Flyers Punish Penguins to Take Commanding 3-0 Lead

Flyers Punish Penguins to Take Commanding 3-0 Lead
Jojo Doria

Philadelphia, PA

Danny Briere scored a pair of goals in the first period and Matt Read and Max Talbot also added a pair of tallies to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to an 8-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup.

Philadelphia now has a commanding 3-0 lead over its Keystone State rival and will look to finish off Pittsburgh in Game 4 Wednesday.

Former Penguin Jaromir Jagr had three assists and Claude Giroux added a goal and an assist and even got in a fight with Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby in the first period.

The teams combined for 72 penalty minutes in the first period and 133 overall.

The Flyers scored three times in a five-minute span in the first period to take a 3-1 lead and they never trailed thereafter. Pittsburgh got within a goal on a couple occasions in the middle session but Wayne Simmonds scored on a breakaway with 46 seconds left in period to make it 6-4.

Philadelphia tacked on a pair of goals in the third period and things got physical once again.

Pittsburgh's James Neal hit rookie Sean Couturier with what looked to be a cheap shot and Couturier remained on the ice for several moments. Neal then went after Giroux from behind, trying to hit him in the head with an open-ice hit, leading to a fight between Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell and Pittsburgh's Craig Adams.