<div align="center"></div> <div align="center"> Vs. </div> <div align="center"><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS Team Page | Roster | Stats Regular Season Record: 47-27-8, 102 pts Head-to-Head Record: 3-5 Last Stanley Cup Win: 1992 Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1992 Last Postseason Appearance: 2007 Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Petr Sykora, Gary Roberts, Darryl Sydor (2) How they got here: The Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years after winning their second-round series 4-1 over the Rangers. Pittsburgh's dynamic offence was just too much for the New York to handle. Evgeni Malkin led the way with four goals and three assists in the series. Marian Hossa had four goals and one assist while Sidney Crosby had six assists. The Penguins and their next round opponent, the Flyers, haven't met in the post-season since Philadelphia's six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series. The first round was a little easier for Pittsburgh as the Penguins drove the final nail in the struggling Ottawa Senators' coffin, breezing to a 4-0 series sweep. 2nd Round Series Pages: Penguins vs. Rangers 1st Round Series Pages: Penguins vs. Senators What They Bring To The Table: The Penguins didn't have much time to develop chemistry after the trade deadline because of injuries to newly-acquired winger Marian Hossa and captain Sidney Crosby. But with so many weapons up front, including Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Malone and Petr Sykora, offence should not be a problem. Where their defensive game is concerned, the rest of the forward ranks feature good two-way players in Max Talbot, Jordan Staal and Pascal Dupuis. Veteran Georges Laraque will make opponents think twice about taking liberties with Sid and Malkin, and Gary Roberts - if healthy - provides a stable veteran presence. The question marks going into the postseason are defence and goaltending. Toughness on the blueline has been an issue, and GM Ray Shero thinks Hal Gill will fit that need - he did well against the Senators. Marc-Andre Fleury and Ty Conklin lack playoff experience, but both netminders held up well down the final stretch of the regular season. Fleury was solid in round one but needs to continue at that level to prove his worth as a former top pick. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS Team Page | Roster | Stats Regular Season Record: 42-29-11, 95 pts Head-to-Head Record: 5-3 Last Stanley Cup Win: 1975 Last Stanley Cup Final Appearance: 1997 Last Postseason Appearance: 2006 Players with Stanley Cup Rings: Jim Dowd, Mike Knuble, Derian Hatcher How they got here: The Flyers ended the Canadiens' season in a convincing 4-1 fashion, advancing to the NHL Eastern Conference final for the first time since 2000. They defeated the Washington Capitals in a dazzling seven game series in the first round that required overtime in the final game to decide the outcome. Forward R.J. Umberger's stellar series against Montreal is a huge reason why the Flyers have a few extra days of rest before the series with the Penguins, ending the series with eight goals. 2nd Round Series Pages: Flyers vs. Canadiens 1st Round Series Pages: Flyers vs. Capitals What They Bring To The Table: The Flyers bring a sound blend of skill and character into the playoffs. Daniel Briere took a step back in productivity this season, but still has all the tools to elevate his play in the postseason, which he did in round one. The team also missed having Simon Gagne up front, but forwards Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul and Scott Hartnell made up for it with strong forechecking and 20+ goal seasons. The Flyers also excelled on special teams with the second-best power play and a penalty-killing unit ranked in the top half of the league. The blueline struggled for stretches during the year, which could spell trouble for Martin Biron. The 30-year old veteran netminder will finally get his first taste of postseason play as a starter. He has built up solid regular season numbers, and the pressure's on him step up his performance in the second season. The Flyers also earned a reputation for some dirty play this season and had to deal with several suspensions. Statistical keys to the series - Philadelphia ranks second in the playoffs with 3.52 goals per game. Pittsburgh ranks third in the playoffs with 3.44 goals per game. - Pittsburgh ranks first in the playoffs with 1.89 goals against per game. Philadelphia ranks tenth with 2.83 goals against per game. - Philadelphia ranks third in the playoffs with a 24.0% power play success rate. Pittsburgh ranks ranks fourth at 24.0% - Pittsburgh ranks second in the playoffs with an 89.5% penalty killing success rate. Philadelphia ranks 12th at 77.2%. - Pittsburgh ranks second in the playoffs with 33.9 shots on goal per game. Philadelphia ranks sixth with 31.3 shots on goal per game. - Pittsburgh ranks fifth in the playoffs with 28.6 shots on goal against per game. Philadelphia ranks 12th with 32.9 shots on goal against per game. - Philadelphia's R.J. Umberger and Daniel Briere rank second and third in the playoffs with nine and eight goals, respectively. - Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby leads the playoffs with 12 assists. Philadelphia's Vaclav Prospal is tied for fourth with nine assists. - Philadelphia's Daniel Briere and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are tied for second in the playoffs with 14 points. - Philadelphia's Randy Jones ranks third and Pittsburgh's Rob Scuderi ranks fourth in the playoffs at plus-8 and plus-7, respectively. - Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik ranks fifth in the playoffs with 44 hits. - Philadelphia's Jason Smith and Kimmo Timonen rank third and fourth in the playoffs with 37 and 34 blocked shots, respectively. - Philadelphia's Braydon Coburn ranks fifth in the playoffs with 17 giveaways. - Philadelphia's Mike Richards is tied for third in the playoffs with 13 giveaways. - Philadelphia's Vaclav Prospal is second in the playoffs (min. 50 face-offs) with a 61.8% faceoff winning percentage. - Pittsburgh's leaders in playoff power play ice time (per game): Evgeni Malkin 6:33 Sergei Gonchar 6:32 Sidney Crosby 5:53 Marian Hossa 5:01 Ryan Malone 4:26 Petr Sykora 3:41 - Philadelphia's leaders in playoff power play ice time (per game): Kimmo Timonen 4:47 Daniel Briere 4:41 Vaclav Prospal 4:21 Mike Richards 4:14 Mike Knuble 3:33 Braydon Coburn 2:40 - Pittsburgh's leaders in playoff penalty killing ice time (per game): Rob Scuderi 3:44 Hal Gill 3:34 Sergei Gonchar 3:12 Jordan Staal 3:08 Brooks Orpik 3:00 Max Talbot 2:33 - Philadelphia's leaders in playoff penalty killing ice time (per game): Kimmo Timonen 3:32 Jaroslav Modry 3:10 Mike Richards 3:00 Derian Hatcher 2:51 Jeff Carter 2:45 Sami Kapanen 2:37</div></div>
