PHILADELPHIA – Down three goals and facing an inspired opponent in a hostile building, the Pittsburgh Penguins easily could’ve settled for going back home to play Game 7.

Instead, Sergei Gonchar and Sidney Crosby helped the Penguins stage a remarkable comeback to advance to the next round.

Gonchar scored 2:19 into the third period and the Penguins eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers with a 5-3 victory Saturday in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

The Penguins, who beat the Flyers in the conference finals last year, have to wait to find out who they’ll play next.

Meanwhile, the Flyers have to wait another year to pursue their first Stanley Cup championship since 1975.

Crosby scored the tying goal in the second period and an empty-netter in the final minute, Ruslan Fedotenko and Mark Eaton also had goals and Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves.

Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul scored 51 seconds apart late in the first period and Daniel Briere had a power-play goal for the Flyers.

After the Penguins scored three straight goals to tie it in the second, Gonchar quickly put them ahead in the third. He ripped a slap shot past Martin Biron for his first goal of the series.

The Flyers had a chance to tie it several minutes later, but Claude Giroux hit the crossbar on a hard slap shot.

Philadelphia stayed alive with a 3-0 victory in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. But the Flyers couldn’t protect a 3-0 lead at home. They’re 0-14 in series after trailing 3-1, and haven’t forced a Game 7 since losing to Edmonton in the 1987 Stanley Cup finals.

With everything seemingly going Philadelphia’s way, the Penguins scored two quick goals less than two minutes apart to get within 3-2. Fedotenko put in a rebound off a wraparound shot by Evgeni Malkin for Pittsburgh’s first goal. With Biron sprawled face-down on the ice, Fedotenko slid the puck underneath the goalie’s pad.

Eaton then swatted the puck into the net out of the air after Tyler Kennedy’s slap shot hit off Biron and bounced up.

Crosby scored a similar goal to tie it at 3 with 3:01 left in the second. Bill Guerin flicked a shot toward the net from the corner that popped out of Biron’s glove right to Crosby, who knocked it in midair.

Backed by a raucous crowd wearing giveaway T-shirts that turned the Wachovia Center into a sea of orange, the fired-up Flyers came out with plenty of energy. They outhit, outshot and, more importantly, outscored the Penguins 2-0 in the first period.

Blackhawks 5, Flames 1

CHICAGO – Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg scored 19 second apart in a three-goal first period and the Chicago Blackhawks grabbed control early and beat the Calgary Flames to take a 3-2 series lead.

Game 6 is Monday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome, where the Flames won Games 3 and 4 to even the first-round Western Conference series.

Chicago will have a chance in that game to wrap up the franchise’s first playoff series win since 1996.

Chicago’s Brent Seabrook opened the scoring on a power play 9:19 into the game and a little less than 2 minutes later, the quick goals from Sharp and Versteeg made it 3-0.