By Paul Bruno
May 12, 2008 12:26pm CDT

The battle for the Eastern Conference Championship has been joined by the cross state rivals in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are both well deserving opponents for the title because they have proven to be multi-dimensional in these playoffs.

The Flyers have overcome two series where they did not have home ice advantage to reach the third round. They have alternated between being a tough physical unit to being a swift opportunistic offense that has taken advantage of an active forechecking style. One problem for them, though, is the fact they would face the daunting prospect of entering this series without their top defenseman Kimmo Timmonen, who is out with a blood clot in his leg.

The Penguins have also displayed a wide range of team skills. Much has been written about a multi-skilled group of offensive stars and they have certainly excelled in these playoffs. The more surprising element to their success in previous rounds of this year's playoffs has been the attention to defensive detail that has limited opposing scoring opportunities.

Game 1 of this series did not begin in a tentative manner that might be expected for the first game of a high-stakes series. These teams were very familiar with one another, having battled each other eight times in the regular season.

The Pens opened the scoring with Petr Sykora finding the net with backhand shot, on a set-up from Ryan Malone and Evgeni Malkin, less than seven minutes into the first period. The Flyers rebounded from this first score with a pair of goals by Mike Richards to take the lead by the twelve-minute mark. R.J. Umberger continued his remarkable playoff scoring run by assisting on both of these goals.

The big guns of Pittsburgh responded quickly as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin restored their one-goal lead before the first intermission.

The second period would see the Pens take advantage of a great individual effort by Malkin, who rebounded from a tough shift on the penalty kill, where he survived a big hit and then tallied a critical goal by slapping a shorthanded goal by a bewildered Martin Biron.

The Pens showed off their defensive ability the rest of the way to take Game 1 by this 4-2 score.

Game 2 was very similar to the opener as the stars performers again handled much of the offense. But, one difference was that the physical tone of the game was noticeable from the opening whistle.

The only goal of a tighter first period was a bank shot off a defender's skate by Sidney Crosby. Sid the Kid used this tally as the basis of an inspired effort where he was determined to be the best player on the ice in this game.

The Flyers responded in the middle frame as Jeff Carter evened the score on the potent Flyers power play.

The Pens responded with a power play goal of their own as Marian Hossa counted his sixth playoff goal, continuing his own fine story in these playoffs as a key addition to this diversified offense.

Mike Richards evened the score with a potentially backbreaking shorthanded goal just before the second intermission. This goal set the stage for a key moment in this series. Would the Flyers capitalize to tie the series or would the Pens rebound to grab control of the series?

As we had seen in the first five periods of this series, much of the offense was from the top scorers of each side. Oddly, a lesser light stepped forward to settle this outcome. Maxime Talbot, who missed three games with a broken bone in his foot, proved to be the hero as he converted a pass from veteran Gary Roberts to score the winner in another 4-2 Pittsburgh victory.

As the series shifts to Philadelphia for games 3 and 4, both teams have something positive to claim from the first two games. Sure, the Pens have the 2-0 series lead but the Flyers can take some solace in the fact they have outplayed their foes during portions of both road losses and can even the score with the benefit of a pair of home ice wins.

Hockey fans everywhere have been treated to two entertaining games so far, and we hope for more of the same the rest of the way.