PITTSBURGH — The Philadelphia Flyers might understand losing on an Evgeni Malkin goal, or one by Sidney Crosby.
Losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins on fourth-line forward Max Talbot’s goal will be very difficult for the Flyers to deal with, especially in a series that is fast slipping away from them.
Talbot, a checking-line forward on a team renowned for its stars, scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Penguins took a two-game lead in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Flyers 4-2 on Sunday night.
Crosby and Marian Hossa also scored and Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal in the final minute as Pittsburgh came back to win after twice giving away leads.
Pittsburgh won the first two games at home for the third consecutive series. The Flyers won each of their first two playoff rounds after losing Game 1, but this is the first time they also lost Game 2 on the road.
“We’ve played in a Game 7 where if you lose, you go home,” said Flyers goalie Martin Biron, who made 34 saves. “Game 3 isn’t like that, but it’s as close as it’s going to get. I think we played pretty good, but we can play better.”
The Penguins’ game-winner came from a player who had missed the previous three games with a broken right foot.
“It’s something special — I was happy as a kid just to be back out there,” Talbot said. “It was extra special to get the game-winner.”
Gary Roberts, who turns 42 later this month, carried the puck behind the net after the Flyers’ Steve Downie turned it over at the blue line, and defenseman Derian Hatcher went with Roberts. That left Talbot open in the slot, and Roberts put a backhander onto his stick for Talbot’s second playoff goal, at 8:51 of the third.
Fitting that a player known as Mad Max scored the game winner in a peculiar game in which an apparent Pittsburgh goal didn’t count and the Flyers scored short-handed and on the power play but couldn’t score at even strength.
