Passionate Penguins Malkin-ize Flyers, 5-4, in OT
April 25, 2009. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals between the Penguins and their then-blood rivals, the Flyers.
The Pens were up, 3-games-to-2, but their series lead was in jeopardy. They’d been shutout, 3-0, in Game 5 and had just fallen behind, 3-0, early in the second period before a packed house in Philly. The Flyers had all the momentum.
Max Talbot, who’d made a mistake that led to one of the Flyers’ goals, figured he’d better do something. That something was to challenge former Baby Pens teammate and NHL penalty king Daniel Carcillo, aka “Car Bomb,” to a fight.
Predictably, the plucky Pens forward wound up on the short-end of the punch-up. Beaten but unbowed, he famously shushed the howling Wachovia Center crowd as he was escorted to the penalty box.
Ruslan Fedotenko scored 14 seconds later for the Pens. Mark Eaton two minutes after that. The black-and-gold ran off five straight goals to triumph, 5-3, in the process vanquishing the hated Flyers on the way to the Cup.
For Talbot, it was a clear-cut case of losing the battle but winning the war.