Another close game, another no-give-up effort, another loss.
One day after practically playing the NHL-leading New York Rangers to a standoff in a narrow 2-1 loss on Saturday in Philadelphia, the Flyers were back at it again on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Score-wise, this game was a totally opposite. Goals were flying in left and right.
The Flyers fell behind by multiple goals on multiple occasions and each time they clawed back. But the magic finally ended late in the game at PPG Paints Arena and Philadelphia came out on the short end of a 7-6 score.
Flyers goalie Cal Petersen and Pittsburgh netminder Tristan Jarry both looked a shell-shocked in this game.
Sidney Crosby finished with five points, one off his career-high. He’s the all-time scoring leader against the Flyers with 130 career points vs. Philadelphia.
The teams entered the third period tied at 4-4. Drew O’Connor scored at 6:41 and Rickard Rakell added another goal at 8:38 to make it 6-4. Then Cam York scored for the Flyers at 10:10 to cut the lead to one before Kris Letang scored at 15:13 for a 7-6 lead. Tyson Foerster made it a one-goal game with 2:13 to go but that was it for the Flyers’ offense.
With everything going Pittsburgh’s way late in the second period, the Flyers found a way to mount a two-goal comeback with Travis Sanheim and Scott Laughton leading the way.
Trailing 4-2, Sanheim pulled the Flyers to within one with his second goal of the game at 16:33. Sean Couturier won a right circle faceoff and drew back to Sanheim for a blast which deflected off Reilly Smith’s leg and into the net.
Then, just a minute and three seconds later, Noah Cates lugged the puck deep, then found Laughton up for a shot past Tristan Jarry.
Down 2-1 after the first period, Foerster scored for the second straight game just 55 seconds into the second. Foerster stopped Owen Tippett’s entry, wheeled and lifted the puck into the net.
Unfazed, the Penguins scored power-play goals at 11:15 and 13:38. Brian Rust notched the first goal and then Emil Bemstrom drifted out of the left corner and unleashed a short shot which tipped off Petersen’s right pad and into the net.
While the Flyers took an early lead, the edge did not last through the first period.
Sanheim tipped in a Scott Laughton shot just 2:11 into the game. It looked like the Flyers were about to take up where they left off in Saturday’s close encounter with the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers.
The game started to go the other way when Sidney Crosby scored on a rebound past Petersen for his 32nd goal of the season. This is nothing new for Flyers-Penguins game. For his career, Crosby’s 55 goals and 127 points are more than that of any player in NHL history.
The Penguins took the lead on a Rust goal at 17:15. Crosby picked up an assist on the play.
>Drysdale injured
Defenseman Jamie Drysdale left the ice clutching his shoulder after a collision with Pittsburgh’s Jansen Harkins at 11:54 of the second period. Drysdale did not return to action.
Foerster took a Tippett shot off his kneecap at 1:46 of third and immediately left the ice but later returned to action.
Rust also left the game in the third period with what appeared to a shoulder injury.
>Short shots
Travis Konecny missed his second straight game due to an injury he suffered in last Friday’s practice at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, N.J. . .The Flyers get back into action on Tuesday when they play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning, who just swept a weekend of road action against the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils. . .Defenseman Egor Zamula was scratched as the Flyers returned to a conventional 12-forward/six-defensemen configuration. . .Laughton has a career-high seven-game point streak going.
