Come on, admit it.
You were worried.
I know I was concerned.
The Pittsburgh Penguins hadn't played the leading role as the better team of their round 1 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with the Philadelphia Flyers since the first game last Wednesday, April 14.
They had lost 2 of the last 3 and the victory they did get was only possible due to the heroics of their goaltender.
It was more than reasonable to think that, in front of a raucous Flyer crowd at the Wachovia Center yesterday afternoon in the teams' nationally televised game six, Philadelphia was likely to extend the series to 7 games with all the momentum.
That especially looked true after the Flyers took a 3-0 lead in the game early in the 2nd period.
Then, their season effectively ended.
The Penguins scored 5 unanswered goals the rest of the way in route to a 5-3 victory, a 4-2 series' triumph, and the first leg of their 4-leg "race" -- quoting interim head coach Dan Bylsma.
Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul and Daniel Briere put the Penguins in a big hole early in game 6 with their 3 goals and, at that point, the Flyers had to be feeling particularly good about themselves, especially since those three players hadn't really contributed in any meaningful way offensively in the series for the Flyers up to that point.
I can just imagine the fans in the building then:
"We're dominating them! We're going to cruise today, go back to Pittsburgh and pull this off!"
Not quite.
About 15 seconds after Briere's goal, Penguins' center Max Talbot convinced Flyers' tough-guy Daniel Carcillo to make the mistake of dropping the gloves.
Not because Talbot was a real threat to Carcillo's well-being.
In fact, it's more than fair to give Carcillo the victory in the bout he had with Mad Max.
But because, with the Flyers already leading 3-0, there was little Carcillo had to gain by fighting Talbot. In fact, he -- and his team -- had everything to lose if it provided the Penguins just a little bit of something they hadn't had all game up to that point.
A spark.
And that's exactly what the fight did for the Boys of Winter.
About 15 seconds after that, Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin swooped behind the net with the puck before coming out and tossing it on goal. Flyers' netminder Martin Biron stopped Malkin's effort but could not control the loose puck and Pens' LW Ruslan Fedotenko pushed it over the goal line at the 4 minute mark of the second period to begin the Penguins' quest to come back from the brink.
2 minutes later, the Penguins' steamed up ice on a 3-on-1 and, after RW Tyler Kennedy blasted one to the net from about 35 feet, defenseman Mark Eaton of all people, being the 3rd guy on the rush and coming down the slot, got the rebound and whacked it out of mid-air past Biron to put the Penguins' back in the game at 3-2.
Sidney Crosby scored a similar goal with 3 minutes left in the 2nd frame. RW Bill Guerin shot the puck at Biron from an odd angle along the near boards, but the puck never made its way there -- at least not the way it was intended to. It hit defenseman Kimmo Timonen's stick along the way and popped up in the air on its way towards Biron.
Biron tried to backhand it with his glove, but bobbled it and Crosby, after having circled behind the net, was right there to bat it in and tie the score.
The Penguins finished with 20 shots in that second period.
At that point, I bet the crowd was thinking only one thing:
"F-!"
So, with the collective balls of the Flyer faithful in their collective throats, the Penguins went into the 3rd period and did a good job of keeping their foot on the gas for most of the frame.
Pens' Defenseman Sergei Gonchar scored his first goal of the series about 5 minutes in, taking a drop pass from Malkin and drilling one past Biron from just above the right circle to comeplete their comeback and give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.
The Penguins didn't sit back altogether after that and maintained their pressure for a lot of the 3rd period, although the Flyers had a few decent chances -- one on a scramble around the net where Fleury was out of position but the Penguins' blocked about 3 shots by the Flyers trying to slam it home.
They also hit the post a few minutes after that.
Then, near the very end when it became apparent with about 2/3 minutes to go that it was time to just slam the door, the Penguins held the fort sucessfully until they sprung a chance for an empty netter with Biron pulled and about 30 seconds to go.
Guess who got the chance?
Philadelphia's favorite son -- #87.
After being bothered enough by a backcheck that he only was able to hit the side of the net with his effort from about 10 feet, he calmly gloved the puck off the side of the cage, took it behind the goal, circled out in front and tossed a backhander into the vacant 4 X 6 to cue the Flyers to schedule their tee time and cue their fans to hate the Penguins -- and Crosby -- even more.
With their 5-3 victory, the Penguins won the series' 4 games to 2 and made sure that Philadelphia not only lost their 2nd straight playoff series to Pittsburgh, but also to make certain that their franchise is now 0-14 in series' during which they go down 3 games to 1.
It also made the Penguins' just the 2nd team in the last 13 years -- and the first since the Dallas Stars did it in 2002 -- to win a single playoff round the year after losing the Stanley Cup Final.
Now the Penguins will get to rest for about 4/5 days -- which actually should be a nice period of recuperation for them -- before beginning the second round against a team to-be-determined. It's likely to be the winner of the New Jersey Devils/Carolina Hurricanes' series, but could still be the Washington Capitals or even the Boston Bruins.
Regardless, the Penguins' can bask in their series' victory over their arch-rivals -- a satisfying result to the opening round of their chase for The Holy Grail.
More tomorrow.
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