Penguins

Donna Summer's family says the singer died of lung cancer even though she wasn't a smoker. TMZ says the diva believed she contracted the disease by breathing in toxic air after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Summer, who died Thursday at 63 in Naples, Fla., lived near ground zero. Summer's family rep, Brian Edwards, also said on Friday that the singer's funeral would be private and declined to disclose a time or place for the event. J-Lo: I'm undecided Jennifer Lopez denies she's already quit American Idol.

Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin is still considered the favorite to win the NHL's MVP award. In the first two periods Sunday, he was playing like the overwhelming favorite. Malkin, one of the players who kept the Penguins in the Eastern Conference hunt while Sidney Crosby recovered from a concussion, had muscled past the Flyers' Claude Giroux and scored what looked like a dagger goal in the final minute of the second period. He had been dominant in the first 40 minutes, outplaying Giroux and helping the Penguins build a 2-0 lead over the Flyers, who had been outshot, 27-10.

Players to watch FLYERS: Left winger Scott Hartnell For all of the hyperbole surrounding the 20 goals traded between the Flyers and Penguins in Pittsburgh to start the series, Hartnell has been curiously quiet. He emerged from the two games with just one assist, though his two linemates - Jaromir Jagr and Claude Giroux - were key factors in the second game. Hartnell, who led the Flyers with 37 goals in the regular season, played just 3 minutes, 35 seconds in the third period of Game 2 because of a broken skate blade.

Players to watch FLYERS: Center Danny Briere   He is to the playoffs what Reggie Jackson was to baseball's postseason. Briere has 98 points in 98 career playoff games, and he has 31 goals - including two in Wednesday's opener - in 58 playoff games with the Flyers. PENGUINS: Center Jordan Staal   He gets lost in all the talk about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but he is one of the Penguins' most important players. Staal's defensive work was eye-opening in the opener as he blanked high-scoring center Claude Giroux, who managed just one shot.

Arron Asham has left the Flyers and crossed the state to sign a $700,000, 1-year contract with the Penguins. Asham, 32, a physical player who is considered an underrated shooter, had 10 goals, 14 assists and 126 penalty minutes for the Flyers last season, playing mostly on the fourth line. He added four goals and three points in 23 playoff games. Asham signed with the Flyers as a free agent in 2008. In his two seasons with the Flyers, he scored 18 goals with 26 assists and 281 penalty minutes.

Chris Conner started his day at practice in Wilkes-Barre and ended it as a top star on Broadway. Just hours after being called up by the Penguins, Conner scored twice to lead Pittsburgh to a 4-2 victory over the slumping Rangers last night in New York. It wasn't the forward's first time on the big stage, as he had a six-game stint with Pittsburgh this season and a bit of a longer run with the Dallas Stars in previous years, but he made the most of this chance. Conner staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead early in the first period and then netted the winning goal in the third.

WITH PENGUINS captain Sidney Crosby watching from the press box, Washington's Jason Chimera scored off a turnover in the first period and Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves, giving the host Capitals a 1-0 victory last night. It was Pittsburgh's sixth consecutive loss and first shutout of the season. The Penguins have scored only six goals in the skid. The Capitals have won seven of eight at home. Pittsburgh is on its longest losing skid since a 10-game drought in 2006. Crosby was wearing a jacket and tie while stationed in the press box. Still sidelined by concussion symptoms, he hasn't played since Dec. 5, and only now is ready to resume skating.

Pittsburgh coach Eddie Johnston and the Boston Bruins' Brian Sutter agreed that the Penguins got more than they deserved. "We stole one tonight," Johnston admitted after the host Penguins beat the Bruins, 5-4, in overtime last night. "We deserved better," Sutter said. "We did a lot of the things we came in to do. Just look at the shots. We didn't play that well in the first period, but we were good in the second and even better in the third. It's a tough one to lose. " Kevin Stevens scored his third goal of the game, on a power play, with 51 seconds left in overtime as the Penguins improved to 4-0-9 in overtime this season.

