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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Some nights, the Pittsburgh Penguins can't get
Alexei Kovalev to stop passing. On this night, the Philadelphia
Flyers couldn't get him to stop scoring.
|  | | The Penguins' Martin Straka takes a stick to the throat courtesy Paul Ranheim, who received a two-minute penalty. |
Kovalev scored Pittsburgh's first three goals and the Penguins,
playing at home for the first time since their top players decided
to overhaul their offense, beat the Flyers 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Kovalev scored twice in the first period after a series of
run-ins between the two teams as the Penguins did what they
couldn't do in the second round of last season's playoffs -- beat
the Flyers in Mellon Arena.
The Flyers swept their three games in Pittsburgh during the
six-game series, including a 2-1, five-overtime
victory in Game 4 that was the NHL's longest playoff game since
1936.
Kovalev's hat trick was the third of his career and his first
since Oct. 16, 1996, for the New York Rangers against the Penguins.
"Before, I would play five good games, then two or three games
where I would go into hiding," said Kovalev, who threw several
out-of-character hard hits during a 1-1-1 Penguins road trip last
week. "This year, I'm trying to do something different to help us
in every period."
Kovalev has frustrated the Penguins by being reluctant to shoot
and, as coach Ivan Hlinka said, "Sometimes, he passes too much.
But, tonight, he shot it."
With the injury-depleted Flyers missing a number of key players,
including John LeClair, Mark Recchi and Keith Jones, the Penguins
had as many goals (five) by late in the second period as Philadelphia
had allowed in its previous five games.
The five goals were the most by the Penguins in seven games and
came several days after captain Jaromir Jagr called a meeting of
the team's top two lines to suggest strategical changes to Hlinka.
The changes, which included an alteration of the left-wing lock
system Hlinka has long played, were readily agreed to by the former
Czech Republic Olympic coach, whose NHL coaching career is barely a
month old.
Jagr, who assisted on Kovalev's third goal, could be seen
talking again to Hlinka extensively throughout the game.
Hlinka would not elaborate on their discussions.
"I can talk with everybody on the bench," Hlinka said.
Something worked as the Penguins had 29 shots through two
periods and finished with 37, and Kovalev scored twice in less than
six minutes of the first period.
Kovalev's first goal came at 10:25 as he grabbed the puck off a
long rebound and deftly lifted a backhander into the top of the net
past goalie Brian Boucher.
The goal came 11 seconds after a flurry of fights broke out
following Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis' elbow-up hit that
leveled Paul Ranheim in front of the Pittsburgh bench. Kasparaitis
drew a two-minute penalty.
"He came from my blind side and caught me, I thought, a little
bit late," Ranheim said. "I just didn't see him coming. That's
the way they play. I don't think it took us off our game, but it
probably got them a little bit excited."
About a minute before Kasparaitis' hit, Flyers enforcer Todd
Todd Fedoruk bloodied Matthew Barnaby's face during a brief fight.
"We just came unglued, and against a team like that, you just
can't," Philadelphia's Keith Primeau said.
Kovalev, who had a team-high five short-handed goals last
season, made it 2-0 at 16:24 with the Penguins a man down. He broke
free in the neutral zone to take Kasparaitis' pass, then switched
from his backhand to his forehand to steer the puck by Boucher even
as Dan McGillis jabbed at him with his stick.
After Fedoruk scored his first NHL goal at 6:19 of the second,
Kovalev restored the Penguins' two-goal lead at 10:12 with a shot
from the slot over a screened Boucher's left shoulder.
Rene Corbet added the third goal of the Penguins' four-goal
second period at 13:20, his third in three games. Rookie forward
Milan Kraft scored his second at 17:50 after Roman Cechmanek
replaced Boucher in goal.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin, back in the Penguins' goal after Garth
Snow started the previous two games, turned aside 28 of 30 shots.
Game notes
Kovalev scored with the Penguins at even strength,
short-handed and on the power play, in that order. ... The Flyers
had 29 penalty minutes after beginning the game with a league-low
11.4 average. ... The Flyers were 3-1-1 against Pittsburgh last
season. ... The Penguins wore their new alternate jersey at home
for the second time. The first time, they lost 9-0 to New Jersey on
Oct. 28 -- the worst home loss in their history.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 5
Philadelphia 2
Montreal 4
Florida 2
Nashville 4
New Jersey 3
Toronto 5
Carolina 0
Calgary 1
Minnesota 0
San Jose 3
Chicago 2
Detroit 4
Phoenix 2
Vancouver 7
Anaheim 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Alexei Kovalev scores the rebounding goal against Philadelphia.
avi: 1055 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Alexei Kovalev hits this great short-handed goal against Philadelphia.
avi: 904 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Alexei Kovalev slices through Philadelphia's defense with this Hat trick.
avi: 1247 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Janne Laukkanen and Hans Jonsson setup Rene Corbet for the easy goal.
avi: 1208 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Milan Kraft stuffs the puck pass Philadelphia's Brian Boucher for the goal.
avi: 1089 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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