A bloody good win for Flyers

LAST TUESDAY, when Peter Laviolette's eyes finally hurt too much from hours of video to stay open any longer, he climbed into the bed in his Pittsburgh hotel room and turned off the light.

That night - and every successive night - the final thought was probably not about the glory of the Stanley Cup or nuance of a particular play. Like a worried parent, the lasting image is usually the worst-case scenario.

The brooding, bloody knuckles and broken bones were a given. But through all of Laviolette's game-planning and preparation, never once was the possibility of sweeping the juggernaut Pittsburgh Penguins even a thought.

"I don't think anybody, well, I can't speak for everybody, but I didn't go to bed dreaming about being up 3-0," Laviolette said. "I think when you paint a broad picture [to your team], you try to stay away from stuff like that. I think you come in and try to win one game."

As hard as it may be to believe, Laviolette and his Flyers are not dreaming.

The brooms will be out on Wednesday, as the Flyers will have the opportunity to complete their first series sweep since 1995 thanks to their electrifying, 8-4 win over the Penguins on Bloody Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center.

Three games. Three wins. Pittsburgh's Holy Trinity - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang - is on life support.

"If you had told us before the series," Claude Giroux said, "we probably would have laughed at you."

It was a Stanley Cup contest that was part circus, part boxing match and part freak show, with unique god-given, goal-scoring talents on display under the big top. A rare playoff trifecta, indeed.

By the end of it all, after the ice crew removed a stuffed penguin with a noose around its neck, the Flyers were missing Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Wayne Simmonds and Zac Rinaldo from the postgame celebration. All four were among the victims of the 158 minutes of penalties doled out in the slugfest that featured 38 different gritty infractions.

Chants of "You Can't Beat Us" rained down from the sea of 20,092 orange-clad and well-lubricated fans. Before Lauren Hart could even finish her Kate Smith duet of "God Bless America," there was a palpable buzz in the building - not unlike the sound of a pot of water before boil.

"You can see the hatred between these two teams," Flyers rookie forward Brayden Schenn said. "I think it brings out the best in everyone."

Well, maybe not the Penguins. For just the fourth time in franchise history, they are down three games to none in a series. The best the odds-on Stanley Cup favorites have ever done is force a Game 5 once; they've been swept on the other two occasions.

The Penguins flew back to Pittsburgh to get out of the hostile, intimidating bubble that is Philadelphia for 2 days of practice before returning for what could be their last hurrah. Sunday's Game 3 featured a Pittsburgh franchise record for playoff penalty minutes (89).

"I thought the first two games in Pittsburgh were crazy," Danny Briere said.

The Flyers, unbelievably, are leading a playoff series few saw going fewer than seven games by a 3-0 margin for just the 11th time in team history. They have completed the sweep just three times (1974 vs. Atlanta, 1975 vs. Toronto and 1995 vs. the Rangers).

Most knew the Eastern Conference quarterfinal battle would be high-scoring, but no one was expecting the Flyers to have scored eight goals in back-to-back games. The last team to score eight or more goals in consecutive playoff games was the 1993 Los Angeles Kings, when they twice scored nine goals against Calgary.

Matt Read, Max Talbot and Briere each tallied twice - with Giroux and Wayne Simmonds chipping in. Three of the Flyers' goals came on the power play, making them 6-for-10 with the man advantage in the series with eight goals on special teams (three shorthanded).

Still, the lasting flavor being savored after Game 3 was the undying nastiness between two hated rivals.

"We knew that was going to be an emotional game, but I think the level they took it to was not hockey," said Hartnell, who had his hair pulled by Crosby and Craig Adams . "Crosby comes in and grabs me from behind and another guy comes and throws about eight bombs at the back of my head. If they're trying to get under our skin, they're not. They're only frustrating themselves more. We've got the advantage now."

Now, all of the head-hunting and brawling has the Flyers hungry to end it before giving the Penguins one last breath.

"Definitely," Hartnell said. "They were one of the hottest teams coming into the playoffs. The fourth one is probably the hardest to get in any series. It's not like they're going to roll over and die."