Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy sniped top shelf on Ilya Bryzgalov just 3 minutes apart in the second period and the Flyers were thwarted by Marc-Andre Fleury's newfound brilliance in the final frame in a 3-2, Game 5 loss at Consol Energy Center.
With each additional momentum-sealing save, the chants of "Fleu-ry, Fleu-ry" grew louder and louder, swelling almost to the decibel with which the Penguins' clear-cut confidence can be measured heading back to Philadelphia.
Now, with a scant 3-2 series lead, the Flyers will have one more chance in the friendly confines of South Philadelphia to extinguish the Penguins' Stanley Cup dreams with Game 6 on Sunday. The time of Sunday's game was not yet announced at press time.
For the second game in a row, the Flyers' only offensive production came from the power play. They have not scored an even-strength goal in 139:33, back to the third period of Game 3 in Philadelphia.
Bryzgalov was neither the hero nor the goat in Game 5. The Flyers' play with even sides, in a series largely decided by special teams, is on the side of a milk carton.
The power-play numbers are ridiculous. Yes, the Flyers have tied a franchise record for power play goals in a single playoff series with their 10th and 11th of the series in Friday night's first period alone. They are 11-for-18 in the series (61 percent). They also had 11 in the 1989 division finals against Pittsburgh, a series they won in seven games.
Put in perspective, the Flyers now have 11 power play goals in five games. Boston had 10 in its entire run to a Stanley Cup last spring.
The Bruins, instead, did their dirty work at even strength, outmuscling and outworking opponents. The Flyers left their best opportunities to a singular man-advantage in the third period.
The statistics and the records sound sweet, but they aren't enough to win a series single-handedly.
Friday night marked just the eighth time in 22 tries the Flyers have not closed out a series in Game 5 while sporting a 3-1 series lead.
Now, as the asterisk is removed from another date remaining on the series schedule, the Flyers' odds of moving on to the second round get hairier and hairier. Yes, the Flyers are still 17-2 in the series when leading, 3-2, heading into Game 6, but they have gone to a deciding - and nail-biting - Game 7 eight times in 19 tries. That is a significant number.
On Friday, all started well for the Flyers for the second straight game. They captured the lead when Matt Carle's snapper from the point tickled the twine with 8:15 left in the first period.
As has been the case all series for both teams, the Flyers' lead lasted just 3:06.
Scott Hartnell, the Flyers' leading goal scorer from the regular season, netted his first of the playoffs to give Philadelphia a 2-1 edge heading to the locker room.
But the game was turned in another 3-minute segment in the second period when Staal and Kennedy each scored in a span of 3:38 to give Pittsburgh all the cushion it needed.
Now, as the series shifts back across the commonwealth, all of the things that made the Flyers so successful in jumping out to that lopsided series lead - the power play, the comebacks - are catching up to them. Pittsburgh will fly to Philadelphia with all the momentum, and that makes for a few sleepless nights for the seemingly invincible Flyers.
Contact Frank Seravalli at seravaf@phillynews.com . Follow him on Twitter @DNFlyers. Read his blog, Frequent Flyers, at www.philly.com/frequentflyers.
