Crosby, Penguins defeat Flyers in Game 3

PHILADELPHIA --The Pittsburgh Penguins scored two goals in five seconds in the second period of a 5-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
The Penguins tied the record for fastest two goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings scored two in five seconds against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 11, 1965.

Evgeni Malkin scored on a one-timer off a pass from Kris Letang on a 4-on-3 to make it 3-0 at 6:48. On the ensuing face-off, Sidney Crosby knocked the puck between the skates of Flyers captain Claude Giroux and skated into the Philadelphia zone before sending a backhand pass to Brian Dumoulin, who scored five-hole on Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott at 6:53 to extend the lead to 4-0.
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"[Jake Guentzel] poked it forward and then I saw [Dumoulin] coming in late on the rush," Crosby said. "Tried to find him there. I don't know where he shot it, but he made a great read jumping up on the play and giving us numbers there."
Pittsburgh leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is at Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Crosby had a goal and three assists, Malkin had a goal and an assist, and Matt Murray made 26 saves for Pittsburgh.
Crosby has 171 points (61, 110 assists) in the playoffs, one behind Mario Lemieux for first in Penguins history.
"We've got a couple days so it's good to get this one," Crosby said. "Now, we come back having that first one played here, got a feel for it, and that should help us here going into Game 4."
Travis Sanheim scored, and Elliott made 21 saves for Philadelphia.

Crosby scored on a wraparound to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 10:25 of the first period.
"It's an indication of how competitive he is," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I think he thrives in that environment. I think he has a comfort level in that environment. When the stakes are high, if we're in an away building and they're important games, Sid tends to play his best. And he's done that, certainly from my experience here, time and time again."
Derick Brassard made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 2:48 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from low in the left circle.

"It was just a matter of time for our power play to connect," Brassard said. "There's no panic on our side. We knew it was going to connect soon."
Sanheim scored on a shot from the point at 13:42 of the second to cut it to 4-1. Justin Schultz scored a power-play goal at 7:08 of the third period to make it 5-1.

"We took six minor penalties in a 30-minute span in the middle of this hockey game," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "You're not going to win hockey games (that way)."

Goal of the game

Crosby's goal at 10:25 of the first period.

Save of the game

Murray's save on Nolan Patrick 1:14 into the first period.

Highlight of the game

Malkin and Dumoulin scorning five seconds apart in the second period.

They said it

"Just his makeup. He's such a battle-tested guy. He has a real quiet confidence about him. He knows he's good and if a game doesn't go the way he wants it to go, he always responds the right way." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on goaltender Matt Murray
"It's not time to panic here. We have Wednesday here, guys are going to be ready. We'll put this one behind us and we'll do exactly what we did after Game 1, we'll look at what we did wrong and fix it." -- Flyers captain Claude Giroux

Need to know

It was Crosby's third four-point postseason game in the NHL. He also did it against the Ottawa Senators on April 20, 2010, and again against Ottawa on April 11, 2008. He has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 20 playoff games against the Flyers. … Malkin's assist on Schultz's goal was his 100th in the NHL playoffs. … Murray is 9-1 in games after a Penguins loss in the playoffs. … Flyers forward Sean Couturier led all players with 26:18 of ice time, but only 11:13 was at even strength.

What's next

Game 4 of Eastern Conference First Round at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, NBCSP, ATTSN-PT)