One of these years Sidney Crosby is going to call it a career and when he does, the Flyers should hold a retirement celebration party of their own for No. 87 back in Philadelphia.
The Pittsburgh superstar, who’s been a pain in the neck for the Flyers over the past two decades, had a goal and three assists in Monday night’s 7-3 Penguins’ victory at PPG Paints Arena.
And the third assists give Crosby a total of 1,033 for his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for the franchise’s all-time lead.
Pittsburgh is now 6-0-2 in its last eight games against the Flyers.
The Flyers surrendered four goals in the first period and chased the game after that.
“Crosby’s line was feeling it tonight,” Flyers captain Sean Couturier said in a televised interview. “Yeah, we didn’t manage him well. And he made us pay. It was a tough first period.”
Down 4-1 after the first period, the Flyers mounted a comeback in the second period with goals from Noah Cates and Couturier.
Cates scored at 4:29 after a pinpoint feed off the boards from Bobby Brink. The goal extended Cates’ scoring streak to a career-high four games. Then Couturier, who missed Saturday night’s game due to the birth of his son, Nash, scored at 13:06 when goaltender Tristan Jarry let a fairly routine shot get through the five-hole.
But with only 1:12 left in the period, Michael Bunting scored his second goal of the game for Pittsburgh and made it 5-3.
“We had a little more jump in the second,” Couturier said. “Forechecking a little better. Making it a little harder on their ‘D.’ But it just wasn’t good enough.”
Scott Laughton had a pair of assists for the game. He said the Flyers just didn’t have it when it mattered most.
“We were watching in the first,” Laughton said. “They made quick plays, they were holding onto pucks. You can’t just go out there and expect to play those guys the way we did. They pounced on us. It’s not good enough right now. It hasn’t been good enough for the last five or so games.”
The first period was one of the most discouraging for the Flyers this season, with long-time nemesis Crosby making an impact in all three zones.
They came out of it down 4-1 and it could have been worse if not for a very close offside call which went against the Penguins off a challenge by the Flyers.
Pittsburgh needed only a minute and 29 seconds to strike first. Bryan Rust converted a pass from Crosby with a shot on which goalie Samuel Ersson appeared to be partially screened by teammate Morgan Frost.
The Flyers gained a brief tie when Egor Zamula benefitted from some hard work along the boards by Garnet Hathaway.
The Penguins thought they had a go-ahead goal at 7:14 when Rickard Rakell got the puck past Ersson. But Pittsburgh was ruled offside on the play.
No matter. Rakell scored one that did count at 11:53. That extended his personal goal streak against the Flyers to five games.
Pittsburgh made it 3-1 at 16:15 with Cam York in the penalty box. Evgeni Malkin set up Bunting in front and Ersson had no chance.
To make matters worse, York took another penalty and the Penguins cashed in again.
This time Philip Tomasino connected at 17:44. He was helped by Crosby, of course.
For the third period, Aleksei Kolosov replaced Ersson in goal for the Flyers.
Coach John Tortorella said the Boyce-Cates-Tyson Foerster unit was one of the few bright spots.
“They’re just together,” the coach said. “They support the puck well. They spend a lot of time in the offensive zone because they’re around it. I think they’re checking very well. Probably one of our better lines for quite awhile here now.”
Crosby scored into an empty net with 2:30 to play. In 87 career game s vs. the Flyers, Crosby has scored 56 goals, 74 points for 130 points.
>Power-play woes
The Flyers entered the game on a 0-for-10 skid on the power play. That drought dropped the Flyers all the way down to 27th in the NHL at 15.6 percent.
Pretty disheartening after the way the Flyers started the season for the first month back in October-November when they were in the top-half of the NHL.
The Flyers didn’t get a power play in Monday night’s game so any improvement will have to wait until the next game.
“We’re struggling period,” Tortorella said. “Struggling at quarterback on our power play, struggling on the wall. It’s something we continue to work at.”
Matvei Michkov’s eight-game goal slump hasn’t helped matters. He was a big part of the power play early in the season and his scoring woes have been part of the problem on the power play.
“ ‘Mich’ has leveled off,” Tortorella confirmed. “Mich’s game has leveled off, it’s been a bit of a struggle for him. He was a very important part of giving up life on the power play. He continues to work at it.”
Keep in mind this is the Russian’s rookie season and he’s still only 19.
“It’s the National Hockey League,” Tortorella said. “He’s still got a ton to learn as what it takes to play through a schedule. We’ve had a really hard schedule. I don’t think he’s used to that. I’m really happy with what we’ve gotten from him already in the first 35 (games) here. We figured there would be dips along the way.”
>Short shots
After a three-day holiday break, the Flyers return to action on Saturday with an afternoon game at Anaheim. The Flyers also will play Los Angeles the following night and the San Jose Sharks on New Year’s Eve night. . .Michkov’s goal drought hit eight games. He has not scored since Dec. 7 in Boston.
