Penguins gain some confidence with 10-3 win over Philadelphia, force Game 5 Friday in Pittsburgh

They did it. They won.

Pittsburgh’s win over Philadelphia Wednesday gave the team, and its fans, new life in the series. One more loss could still out the team from dreams of hoisting the cup this year, but they stayed in this series with a statement.

That statement: “We can score, and you can’t stop us.”

After a first period of poor defense on both sides, the score was 4-3 in favor of Pittsburgh. At the end of the second, the Penguins had a six-goal lead on the Flyers, 9-3. One goal scored by Evgeni Malkin in the third finished off the scoring at 10-3. Incredible.

The Penguins came out big in this game because, for the most part, they fixed the flaws plaguing them in the losses. Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall and gave his team a chance to win, building not only his confidence, but the confidence of the fans. Malkin got on the board. Overall, a better team effort.

One thing that didn’t change between the games was the penalties. At the end of the game, a total of 26 penalties were recorded on the sheet, including five misconducts and one game misconduct to Zac Rinaldo of the Flyers for punching Penguins defenseman Zbynek Michalek.

For this series to continue past Game 5, the Penguins must remember how they played Wednesday and come out and dominate the Flyers for 60 minutes. Something else they may want to do is not score the first goal. Game 4 was the only the game the Penguins did not score first and the only game they won. Perhaps playing with a win-or-die mentality has helped them.

Regardless of the score Friday at Consol Energy Center, this series will be remembered by not only Pennsylvania, but by the NHL, for a very long time.