Suddenly, immediately, the puck and the play are coming the other way. Suddenly, immediately, the Penguins' Marian Hossa has a breakaway of his own. He is in on Flyers goaltender Marty Biron. He is in, in close, maybe 15 feet away - and Biron stones him.
Moments and momentum.
If the Flyers did not win the game right there, the tone of the next half-hour - when they built the 3-0 lead that they ended up hanging on to by a rapidly fraying rope - was set. The Penguins had built early leads in every game as they built their 3-0 lead in the series. Playing from ahead means so much to them, to all teams.
Moments and momentum.
They are undeniable.
"The whole penalty-kill there was a big moment for the team, for all of us," Biron said, walking down a Wachovia Center hallway after doing a postgame turn at the news conference podium.
"But for me, that was the save that kind of got me into the game. It was great for myself."
And so, the Flyers live another day, live to dream. They are down by 3-1 in the series, still. The Penguins have every ability to torch them, it seems. On a night when neither Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin scored a goal, the Flyers still ended up being pushed to the limit - this time, by third-line center Jordan Staal, who scored twice in the third period.
But they have life. And they have hope. And now there is word that Kimmo Timonen is at least thinking about trying to come back for Game 5 on Sunday, and that Braydon Coburn is hoping to come back on Sunday, too. It would be like rocket fuel for this team, if it were to happen.
