PITTSBURGH – This almost never happens in an NHL playoff game, a team going on a two-man advantage in overtime. Maybe that was all Bill Guerin needed to do something he had never done, either.
Guerin scored his second goal of the game for Pittsburgh, which rallied twice against Philadelphia and then won after being given a rare two-man edge in an extra period.
The Penguins earned a 3-2 victory Friday night to go up two games to none in the first-round playoff series.
Guerin, at 38 the oldest player on a mostly young team, took Sergei Gonchar’s pass from center point and skated toward the net from the low left circle, faked a pass and beat goalie Martin Biron on a shot that deflected off the left post and into the net 18:29 into overtime. It was the first game-winning playoff goal in Guerin’s 17-season career.
“There’s a first time for everything, I guess,” said Guerin, who was traded by the last-place Islanders to the Penguins at the March 4 trade deadline.
Guerin also scored the goal that tied it at 1 late in the second period, and Evgeni Malkin tied it at 2 with 3:37 remaining in the third after rookie Darroll Powe’s goal put the determined Flyers up early in the period.
The Penguins will take a 2-0 series lead to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Sunday, as they did in winning last year’s Eastern Conference finals against the Flyers.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other playoff game since at least 1933 decided by a two-man advantage overtime goal came in 2003, when Tampa Bay beat Washington 4-3 on Vincent Lecavalier’s goal 2:21 into the extra session.
Other games
Hurricanes 2, Devils 1, OT: At Newark, N.J., defenseman Tim Gleason scored his first NHL playoff goal on a slap shot at 2:40 of overtime and Carolina beat New Jersey to tie the first-round playoff series at a game apiece.
Gleason’s shot from the right point appeared to hit the skate of Devils defenseman Niclas Havelid and then carom past goalie Martin Brodeur.
Canucks 3, Blues 0: At Vancouver, British Columbia, Roberto Luongo made 30 saves in his first NHL playoff shutout, and the Canucks went up 2-0 in the Western Conference playoff series.