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Am8y...p&type=lgns <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>PITTSBURGH (AP)—Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Russian-born star, remains a man of few words as he learns English and its tricky nuances. One subject, though, gets him talking, and a lot: the Philadelphia Flyers, the opponent the 21-year-old Malkin already loves to hate. The NHL’s second-leading scorer and MVP finalist still talks about the 8-2 loss in Philadelphia on Dec. 11, how the Flyers bullied the Penguins and got them off their game by inducing fights. In an additional indignity, he remembers popcorn being dumped on the Penguins’ bench by rowdy fans. “That’s one of the teams that it’s really not a pleasure to play against,” Malkin said. “I really don’t like playing against them. I don’t like that team.” Don’t like the Flyers? Join the crowd, Evgeni—most Penguins fans haven’t for 41 years, or since the two expansion franchises joined the NHL in 1967. The Flyers and Penguins share the state of Pennsylvania but not much else, and their rivalry has been a long, lively and, occasionally, bloody one. This season, for example, Malkin received a nasty cut on his left cheek from the skate of the Flyers’ Mike Richards on March 16, and the two teams began fighting less than a minute into their April 2 game in Pittsburgh. Now, the in-state rivalry is taking a previously unseen turn as the Flyers and Penguins met in a conference final for the first time. With the winner advancing to play for the Stanley Cup, the Eastern Conference finals that start Friday in Pittsburgh are certain to be competitive, contentious and colorful. Feisty and fractious? That, too. This season alone, there have been accusations or insinuations of running up the score, diving and, even, game dumping. Don’t like each other? No kidding. “What else can you ask for?” Penguins forward Ryan Malone said. “It’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be fun and, as a hockey player, you want to play in and be a part of.” Penguins general manager Ray Shero first experienced it as a youngster. When the Broad Street Bullies of Flyers coach Fred Shero, Ray’s father, were winning two Stanley Cups in the 1970s, they regularly beat up on the Penguins— Pittsburgh once went 15 years without winning in Philadelphia. Ray Shero has longed switched loyalties, but he was a self-described rink rat who hung around the Flyers dressing room with players such as Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bill Barber and Bill Clement. “I loved the Flyers,” Ray Shero said. “I lived and breathed hockey, like a lot of kids who grow up around hockey teams, and there a lot of fond memories.” Not that many in Pittsburgh have such pleasant memories of the Flyers, who lead the series 129-76-31. The Flyers won the three previous playoff series against the Penguins in 1989, 1997 and 2000, overcoming a five-goal, eight-point game by Mario Lemieux (1989) and a five-overtime game in Pittsburgh (2000). In a twist last season, the Penguins swept the eight regular-season games against Philadelphia for the first time. This season, the Flyers won the first four and five of eight, though they lost 7-1 in Pittsburgh on March 16. “The playoffs are always intense but it throws a little spice into it when it’s Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,” Sidney Crosby said. “It doesn’t get any easier.” Crosby already has a history against the Flyers, and not only because he has a Lemieux-like 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points in 20 games against them. The Flyers were the first NHL team to accuse Crosby of diving—embellishing contact to draw a penalty—and the New York Rangers picked up on the theme during their just-concluded five-game series loss against Pittsburgh. Then-Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock made the charge after a 2005 game in which Crosby had several teeth chipped and his mouth bloodied by Derian Hatcher’s stick, only to return after being stitched up to score the winning goal in overtime. Maybe it’s in his hockey DNA to dislike anything Pittsburgh, but Flyers chairman Ed Snider remains irritated the Penguins even have players such as Crosby, Malkin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. All were first-round draft picks resulting from Pittsburgh’s run of last-place finishes from 2002-06. “Let’s face it, you get rewarded for being the worst team in the league, so Pittsburgh has all these great players for being lousy for so many years,” Snider said Monday during a rare locker-room visit. “That part I don’t like so much. I’ve never been in favor of the draft the way it is.” Not that Snider is offering to give back another former first-rounder, R.J. Umberger. The Flyers forward from suburban Pittsburgh had eight goals (he had only 13 in the regular season) during a five-game elimination of Montreal in the second round. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would have met in the first round if the Penguins hadn’t lost 2-0 in Philadelphia on April 6, costing them the No. 1 seeding in the Eastern Conference. Senators coach Bryan Murray all but said the Penguins intentionally dumped the game to avoid meeting the Flyers and to play his team. The Flyers diplomatically sidestepped that discussion, perhaps because the Penguins have since won eight of nine playoff games and all five in Pittsburgh. Philadelphia has lost eight of its last nine there. “We all know what happened against Pittsburgh this year, the things that happened on the ice, the comments that were made after the game,” the Flyers’ Daniel Briere said. “I expect this to have a lot more intensity right off the bat.”</div>
Pens have come out today looking to close out the Flyers in Pittsburgh. Now 3-0 in the second and just when the Flyers looked like they had a shot at getting some momentum on a power play, Timonen trips Staal for some 4 on 4 skating.
