Penguins strike early, take 3-0 lead in East

May 14, 2008

Quick goals by Ryan Whitney and Marian Hossa helped raise the Pittsburgh Penguins to within one win of heights not reached since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr were wearing the black and gold.

Whitney and Hossa scored less than three minutes apart in the first period, and the Penguins held the host Philadelphia Flyers to 18 shots last night in a 4-1 victory that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

One more win over their cross-state rivals and the Penguins will advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since Lemieux and Jagr led Pittsburgh to back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992.

R.J. Umberger, born in Pittsburgh, answered with a first-period goal for the Flyers, but Pittsburgh's defense then locked them down. That made things easier for Marc-Andre Fleury, who finished with 17 saves after a pair of 4-2 home victories.

Ryan Malone scored with 10:02 left to make it 3-1 and silenced a crowd hoping to see Philadelphia get back in it.

Instead, the Flyers can be eliminated as soon as tomorrow in Game 4. Hossa added an empty-net goal with 53.7 seconds remaining.

Pittsburgh, which recorded 25 shots, is 11-1 in these playoffs and has led 3-0 in all three series. Detroit holds the same advantage over Dallas in the West, and can advance with a win tonight.

The excitement and enthusiasm from the "Flyer-ed Up," orange-clad fans was dampened by Whitney's power-play goal 5:03 in, then extinguished when Hossa made it 2-0 2:38 later.

It was reminiscent of how Pittsburgh took out the Madison Square Garden crowd 1:02 into Game 3 of the second round when Hossa scored against the New York Rangers.

Off the ice

• Bruins // Boston signed forward Chuck Kobasew to a multiyear contract extension after his highest scoring season in five years in the NHL. The team did not disclose contract details. Kobasew had career highs of 22 goals and 17 assists. He missed the playoffs with a fractured left leg.