Penguins 4, Flyers 1
PHILADELPHIA — Czech-mate, Penguins.
Robert Lang and Jaromir Jagr, two of a half-dozen Czechs in the NHL's most international lineup, each scored twice as the Pittsburgh Penguins again befuddled the Philadelphia Flyers in their own arena to win 4-1 Saturday.
The Penguins had not won in Philadelphia in 16 games over six years, only to do so twice in three days to seize a highly unanticipated 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, where the Flyers are 3-14-5 in their last 22 games.
Just as in Game 1, the Penguins killed off Flyers power plays — Philadelphia was 0-for-8 in Game 2 and is 0-for-13 in the series — and made the most of their scoring chances despite being badly outshot, 45-25.
Goaltender Ron Tugnutt, cast off by five NHL teams, again made an early lead stand up with yet another excellent game in goal, turning aside 44 shots. He already has twice as many playoff victories this season (6) as he did previously in his career, stopping a remarkable 224 of 233 shots.
The seventh-seeded Penguins, not even assured of making the playoffs until the final week of the season, have been outshot 233-148 in the playoffs, yet have won six of seven games.
There are few NHL teams more disparate in style and makeup than the Penguins, who have 14 European players and seven North Americans, and the Flyers, who have 22 North American players and two Europeans.
So far, it's advantage, international style.
AVALANCHE 3, RED WINGS 1: At Denver, this was more like the Detroit-Colorado games everyone is used to.
Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg scored power-play goals in the first period, and the Avalanche skated to the penalty-marred victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals, with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Detroit on Monday and Wednesday.
Tomas Holmstrom broke Detroit's scoring drought with a goal midway through the third period, but Colorado's Chris Drury countered with an empty-net goal at 19:01.
Colorado's Patrick Roy had 29 saves, and Detroit's Chris Osgood had 30.
These bitter rivals played a rare penalty-free game in the regular-season finale and were reasonably well-behaved in the opening game of this series.