Back and forth battle ends with Guerin's OT marker

Evgeni Malkin took a Ruslan Fedotenko feed and wiggled past the Flyers' defense, but he snapped a shot that hit the crossbar dead on and bounced away.

A wide open pace would follow for the next five minutes, as the game's first whistle did not come until almost a full seven minutes in. Brooks Orpik laid a big check on Joffrey Lupul, and Scott Hartnell, in true form, made his second knee on knee hit of the series, this time on Orpik.

Luca Sbisa nipped Kris Letang with his stick to put the Penguins on the powerplay with 9:21 on the clock. Sidney Crosby hit the post, and the particularly worthless Petr Sykora blew a wide open net.

After Mark Eaton took a holding minor, Hartnell tipped in a Matt Carle shot to put Philly up 1-0.

All in all, it was a fun first period of hockey, but the ice titled in the Flyers' favor at the end of it.

At the start of the second, the Pens came back onto the ice a changed team. Malkin's line with Sykora and Ruslan Fedotenko got some quality shots on Marty Biron, as did the Crosby unit with Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz. Biron was not to be beaten at that point in time.

That was until Crosby, Malkin, and Guerin came up the ice on a three on two. Malkin found Guerin above the left circle, and the crafty veteran ripped one that beat Biron short side. It was an absolute snipe of a snapper by Billy G.

Less than three minutes into the third, things went terribly wrong for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury let up a soft goal on a wrister by Darryl Powe coming down the right wing. That restored the Flyers advantage and put the Pens in a tough position.

Fleury made a ridiculous save on Jeff Carter from the left post that saved any hope the Penguins had left of tying the game.

What ensued was pure mayhem.

Carter went to the box for a very borderline hooking call on Jordan Staal with four minutes left. Carter got his stick up on Staal, but Staal definitely sold it by trapping Carter's stick in an unflattering spot.

Anyway, a Kris Letang blast bounced off Braydon Coburn, then off Malkin, caroming into the net and giving the Penguins their equillibrium back once again.

The overtime was somewhat dull until Hal Gill was pegged with a cross-checking minor for nailing Daniel Briere from behind while he was on the ice. It was a good call.

The Penguins had most of the penalty killed, and Mike Knuble was kind enough to do THE EXACT SAME THING Gill had done moments earlier as he stood in front of the net. Knuble was called for the cross-check.

While the Pens were about to go on their portion of the powerplay, rookie Claude Giroux slashed down on Chris Kunitz's stick. The stick split in half, making for a default slashing call on Giroux and giving the Penguins a five on three advantage.

Guerin scored his second goal of the game from in tight on a wrister that beat Biron cleanly.

Notes-
-Guerin looks pretty good in black and gold for that third round pick.
-Fleury's amazing save kept the game alive.

-Wow.

Go Pens.