PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins faced off against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night in the battle of the Pennsylvania NHL teams.

The second-seeded Penguins hosted the sixth-seeded Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Mellon Arena.

In the first period, the Penguins killed an early penalty, then got their offense going. Petr Sykora put a shot past Martin Biron to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

The Flyers responded. Mike Richards scored off of Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game at one a piece.

Just a few minutes later, the Flyers swarmed the net. It was Richards for his second goal of the game, 2-1 Flyers.

The Penguins responded to the challenge less than two minutes later, when Sidney Crosby got his first goal of the series to tie the game, 2-2.

Then with less than 10 seconds left, the Penguins forced a turnover, and Evgeni Malkin cashed in to give the Pens a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Evgeni Malkin showed what it means to perserve through adversity. On a short-handed run, Malkin took a massive hit by the net and was slow getting up.

By the time he got to his feet, the Penguins got the puck back and Malkin blasted a 15-foot slapshot past Biron to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

In the third period, the Penguins shut the Flyers down, and finished off a 4-2 win, to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.

Game 2 will be played on Sunday at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.