Crosby passes Lemieux for playoff points record as Penguins blank Flyers
Sidney Crosby scored one goal, assisted on another and carried the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-0 Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Crosby's performance helped the Penguins take a commanding 3-1 lead in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. In the process, Crosby moved past Mario Lemieux and into first place all-time in franchise history with 173 postseason points.
Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Riley Sheahan each scored one goal for the Penguins, who will look to wrap up the series Friday at home.
Goaltender Matt Murray earned the shutout with 26 saves. It was Murray's seventh career playoff shutout.
The Flyers scuffled on offense, especially through the first two periods, and appeared to miss Sean Couturier. Following a collision with teammate Radko Gudas in practice Tuesday, Couturier suffered a lower body injury and was held out of the game.
In fact, Nolan Patrick's shot with 5:08 left in the second was the first shot all period by a forward. The shot directly in front was saved by a sprawling Murray.
Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott was pulled after Letang's goal at 8:04 of the second made it 3-0. Elliott, who allowed three goals on 17 shots, was replaced by backup Michal Neuvirth.
Malkin and Kessel scored in the first while Letang and Crosby registered goals in the second for the four-goal advantage. Crosby's goal at 10:56 was rather spectacular as he worked his way through four Philadelphia players and scored on a wraparound.
The Flyers picked up a four-minute power play at the end of the second when Malkin was whistled for high-sticking and cutting Travis Konecny under the eye. While the Flyers did manage of couple of late scoring chances, they couldn't capitalize.
Less than 40 seconds into the third, the Flyers came out energized as Patrick broke free all alone on Murray. But Patrick flipped a shot just wide.
Claude Giroux had his best scoring opportunity with 13:22 left as he skated in and fired a shot but he was also stymied by Murray.
Sheahan gave the Penguins a 5-0 advantage with 4:14 remaining.
--Field Level Media
