Column: Pens dominate, hanging by a thread

Entering Game Four on Wednesday night down 3-0 in their Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference… Entering Game Four on Wednesday night down 3-0 in their Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the hated Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins faced a win-or-go-home situation.

The Penguins won and get to come home for Game Five on Friday night.

But the Penguins didn’t just win, they completely dominated the same Flyers team that had confidently dispatched Pittsburgh in the opening three games of the series.

During the incredibly one-sided 10-3 victory over the Flyers, the Penguins finally exploited their rival’s weaknesses: lack of discipline and goaltending.

On nine occasions, the Flyers conceded unnecessary power plays. The Penguins capitalized by scoring four of their goals on those man advantages, partially due to Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky, the two Philadelphia goalies who allowed five goals apiece.

But the Flyers’ goaltending duo didn’t lose the game so much as the Penguins won it.

With the fortunate goal that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored off his jersey to tie the game at three as an exception, every goal Pittsburgh scored flew into the net with ruthless authority.

Maybe Crosby and the Penguins were motivated by the cover of Wednesday’s Philadelphia Daily News, which photoshopped Crosby’s face onto the lion from “The Wizard of Oz” and referred to the superstar as “The Cowardly Penguin.”

Maybe it was the orange T-shirts given out to Flyers’ fans for game four, which mocked Crosby, that motivated the Penguins. Or perhaps they were just tired of getting beaten by the team they hate the most.

Whatever the reason, the players that we watched on Wednesday night finally looked like the Penguins that many analysts picked to win the Stanley Cup before the National Hockey League playoffs began about a week ago.

“This has been a really tough series for us. For us to respond like this, it’s a good sign for us,” Crosby said after the game. “We wanted to make sure we were playing our best when we needed to be.”

But the challenge remains for the Penguins. They must keep winning in order to avoid elimination and complete a rare and remarkable comeback from 3-0.

That feat has only been accomplished three times previously in the history of the NHL, and the first four games of this series have proved that this is not a normal playoff matchup.

In Game One at the Consol Energy Center, the Flyers came back after trailing 3-0, eventually winning in overtime. The next two games had a different feel as the Flyers outscored the Penguins by a combined 16-9 to seemingly seize control of the series.

But after the Pens’ offensive explosion on Wednesday night, the momentum might have shifted.

James Neal, Pittsburgh’s second leading scorer during the regular season, will return from suspension for Friday night’s game while goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will hope to build on a solid game-four performance after he was torched for 20 goals in the prior three games.

“It was a crazy game in a lot of ways,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said after Game Four.

Game Five at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh should be no different.

With plenty more goals and penalties expected, the Penguins have the opportunity to take a second step toward winning a series they seemed to be out of just two nights ago.

My prediction: Pens in seven.