Philly's Flyers soaring to the top

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Danny Briere #48- flickr.com- Rhys Asplundh

With a fantastic win over their cross town rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers are moving quickly to the Stanley Cup finals. The Flyers won the series 4-2. After winning three straight, they lost two and won their last game to move on to the Conference Semi-finals. Their key players have been playing well and their postseason success looks bright.

The Penguins led the season in most points scored and are widely known for their fantastic goal scoring and offensive prowess; they entered the playoffs at a record of 51-25-6. Sidney Crosby, a Penguin center, led the league in assists and is fifth in goals scored. The Flyers are known to have goal tending difficulties which was their downfall after three games. They finished the season at 47-26-9.

The Penguins got out to a great start in game one with a score of 2-0 at the end of the first period. The Flyers came out blazing on the ice and scored three goals to tie it up and send the game to overtime. During overtime, the Flyers scored a goal and won the game 4-3. In game two, the Penguins once again came out the locker rooms to gain an early advantage. At the end of the first period, the Penguins were up 3-1, but by the end of the second, the Flyers tied up the game at four. The third period is where the Flyers rallied and dominated the game. They scored four goals in the third period while the Penguins only scored one. The final score was 8-5 and the Flyers won their second game where the Penguins scored the first goals. At the end of the first two games, the Flyers scored 20 goals, more than enough to cancel out the 12 goals that goalie Ilya Bryzgalov gave up.

Game three was a game of penalties because there was 38 penalties that added up to 158 penalty minutes. Jordan Staal scored almost four minutes into the first period but the Flyers responded and had a 4-2 lead after the first period and a 6-4 advantage after the second. it took Claude Giroux all of 27 seconds to score and give the Flyers a 7-4 lead. Giroux's goal gave him a Gordie Howe hat trick in Game 3 after he had six points in Game 2. Maxime Talbot scored the final goal in the game and the Flyers went on to lead the series 3-0.

Games four and five were both similar in the fact that the Flyers defense did not show up. The defense wasn't there and the high scoring Penguins took advantage of the goalies. In game four, the Penguins outscored the Flyers 10-3, and game five they did it 3-2. The series was tied up 3-2 and the Penguins had a chance to make an upset victory, but the Flyers held out and won the game 5-1 and the series 4-2.

The Flyers are one of three teams to make it to the semifinals so far. They took down the giant Penguins and are on a roll going into the next round. The Flyers were doubted because of their bipolar goal tending abilities. Although they lack defense, they have a lot of offensive weapons that could step up, especially Giroux. "When the best player in the world comes up to you and says, 'I don't know who you plan on starting tonight, but I want that first shift,'" Peter Laviolette, head coach of the Flyers, said, "that says everything you need to know about Claude Giroux." As long as the Flyers can stay away from a lot of penalties, they can make it to the Stanley Cup finals and win the coveted trophy.