Elliott, Flyers defeat Penguins in Game 2 to even series

PITTSBURGH -- Brian Elliott made 34 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
"Whenever you get that start, I think I've said it all season long, you want to take advantage of that opportunity," said Elliott, who allowed five goals on 19 shots and was pulled at 9:01 of the second period in a 7-0 loss in Game 1. "It's special to get a start. It's special to get starts in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs and to carry a team, and try to be the block in the wall behind them."

Sean Couturier had a goal and two assists, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny each scored his first playoff goal, and Ivan Provorov had two assists for Philadelphia.
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"Said it coming in, nobody really is giving us a serious chance in this series," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "I don't know if anybody still will. But I know this; we just got it down to a five-game series and we introduced ourselves into this series tonight."
The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1. Game 3 will be at Philadelphia on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).
Matt Murray made 15 saves for Pittsburgh. His postseason shutout streak ended at 225:49 when Shayne Gostisbehere's shot from the point on a power play went through a screen and under his arm to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 19:23 of the first period.

Murray had three straight postseason shutouts since Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson scored at 13:08 of the second period in Game 4 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.
"I thought we carried the momentum for the most part," Murray said. "We had a lot of zone time. We just, for whatever reason, couldn't get on the inside and they were able to capitalize on their chances, and they got saves and we didn't. Again, we played really well, I thought. It just comes down to execution."
Couturier made it 2-0 when his shot deflected into the air off Murray's stick before going off Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and into the net 47 seconds into the second period.

Elliott made a glove save on a backhand from Sidney Crosby on a breakaway at 12:30 of the second.
Crosby had another chance with two seconds remaining in the period, but his shot at the right post slid through the crease behind Elliott.
"You can't hesitate whether to stop it or one-time it with how much time was left," Crosby said. "Still, those ones you have to find a way to put it in regardless. If I find a way to put that one in, it's 2-1. It's a different game. So that one and the breakaway was the big turning point in the game.
"We just have to stay with it. That's the way the playoffs work. You play good, generate chances, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. So we gave ourselves a good chance tonight."
Konecny made it 3-0 at 1:29 of the third period, skating past Chad Ruhwedel before scoring glove side. Patrick extended it to 4-0 with a power-play goal at 5:10, scoring into an open net off a no-look pass through the crease from Couturier.
Patric Hornqvist scored 17 seconds later to cut it to 4-1 before Andrew MacDonald scored into an empty net to make it 5-1 with 16 seconds left.

Goal of the game

Konecny's goal at 1:29 of the third period.

Save of the game

Elliott's save on Crosby at 12:30 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Patrick's goal at 5:10 of the third period.

They said it

"For all you doubters out there, there you go." -- Flyers captain Claude Giroux on goaltender Brian Elliott
"We just couldn't seem to find the back of the net. We had some high-quality chances. We hit a couple of posts. We had a breakaway. So it wasn't like we didn't have scoring chances. We did. We just couldn't seem to find the back of the net in tonight's game." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Need to know

Letang left the game at 7:00 of the second period after taking a hit from Giroux in Philadelphia's zone. He returned for the third period. … The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. … Pittsburgh is 1-for-8 on the power play in the first two games of the series after leading the NHL in the regular season (26.2 percent).

What's next

Game 3 of Eastern Conference First Round at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS)