Penguins hand Flyers first loss

The Flyers made a handful of off-season moves - including the megadeal for elite defenseman Chris Pronger - that were designed to help them overtake the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins, who had eliminated the team from the playoffs the last two years.

Well, the Pittsburgh Pursuit is still a work in progress.

Five Penguins scored goals tonight as the defending Stanley Cup champions outlasted the Flyers, 5-4, at the Wachovia Center.

Goalie Ray Emery and defenseman Braydon Coburn had games they might like to forget as the Flyers suffered their first loss and missed a chance to go to 4-0 for the first time since 1995.

A Coburn turnover led to Tyler Kennedy's goal, which gave Pittsburgh a 5-3 lead with 11 minutes, 23 seconds left. Earlier, Coburn inadvertently shot the puck off Emery's skate and into the net to give the Penguins a 4-2 second-period lead.

Last season, the Flyers coughed up a 3-0 lead and dropped a 5-3 decision to Pittsburgh in the sixth and final game of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

In tonight's game, Danny Briere and Jeff Carter scored two goals apiece, but the Flyers surrendered five goals for the second straight game. They are 10-20-4 against Pittsburgh with John Stevens as the coach.

Fourteen seconds into the game, Briere was penalized for hooking Jordan Stahl, a borderline call that had the Flyers' forward complaining as he went to the box.

It took the Penguins 34 seconds to capitalize. Evgeni Malkin, who scored four goals against the Flyers in last season's playoffs, beat Emery from just above the right circle to put the Pens ahead, 1-0.

The Flyers nearly tied it, but Marc-Andre Fleury made a pair of saves on Simon Gagne, stopping his backhander and rebound with 10:55 left in the first period.

After Jeff Carter won a face-off, Briere scored the equalizer with 8:07 to go in the period, taking a feed from Coburn from the right wall and putting a one-time backhander past Fleury.

"When Braydon came down in the end of the zone, it forced their defenseman [Jay] McKee to make a decision to stay with me going to the net or go to Braydon," Briere said. "When Braydon saw him coming toward him, he made a great pass, and I just had to redirect it."

Just 28 seconds later, the Penguins took a 2-1 lead as Malkin, the NHL's reigning regular-season and playoff scoring champion, made a deft pass between Coburn and Kimmo Timonen and found Jordan Staal. Staal went in alone on Emery and beat him with a backhander.

Briere answered with a power-play goal 2:37 into the second period, pouncing on a loose puck that bounced off a Penguins defenseman and caromed to the right of Fleury.

About three minutes after Briere's second goal of the night, Bill Guerin scored on a breakaway to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.

Defenseman Alex Goligoski won a puck battle with Ryan Parent near center ice and fed Guerin, who put a shot between Emery's legs.

After starting the season with two stellar starts, Emery has been shaky in his last two games - both at home.

The Penguins increased their lead to 4-2 on a fluke goal that was credited to Goligoski, who was the last Penguin to touch the puck. Coburn, behind his own goal line to the left of the net, tried to clear the puck as he was pressured by Ruslan Fedotenko, but his pass deflected off Emery's left skate and into the goal with 11:52 left in the second period.

After Tuesday's 6-5 overtime win over Washington, Stevens said his team needed to play more defensive-minded and couldn't get into shoot-outs with the Capitals or Penguins.

But another shoot-out is what he got.

The Flyers almost got to within 4-3, but Fleury made a brilliant glove save on Mike Richards' deflection with 8:36 remaining in the second period. Two minutes later, rookie Mika Pyorala stole the puck from Sidney Crosby, but Fleury made another quick glove save as he stopped his drive from the right circle.

Carter's third goal of the young season, on a 5-on-3 power play, cut the deficit to 4-3 with 3:01 to go in the middle period. Richards' pass into the low slot set up the goal.