| NHL PLayoff Picks: Pens look to close out Flyers |
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Saturday, 17 May 2008
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 The Pittsburgh Penguins were simply outworked for most of their Game 4 loss, but they will have a golden opportunity to head to the Stanley Cup finals when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at Mellon Arena for Game 5 on Sunday afternoon. Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins – 3:00 PM ET The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes in Game 4's 4-2 win at home , but they had to withstand a fierce charge from the Penguins in the third period. Joffrey Lupul scored the first and last goals of the game, and Scotty Hartnell added three assists along with his typical hard-nosed play for the Flyers, who got under the Penguins' skin. Martin Biron made 36 saves for his best game of the series for the Flyers, but he has also been suffering from a defense that is missing Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timmonen. The Penguins were flat-out dominated in the first period, and while they pulled it together for the third period, it was too little, too late. Jordan Staal scored both goals for the Penguins, who outshot their opposition 38-34, but they took far too many penalties, which resulted in two power-play markers for the Flyers. Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa and Evgeni Malkin were all held off the scoresheet, which is a rarity, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots for the Penguins. The Penguins are massive -260 favorites to take this contest, and it will be a test of this young Pittsburgh team's composure. They were obviously frustrated by the Flyers' rough style, and they need to stop getting drawn into retaliation penalties. But at home, HYPERLINK "http://betonline.com/sports-odds/hockey_nhl.asp" Pittsburgh will be much more relaxed, and this will lead to a victory on Sunday to progress to the Cup final.                        |
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