Fleury Stops 24 Shots, Penguins Stay Alive vs Flyers

Fleury Stops 24 Shots, Penguins Stay Alive vs Flyers
Ed Condran

Pittsburgh, PA

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots as the Pittsburgh Penguins staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference opening round showdown Friday at Consol Energy Center.

The Penguins lived another day as they rallied from a goal down in the second period and Fleury came through with a gutty effort between the pipes to narrow the Flyers' lead at 3-2 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Matt Carle opened the scoring with a powerplay goal at the 11:45 mark of the first period but Penguins left winger Steve Sullivan nailed the equalizer on the powerplay three minutes later. The Flyers still took a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period courtesy of another extra-man goal from Scott Hartnell at 17:35 minute.

With their backs against the wall, Pittsburgh got timely goals from Jordan Staal (6:15) and Tyler Kennedy (9:53) to give them a 3-2 advantage at the end of the second period.

Fleury then took over, foiling 14 shots in the third period and saved the Penguins' playoff hopes. Netminder Ilya Bryzgalov collected 20 saves in a losing effort for the Flyers.

Game 6 of the increasingly intriguing playoff series between in-state rival Penguins and Flyers is scheduled on Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.