Hathaway helps put away Penguins with clutch goal

PITTSBURGH – There were times this season when Garnet Hathaway could have easily given up.
The 34-year-old Flyers right wing was a healthy scratch here and there and he finished the season with a meager one goal.
To his credit, he stuck with it, made valuable contributions on the fourth line and the penalty kill.
On Monday night, he was rewarded when he scored a shorthanded goal (as mentioned, matching his total for the entire season) and that helped the Flyers go on to a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
The Flyers hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and it’s through the efforts of Hathaway & Co. that the mighty Penguins’ power play is 0-for-7 in this series.
“He’s one of the guys I’m proud of,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “There are some games where I did not play him. He never cried or pouted. Comes to the rink, goes to one of the coaches rooms, watches video, he’s on the ice early.
“I just love guys like that. There were times when he was upset (because he wasn’t playing). I told him, ‘you should be upset sometimes when you’re not playing.’ But he took it and he’s played two really good hockey games for us. He’s really added that aggressive forecheck type of thing. He’s a team-guy first. When he’s not playing, he’s giving guys high-fives. That’s infectious. It’s good for the young guys to see that.”
Hathaway is taking much of his performances in the last two games in stride. He’s played with some of the game’s best, such as Alex Ovechkin, and he’s had years where he’s scored as many as 14 goals, so he knows how to put the puck in the net.
“We took hits to make plays tonight,” Hathaway said. “And that created a better offense for us.”
Indeed. The Penguins were credited with 32 body contacts.
Unfortunately for them, the Flyers delivered a whopping 48. And Hathaway delivered seven of those.
Hathaway was asked how the Flyers were able to maintain their composure when the Penguins began to apply a lot of pressure in the latter half of the second period.
“I think as forwards we need to do a better job of helping our ‘D’,” Hathaway said. “We were able to hold them off. I think we can do better and how we’re going to keep growing. The second periods are tough, that’s a long change. They get a lot of stuff in the middle of the ice but I thought we did well closing it off.”
Owen Tippett helped set up the Hathaway shorthanded goal to make it 2-0. He had nothing but good things to say about Hathaway’s fortitude.
“We were coming to the end of a penalty,” Tippett recalled. “It bounced over their D-man’s stick. ‘Hath’ was yelling that I had time. I didn’t think I was going to have that much time. Hath was in the right place.”