Costly turnovers cost Flyers the game against Penguins

LAST NIGHT, the Flyers held Sidney Crosby scoreless.

That's only the third time in the last 27 regular-season games against the Flyers that Crosby hasn't earned at least one point.

For once, Crosby wasn't the problem.

Instead, the Flyers couldn't get out of their own way. They committed turnover after costly turnover in a sloppy effort that brought them back down to earth in a 5-4 loss that ended their perfect (3-0-0) start.

"The last two games we've absolutely gift-wrapped some of the best chances for the other team," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "You need to make the team earn the goals that they get."

Defenseman Braydon Coburn didn't make the defending Stanley Cup champs earn all of their goals. Coburn was a minus-2 and was turned around on a goal by Jordan Staal in the first period. Later, a soft Coburn wraparound in the third period ended up on Tyler Kennedy's stick and then in the Flyers' net.

"He's got to be better," Stevens said, singling out Coburn in a very un-like Stevens fashion. "He knows that. You need more urgency in your play and you've got to make harder plays with the puck."

"I basically got outside of my game a little bit," Coburn said. "It was just a couple of bad bounces, really. And maybe trying to do too much on one or two plays. Just a couple of bad breaks and the puck is in our net."

Those two goals weren't the worst bounces of the night for Coburn and the Flyers.

While he was indirectly involved in two Penguins goals as a result of turnovers, Coburn had a direct hand in their fourth goal. As in, Coburn put the puck in his own net.

Talk about a brutal night.

Coburn attempted to pass the puck to defense partner Kimmo Timonen but it bounced off Ray Emery's skate and into the net. The officials credited Alex Goligoski with the goal but it really should've padded Coburn's stats.

"It was just a weird play," Coburn said. "It just popped out and hit Emery in the leg or the back of the leg."

"He whacked at it and I was kind of off-balance and it hit my foot," Emery explained.

Coburn struggled against Washington in Tuesday night's home opener, too. Alex Ovechkin danced around him just inside the Flyers' blue line and toasted the Flyers for his second goal of the game. Mike Richards' hat trick saved Coburn from being the goat that night.

No one could save him last night. Not even Emery, who looked superb in his first two starts but came back to earth last night when he allowed two goals on his first five shots. Evgeni Malkin beat Emery with a one-timer just 48 seconds into the contest.

"It's a situation where I can help a teammate out by making the save and I didn't do that tonight," Emery said. "It's not ideal. But I've got to make saves."

Jeff Carter's four-point effort - including two goals, one that brought the Flyers within one with 41 seconds to go - couldn't bail out Coburn.

"You work so hard to score a goal," Stevens said, "and then you give one right back with blatant turnovers. There's no question we have to clean it up."

Coburn iced his miserable night with a tripping penalty that gave the Penguins - and their deadly power play - a two-man advantage when the Flyers were trying to mount a comeback bid midway through the third period.

Despite the fumbles, Danny Briere almost completed that comeback with just 2 seconds remaining but his backhand shot was blocked by Pittsburgh defenseman Mark Eaton, who came diving across the slot.

"It's only one game and we can't panic,'' said Briere, who scored twice. "It was just those little stupid mistakes that we seemed to make too often over the last couple games."

"I think we're overcomplicating the game right now," Richards said. "We weren't going to play 82 perfect games and win 82 games."

After Danny Briere's shot was blocked in the final seconds, Mike Richards crashed into the net and a full-on melee ensued around him. Pittsburgh's Kris Letang contended after the game that Scott Hartnell bit him while the two were wrestling on the ice, allegedly causing his hand to bleed.

"No," Hartnell said when asked if he bit Letang. "He had his hands in my face, doing the face- wash. We were rolling around on the ice. A lot of stuff happens at the bottom of a pile."

The NHL suspended Ottawa's Jarrko Ruutu for two games last season for biting Buffalo's Andrew Peters in a similar scrum. Hartnell isn't the first Flyer to be accused of biting, either. The retired Derian Hatcher was accused of biting New Jersey's Travis Zajac but he was not fined or suspended.

Under John Stevens, the Flyers are a paltry 10-20-4 against Pittsburgh, including playoffs . . . Sidney Crosby won an incredible 21 of 24 faceoffs, giving the Penguins a huge boost in possession . . . Defenseman Matt Carle now has points in three straight games. His seven points lead all NHL defensemen.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.