after missing the first four games of the series with a blood clot in his left foot.

"I got pain medicine before the game and I think that took the pain away, but the numbness and that kind of feeling, there's no way you can prevent that," Timonen said. "I've seen better days, but I think it was good enough to be able to play."

Sadly for the Flyers, it mattered little on Sunday.

Malone opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 2:30 into the contest.

Captain Sidney Crosby gained possession of the puck at the right point, skated in before alertly wristing a pass toward Malone. The puck caromed off Malone's left skate and past Biron for his fifth goal of the postseason. After a short review, the officials ruled that Malone did not use a distinct kicking motion and the goal was allowed to stand.

With this assist, Crosby earned his 20th point to regain sole possession of the postseason lead, moving past Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg (19).

Malkin pulled even with Zetterberg after notching his 19th point of the playoffs by doubling Pittsburgh's advantage midway through the first session.

After the Penguins dumped the puck into their offensive zone, Malone and Biron collided behind the net - with the goaltender losing his stick in the exchange. Malone then quickly fed Malkin, who beat Biron just inside the right goalpost for his ninth tally of the playoffs - and first since he tallied twice in Pittsburgh's 4-2 victory in Game One.

"They got those two goals quick in the first period and we were never able to get back in the game," Timonen said.

The Penguins tallied three times in just over a 10-minute span in the second period to quickly put the contest out of reach.

Crosby was instrumental in the decisive second period, backchecking to cause a turnover in the defensive end before feeding Hossa with the game's third goal.

The first overall pick of the 2005 draft and last year's Hart Trophy winner, Crosby is amazed at the resume he's building for himself.

"I think coming in here, I was just so focused on trying to have a good first year, let alone going to the Cup Final this quickly with the amount of youth we've had," Crosby said.

"Now you look at the second half of my first year, a lot of our first years, and it was pretty difficult. But we've come a long way, and we've worked hard for it and earned it and this is a great opportunity for us all."

After Staal gave the Penguins a 5-0 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the session, the Flyers seemingly found the net with 4.6 seconds left in the period.

Indicative of its afternoon, Philadelphia saw the tally waived off after officials ruled that Patrick Thoresen impeded the progress of Fleury to make the save.

The netminder would not be seriously tested again, stopping five shots in the first and eight in both the second and third periods to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard.