Frustrated Crosby displaying his dislike for Flyers

This isn't the March of the Penguins. It's the Retreat of the Penguins.

This isn't close-checking, playoff hockey. It's wide-open, men's-league play.

This isn't the Stanley Cup-favorite Pittsburgh Penguins who have a stranglehold on the series. It's the confident, upstart Flyers, who have erupted for 20 goals in the three games.

All of which explains why Sidney Crosby, Penguins superstar, is frustrated.

So frustrated that he went out of his way to antagonize winger Jakub Voracek during the first period of the Flyers' wild 8-4 victory in Game 3 Sunday at the percolating Wells Fargo Center.

Voracek's glove had fallen to the ice during one of several scrums that started after Crosby whacked at Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. The scrums had ended when Crosby caused Round 2 to erupt as he reached around a player and knocked away Voracek's glove as he went to pick it up.

When Crosby, 24, was asked whether the move was caused by frustration, his quiet voice filled with anger.

"I don't like any guy on their team," he said. "His glove was near me and he went to pick it up, so I pushed it. I don't like him."

Any particular reason?

"Because I don't like him. I don't like any guy on their team," he replied.

Told of Crosby's sentiments, Voracek - whose overtime goal in Game 1 turned around the series - smiled.

"It's the playoffs. I don't think there's room for liking each other too much," Voracek said. "Obviously, they are riled. He doesn't like me, and I don't like him, either."

Crosby was in a fight with Claude Giroux - it would have been like fellow superstars Bobby Clarke and Bobby Orr slugging it out many moons ago - and was in scrums with several other Flyers.

"Guys are emotional and there's a lot of stuff going on out there," Crosby said in the Penguins' church-quiet locker room. "There's no reason to explain why I pushed the glove away. They're doing a lot of things out there, too. You know what? We don't like each other. Was I going to sit there and pick up his glove for him? What was I supposed to do?"

The Penguins became chippy - James Neal took a late run at rookie Sean Couturier - as the Flyers' lead grew. Pittsburgh finished with 20 penalties for 89 minutes, while the Flyers had 18 penalties for 69 minutes.

"It wasn't part of our game plan; with a team like that in this building, it always seems to go that way," said Penguins center Jordan Staal, who had two goals. "We weren't going to back down."

"We were looking to at least make some kind of statement," backup goalie Brent Johnson, who played the final period, said about the fights and misconducts in the game's final minutes. "It might be a little bit out of character, but guys want to stick up for one another in here."

The Penguins, in danger of being swept in the playoffs for the third time in history and the first time since 1979 against Boston, are in a deep hole even though they had leads of 3-0 in Game 1, 2-0 in Game 2, and 1-0 in Game 3.

"When we get a big goal, they seem to bounce back and rebound," Staal said.

The Penguins have never won a series after losing the first three games.

"It's a big mountain," Staal said. "Our team has had adversity before."

The Penguins defended the stunningly poor play of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has a 6.34 goals-against average and .798 save percentage in the series. "We haven't played well in front of Flower in all three games," said Staal, referring to Fleury by his nickname.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma blamed his team's shoddy defensive play, and in a roundabout way said the series will go seven games.

"I know Marc-Andre is going to be the guy in our net the next four games," he said.