PHILADELPHIA -- Derogatory chants aimed at Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby echoed through the Philadelphia Flyers' home arena an hour before puck drop and continued throughout Game 4. The only response Crosby needed to make was on the scoreboard, as he powered the Penguins to a 4-2 victory on Saturday, preventing the Flyers from sweeping their archrivals.
Crosby opened the scoring with his first goal of the playoffs in the first period and set up defenseman Kris Letang's critical third-period goal with a nifty soccer-style kick of the puck. He was all over the ice in both zones, setting the tone for the Penguins and willing this series back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Monday night.
"That's our leader. When he's going, it ignites the whole group and that's what it did tonight," Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea said. "We know he's going to bring it. It's just the rest of the team -- we've got to bring it as well and follow his footsteps."
Crosby got the Penguins on the board at 14:24 of the first period with a rocket shot past goalie Dan Vladar on a power play.
"We were pretty happy with our start in Game 3 and just wanted to try to do that again. I thought just getting that first one helped us for sure, but they still pushed. They still generated some chances," Crosby said.
What Philadelphia didn't do in Game 4 was get under the Penguins' skin like they did in Game 3. The Penguins didn't engage in extracurricular activities after the whistle, nor were they drawn into taking egregious penalties.
"I thought we were a little bit more poised. I mean, that stuff's going to happen. It's playoffs, but we just have to be a little bit more smart about it," Crosby said. "I thought we did a better job of that. Utimately, we got to save our energy for in-between the whistles. I think that translated into the way we played. We had a lot of guys contributing, generating really good chances and looked more like ourselves."
One major change for the Penguins in Game 4: For once, they had the better goaltending. Arturs Silovs replaced Stuart Skinner, who lost the first three games of the series, and made 28 saves in the win. Meanwhile, Flyers goalie Dan Vladar gave up three goals on 20 shots.
Vladar has been a rock for the Flyers, both in the regular season and the playoffs, where he had stopped 70 of 74 shots for a .946 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average. But he shouldered the blame for the Penguins' second goal, as he fumbled the puck behind his own net and turned it over to Rickard Rakell, who scored his first of the series unassisted at 1:03 of the second period.
The Flyers found life at 15:40 of the second period thanks to Trevor Zegras, who maneuvered the puck through the attacking zone until he found rookie Denver Barkey in front for a tap-in past Silovs.
But Crosby made his presence known again in the third period. With Garnet Hathaway and Erik Karlsson in the box and the teams playing 4-on-4, Crosby fought to keep the puck in the attacking zone along the boards before kicking it to Letang, who blasted the puck past Vladar for the 3-1 lead.
Letang said it wasn't just the kick, but what else Crosby did on the play.
"It's all those little details sometimes. Picking the guy gave me a lot of time to pick my shot," Letang said. "It was an amazing play. It just shows you how much IQ he has on the ice, and he knows what to do in every situation."
The Flyers struck back 2:36 later as forward Travis Konecny ripped a shot with one knee on the ice that caught Silovs off guard, cutting the lead back to 3-2. But Penguins forward Connor Dewer scored an empty netter to ice the game.
The action shifts back to Pittsburgh for Game 5, where the Penguins have new life. Meanwhile, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet was left wondering why his young team -- with a chance to sweep Crosby and the Penguins -- was so lifeless for the first half of Game 4. He indicated changes could be coming to his lineup.
"I just think we had some individuals ... I don't know if it's [being] complacent, but we didn't do the little, small things. I think they were a little more desperate at times," Tocchet said. "We did fight back. So that's the good part of it. We'll look at some video, and we'll figure out who we're going to get in the lineup for the next game."
