Improbably, the Flyers Eliminate the Penguins

Not even Jaromir Jagr’s full return could save the Pittsburgh Penguins in a series in which the Philadelphia Flyers made the biggest comeback of all.

Mark Recchi and John LeClair set up each other for goals and the Flyers, winning for the third time in a week in a rink where they once rarely won, eliminated the Penguins with a 2-1 victory Tuesday night in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Flyers went 3-0 in Pittsburgh--they are 4-1 on the road in the playoffs--to win four games to two a best-of-seven series in which the home team win only once. They are the 13th NHL team to win a series after falling behind 2-0 at home.

“It says a lot about this team that we were down 2-0 and we came back to win three in their building,” LeClair said.

The Flyers had won only two of their previous 15 games in Pittsburgh before the series turned dramatically as Philadelphia won twice in overtime, including Thursday’s 2-1, five-overtime decision.

The Flyers move on to the conference finals against Atlantic Division rival New Jersey, starting at Philadelphia Sunday.

“We thought we were going to sweep them when it was 2-0,” Penguin defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. “The momentum was on our side, history was on our side and then we let it get away.”

The Penguins, rescued from bankruptcy by retired star Mario Lemieux a day before training camp began, were eliminated in Game 6 of the second round for the second consecutive season despite opening the series with their first two victories at Philadelphia in six years.

The Penguins, who had never lost every home game in a playoff series lasting as many as six games, failed to get a boost Tuesday from the return of Jagr, who was limited by a thigh injury to a couple of shifts Sunday.

Jagr, held scoreless in the final three games after scoring five goals in the first three, couldn’t find the net on some early chances in Game 6.

The Flyers lost center Keith Primeau following a mid-ice collision with Penguin defenseman Bob Boughner in the opening minute. Primeau was motionless on the ice before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, where an MRI test was reportedly negative. Boughner had promised retaliation for Luke Richardson intentionally shooting a puck into his chest in Game 5.