Score: Devils 3, Flyers 1 What happened: The Devils' winning goal - off the stick of Ilya Bryzgalov onto the grateful stick of David Clarkson - was one of the worst goals allowed in Stanley Cup history. Bryz, who isn't exactly Ron Hextall with the stick, was shaky handling the puck all series, so what happened was entirely a shock. The correct and simple play was to push the puck behind the net, not try to maneuver it past a charging Devils forward. What it means: The Flyers' season is over.

Here is staff writer Sam Carchidi's key to the game: 60 hard minutes - something they haven't given since Game 6 vs. the Penguins - should be the Flyers' mantra as they try to stay live.

Popular misconception: Defense and goaltending win Stanley Cups. Oh, they help, no question. And the Flyers wouldn't mind if goalie Ilya Bryzgalov somehow came close to matching his stunning regular-season numbers against New Jersey - a 0.29 goal-against average (gulp) and .987 save percentage (double gulp) - in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But for folks to dismiss the Flyers' Cup chances because their defense has been glaringly inconsistent this season, well, that would be foolish.

It may not be as entertaining as the six-game shootout with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, compared to that wild series, the Flyers-Devils conference semifinal, which starts Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, might seem almost boring. But not to the players. "It's going to be fun to play these guys," winger Scott Hartnell said after Friday's practice in Voorhees. "It's easy to hate Pittsburgh, but the Devils are right there. " The sixth-seeded Devils had five players with 20-plus goals this season, but they primarily win because of their defense and their ageless goaltender, Marty Brodeur, who isn't as dominating but is still effective after all these years.

So what did we learn as the Flyers outlasted the Team That Was Supposed to Win the Stanley Cup in a wacky, entertaining first-round playoff series? Plenty. We learned that irrepressible Claude Giroux is on the verge of becoming the NHL's best player - that is, if he isn't already there. We learned that Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who figures to be named the league's MVP, is actually a dirtier player than Sidney Crosby. We learned that the Flyers - thanks to an explosive offense and a stunningly successful power play with breathtaking puck movement - are redefining the key factors for playoff success.

About 10 seconds before the puck dropped on Sunday afternoon, Claude Giroux circled by Danny Briere at the Flyers bench. "He came over to me and said, 'Watch the first shift,' " Briere said after the Flyers eliminated the favored Penguins from the NHL playoffs with a 5-1 rout. In one 32-second burst, Giroux quelled the fears of a quiet, on-edge capacity crowd at the Wells Fargo Center with a first shift out of a scene in the cult classic flick Slap Shot . Bodies decorated the ice after three big hits.

With his skates finally untied and his equipment shed, Max Talbot took an extra second to soak in the emotion and glory of eliminating the Penguins team he had spent the last six seasons with before a low-ball offer sent him to the Flyers last summer. All season, Talbot said he had a feeling the Flyers and Penguins would meet in the first round - an eventuality he was well-prepared to face. Talbot just missed wide on an empty-net goal in the final minutes that would have been sweet icing on an emphatic but emotionally draining series.

There are great plays and then there are plays that announce greatness. Claude Giroux's premeditated playoff killing of the Pittsburgh Penguins was the latter. "When the best player in the world comes up to you and says, 'I don't know who you're planning on starting, but I want that first shift,' that says everything you need to know about Claude Giroux right there," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said after Sunday's 5-1 rout of the Penguins in their NHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Players to watch FLYERS: Center Claude Giroux   Giroux is having a monster series. He leads all postseason players with 11 points and is one point away from tying Danny Briere and Bill Barber for the Flyers franchise record for points in a playoff series. But he was held to one assist in Game 5 on Friday. In order for the Flyers to put the Pens on ice Sunday afternoon, look for Giroux to be the offensive catalyst. PENGUINS: Center Sidney Crosby The superstar center has not dominated like he has in the past.