Couturier’s Late Goal Keeps Flyers Season Alive

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Sean Couturier missed Game 4 and was a game-time decision for Game 5. He played in Friday’s game and ended up with the biggest goal of the season for the Flyers.

Couturier scored with 1:15 left in the third period to give the Flyers the lead in a 4-2 win over the Penguins on Friday night in Game 5, sending the series back to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Sunday.

There weren't many shots for either side in the early going, but the Flyers were able to strike first late in the first period.

Claude Giroux was left alone in front and fired a one-timer past Matt Murray to give the Flyers the lead with 2:31 left in the first period.

The Flyers outshot the Penguins, 9-5, in the opening period.

The Penguins pushed back in the second period, opening up a 9-1 shot advantage in the first 12 minutes of the period. Michal Neuvirth was solid throughout, making several difficult saves to keep the Flyers in the game.

At the 12-minute mark, the Penguins finally broke through after a relentless shift as Bryan Rust was able to score on a wraparound to tie the game.

Just under five minutes later, the Penguins scored to take the lead. Sidney Crosby led the rush and got a pass to Jake Guentzel cutting up on the wing. Guentzel released a shot that beat Neuvirth through the five-hole to give the Penguins the lead with 3:15 left in the period.

Things seemed to unravel for the Flyers from there. After giving up two goals and the lead to the Penguins, they took a penalty seconds later to put Pittsburgh back on the power play. A goal there could have sent the Flyers to the locker room with a two-goal deficit in an elimination game. Instead, they regained momentum in a huge way.

Jori Lehtera put a shot on goal that Murray stopped, but left a rebound. Valtteri Filppula cut to the net and managed to jam the rebound home, tying the game at two with a shorthanded goal with 1:45 left in the second.

The Penguins had a 19-17 shots advantage after two periods.

The Penguins had an early power play in the third and pushed the play for most of the period. Late in the game, it appeared a stalemate of sorts was headed to overtime until Couturier played hero.

Couturier kept the puck in the zone and fired a shot that hit Brian Dumoulin and deflected in, giving the Flyers the lead with 1:15 left in the period.

With the net empty for Pittsburgh in the final minute, the Penguins nearly got a lucky bounce to score the equalizer. The puck bounced right to the tape of Crosby at the side of the net, but Neuvirth robbed him with the glove to keep the Flyers in front.

Matt Read scored into an empty net with 17 seconds remaining to seal the victory and force a Game 6.

Neuvirth made 30 saves in the win. Murray made 22 saves in the loss.

Filppula had two assists as well as the shorthanded goal for a three-point game.

The Penguins went 0-for-5 on the power play. The Flyers were 0-for-1.

So the stage is set for Game 6 at Wells Fargo Center. Game time is set for Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Claude Giroux (1) (Jake Voracek, Valtteri Filppula) 17:29

2nd Period

• PIT Bryan Rust (2) (Conor Sheary, Derick Brassard) 12:00
• PIT Jake Guentzel (2) (Sidney Crosby, Dominik Simon) 16:45
• PHI Filppula (1) SH (Jori Lehtera) 18:15

3rd Period

• PHI Sean Couturier (2) (Wayne Simmonds) 18:45
• PHI Matt Read (1) (Filppula) 19:42

Game Statistics