SIDNEY CROSBY LET his hockey do the talking as he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in the first round of the Eastern Conference series.

Despite a hat-trick from team mate Jordan Staal and two more from Evgeni Malkin, it was Crosy – labelled a coward by the Philadelphia media for his performances in the series so far – who led the Penguins’ comeback and ensure the Flyers didn’t sweep the series.

In a series plagued by penalty minutes – the Penguins had 158 in game three – Pittsburgh decided that scoring might prove a more successful tactic than fouling and hit ten past Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky in the Flyers’ goal.

It was the first time in 22 years that a team has scored ten goals in a playoff game and reduces the Flyers’ series lead to 3-1

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Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference the top seeded New York Rangers let a two goal lead slip in the second period when goals from Milan Michalek and Sergi Gonchar cancelled out first period strikes from the Rangers’ Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan.

They were made to pay for their sloppiness by the Ottawa Senators in overtime when Kyle Turris scored to tie the series at two games apiece.

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In the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks came from behind to beat the LA Kings 3-1 and ensure they didn’t suffer an embarrassing clean sweep at the hands of the number eight seeds.

The Canucks were boosted by the return of Daniel Sedin to the starting line-up as the Swede played his first game since suffering a concussion on March 21.

Alexander Edler, Kevin Bieksa and Henrik Sedin all scored to cancel Anze Kopitar’s opener for the Kings.

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