Stanley Cup Playoffs : Flyers Eliminate Penguins

Ken Wregget came in cold and put the Penguins on ice.

Wregget, a last-minute substitute for injured goaltender Ron Hextall, turned away 39 shots and Dave Poulin’s second-period short-handed goal broke a tie as the Philadelphia Flyers beat Pittsburgh, 4-1, Saturday night to win the Patrick Division playoffs.

Wregget made numerous clutch saves as the Flyers won their second game in a row to overcome a 3-2 deficit. They advanced to the Wales Conference finals for the second time in three years and will play the Montreal Canadiens Monday night.

“The players all believe in Ken Wregget . . . and they all believe in themselves,” Flyer Coach Paul Holmgren said. “They beat Washington (in a first-round series) when nobody thought they would and they beat Pittsburgh after losing Game 5 (by 10-7), when nobody thought they would. I couldn’t be more proud.”

“I knew it was a make or break game, but I’ve always worked hard for the day when I had a chance, and this was the day,” said Wregget, acquired last month from the Toronto Maple Leafs. “The team played great defense in front of me.”

It was the first road victory in the seventh game of a playoff series in the Flyers’ 22-year history. After allowing Penguins’ star Mario Lemieux to score five goals and eight points in Game 5, they outscored the Penguins, 10-3, in the final two games.

With Hextall sitting out his first playoff game in his three-season NHL career with an injured right-knee ligament, Wregget was virtually impenetrable, constantly turning away the frantic Penguins’ rushes with kick saves and glove-hand snares.

“We had our chances and couldn’t put it in,” said Lemieux, who scored the Penguins’ only goal on a second-period power play. “He made the key saves and that changed the game. Their defense was a key. and we couldn’t skate as well as we wanted to.”

Lemieux’s power-play score on a 20-foot slap shot at 4:21 of the second period was the only goal Wregget allowed in 89 minutes’ playing time in the series.

Hextall’s status for the Canadiens’ series is uncertain.