PHILADELPHIA -- The Penguins clinched their first-round playoff series against the rival Philadelphia Flyers by overcoming a three-goal deficit in a 5-3 win today at Wachovia Center.

They won the series, four games to two, and are expected to open play in the Eastern Conference semifinals sometime next week. The matchup is still to be determined.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 17:48 of the opening period when Penguins forward Max Talbot gave the puck away to Philadelphia center Mike Richards just inside the blue line. Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Richards' shot, but winger Mike Knuble, trailing the play, scored from the slot on the rebound.

Winger Joffrey Lupul scored on a rebound 51 seconds later to increase the Flyers' lead to 2-0.

Philadelphia pushed it to 3-0 when Daniel Briere scored a shorthanded goal off a give-and-go with Jeff Carter at 4:06 of the second period.

The Penguins then mounted a hasty comeback, getting their first goal 29 seconds after Briere's.

Winger Ruslan Fedotenko made it 3-1 at 4:35 of the second period when he pushed an Evgeni Malkin rebound under Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron.

Defensive defenseman Mark Eaton skillfully batted a Tyler Kennedy rebound out of the air 1:57 later, at 6:32, during four-on-four play to close it to within 3-2 for the Penguins.

Center Sidney Crosby got another Penguins bat-in goal to tie the game, 3-3, at 16:59 of the second period after Biron bobbled a shot by winger Bill Guerin.

A slap shot from the right circle by Sergei Gonchar at 2:19 of the third period gave the Penguins their fourth unanswered goal and first lead, 4-3.

Crosby added an empty-net goal with 27.3 seconds left in regulation.

Game updates pending.

PG blog | Empty Netters: Blogging today's game