PHILADELPHIA, Pa - Have you heard this story before? The Philadelphia Flyers take a penalty, the Penguins score a goal, and the Flyers play catchup the rest of the night and lose. If that sounds a bit familiar, than it’s probably because it happened once again, only this time the site was in south Philadelphia.

The Pittsburgh Penguins scored two goals early in the first period and never looked back as the Pens are one win away from sweeping the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals thanks to a 4-1 victory in Game Three to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. If the Penguins win the series, it will be the first time they have ever defeated the Flyers in a playoff series, and it will be the first time since 1992 that the Penguins will have reached the finals. Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup that season against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Derian Hatcher, who has been a marked man by the men in black stripes this series, once again was called for a questionable hooking penalty. The Penguins promptly scored when Ryan Whitney’s snap shot went off Flyers defenseman Jason Smith. Martin Biron moved away from the right post and the puck slid between the post and his leg to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 5:03 into the game.

Marian Hossa quieted the Flyers' faithful with a goal that Biron, despite Hossa’s fancy foot and stick work, probably should have had as Hossa fired a wrist shot at the net and fooled Biron to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead only 2:38 after Whitney’s goal.

R.J. Umberger score his tenth goal of the playoffs on a rebound as Vaclav Prospal tried to tuck the puck in the net on a wrap around attempt, but Marc-Andre Fleury made the save, and the rebound went to Umberger who put the puck in past Fleury to cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:59 into the first period.

With the scoring coming fast and furious, the thought was that it would stay like that the rest of the game, but the Penguins did their best New Jersey Devils imitation and played great defensively the rest of the night. The Penguins refused to put pressure on Biron choosing instead to clog the neutral zone and cause turnovers. The Pens in turn simply dumped the puck into the Flyers zone and essentially ended the game's flow. The Flyers did little with the puck other than give it back to Pittsburgh with poor passing and dumping the puck into the offensive zone instead of carrying the puck across the blue line.

The Flyers had just eight shots in the first two periods and were outshot 17-8. The Flyers outshot the Pens in the third period 10-8, but without a defenseman who can carry the puck up the ice with Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn out of the lineup, and with the Flyers offense being predictable in their passing by using the boards at every opportunity, they had no shot at a Pens' defense that was playing great hockey in their own end.

Flyers head coach John Stevens knew his team was in trouble once the Penguins trapped his team to a loss tonight.

“Well, it’s exactly what is it, a trap. They executed it very well. They pounce on turnovers. They’re very committed to the checking game right now. They are creating all of their offense from the checking side of the puck.”

That kind of sounds like the Devils now, doesn’t it?

Sidney Crosby also knows his team played some of its best defensive hockey in this game as well, but he also knew Fleury had a little something to do with the victory.

“Oh, it’s up there, for sure. I mean, especially the first two periods. We didn’t give them much at all. I think you have to give some credit to Fleury because he didn’t see a lot in the first two periods, and when he did see some shots he was solid and sharp.”

With a solid defense, and a goaltender who’s confidence is at an all-time high, it’s no wonder they are one win away from a date in the Stanley Cup finals.

Contact the author at bjennings@Insidehockey.com

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