Observations from the Penguins 2-1 shootout loss to the Flyers:

Brian Dumoulin extended a career-best scoring streak to a modest six games Thursday as he recorded a secondary assist on the Penguins’ lone regulation goal.

Beyond that, he had an unsuccessful breakaway attempt following a penalty kill and even drew two penalties, each leading to power-play chances.

Dumoulin isn’t a threat to rewrite any of Kris Letang’s club records for offensive figures by defensemen (or even any of Dick Tarnstrom’s marks). Defense will always be Dumoulin’s calling card. With the notable exception of Dave Burrows, Dumoulin might be the greatest defensive player in franchise history.

But every once in a while (or six consecutive times in a while), he will remind you of what he can do offensively.

It’s tempting to think what Dumoulin could do if he were just set loose and treated defense like a chore rather than a duty. After all, during his high school days in Maine, he once put up 61 points (13 goals, 48 assists) in a 24-game season.

(Video courtesy WMTW)

Dumoulin doesn’t have a cannon-blast of a slapper and doesn’t fly into the offensive zone like a comet. But he can move the puck, either through his passing or his skating.

“I’ve always been a believer that (Dumoulin’s) game helps us offensively,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “It doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet but he makes good outlet passes, he helps our transition game, he’s a mobile guy, he can join the rush and just help present that four-man attack on the entry which a lot of times gives our forwards the opportunity to gain the blue line with possession and potentially make the next play. (Dumoulin) might not touch the puck but just his presence in the rush helps us create offense off of the rush.

“So he helps us in a number of different ways. How he helps us offensively flies under the radar or it goes unnoticed, especially because of his partner and how active (Letang) is and how good (Letang) is in helping us offensively as well. But (Dumoulin), I think, is a guy that’s a real good two-way player for us. Obviously, his defending ability and how good he is positionally and the way he defends with his stick and his mobility and his smarts is really, for me, the most important aspect of (Dumoulin’s) game. But the offense, I think, goes unnoticed in a lot of situations.”

What happened

After a dreadfully tepid first period in which both teams combined for a mere eight shots, the Penguins struck first 5:04 into the second period. Using the stick of Crosby, Dumoulin — who received Crosby’s stick after losing his — settled a puck in the defensive zone and gently backhanded a pass towards the neutral zone for Letang who surged into the offensive zone, one-on-one against Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.

As Crosby did a drive-by to pick up a new stick from associate head equipment manager Jon Taglianetti, Letang tried to deke around Gostisbehere while attacking the net but was hindered in putting a truly threatening shot on goal. Goaltender Carter Hart made the save but could not get his stick on the rebound. That allowed Crosby to follow up on the sequence and jab a forehand shot through Hart’s five hole for his 17th goal of the season. Assists went to Letang and Dumoulin.

The Flyers tied the game 1:24 into the third period. Corralling a rebound above the right circle of the offensive zone, Flyers forward Jakub Voracek fended off Penguins forward Jared McCann and fired a wrister from the slot that beat goaltender Tristan Jarry through the five hole for his eighth goal off an assist from defenseman Philippe Myers.

In the shootout, Penguins’ forward Jake Guentzel accounted for his team’s lone goal with a tricky backhand move through Hart’s five hole.

For the Flyers, forward Claude Giroux jammed up Jarry with a nasty deke that forced Jarry to slide out of his crease. That allowed Giroux to tuck in a forehand shot.

After Hart stopped Crosby on the next shot, Flyers forward Sean Couturier went wide on the right wing, leveled off and lifted a fancy backhander past Jarry’s glove.

Letang had the final shot and his wrister was snuffed out by Hart’s glove hand.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led the game in shots, 32-27.

• McCann led the game with seven shots.

• Forward Wade Allison led the Flyers with four shots.

• Letang led the game with 26:57 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• Defenseman Ivan Provorov led the Flyers with 24:36 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• The Flyers had a 34-32 edge in faceoffs (52%).

• Giroux was 12 for 19 (63%).

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter was 9 for 13 (69%).

• Provorov led the game with five blocked shots.

• Dumoulin and defenseman Cody Ceci each led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

• Jarry made 26 saves on 27 shots.

• Hart made 32 saves on 33 shots.

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins did not ease Carter into the lineup as he made his debut with the team. They used him quite a bit. On 24 shifts, he logged 17:54 of ice time, including 2:11 on the power play and 1:33 with the penalty kill. He also had two shots on two attempts.

Primarily serving as the center of the second line with McCann at left wing and Jason Zucker on the right wing, Carter looked pretty comfortable with his new surroundings. That trio had a slight advantage in terms of shots for and shots against and a number of the scoring opportunities they generated were high quality.

Even for a bigger player (6-foot-3, 219 pounds) at 36, Carter can still move. That was apparent on the rush he made up the left wing 55 seconds into the second period as he surged past Sanheim and attacked the net, only to be denied by Hart.

Carter mentioned he still didn’t feel completely comfortable with the Penguins’ systems. But there were few, if any, signs of struggles during his debut.

• Hart really ended up being the difference in this game. He has struggled for much of the season but he was pretty sharp on Thursday. He flat-out stole a handful of goals such as a save he made on Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues at 12:46 of the third period.

The Penguins were hardly perfect in this game. They were kind of sluggish in the first period and their power play didn’t look particularly sharp. But they played well enough to win. Hart just played really well.

• That’s not to say Jarry was a slouch by any means. He was pretty sharp too. He just wasn’t asked to do nearly as much as Hart.

• Jarry took a tripping penalty at 12:28 of the first period on Giroux. He has the unique distinction in leading all NHL goaltenders in both penalty minutes (six) and points (three assists) this season.

• There was a scary situation at 3:14 of the third period when Flyers forward Nolan Patrick left the game after being hit in the head by a puck as a result of Myers trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

Patrick, who has a history of head injuries, took several moments to recover to his skates and was so shaken up he had to head down the Penguins’ runway to reach the visiting dressing room.

After the game, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault indicated the team’s medical staff labeled Patrick as “fine.”

Historically speaking

• Carter became the second player in franchise history to wear No. 77. He was preceded by defenseman Paul Coffey.

• Carter (2003) became the fourth Flyers first-round draft pick to play for the Penguins. He was preceded by forward Steve Downie (2005), defenseman Kevin McCarthy (1977) and forward Lew Morrison (1968).

• Allison made his NHL debut. A second-round pick (No. 52 overall) in 2016 by the Flyers — under the guidance of current Penguins executives Ron Hextall and Chris Pryor — Allison had 11:13 of ice time on 15 shifts and recorded four shots on five attempts.

Publicly speaking

• Carter on his debut:

“I think in the first period, I felt like I was kind of standing still thinking about systems and stuff like that and trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. The second period, I think I just started to play hockey and use my speed. That’s when we started creating some chances as a line. From there on, we did a pretty good job of keeping things going north and attacking the net. It was something to build on for sure.”

• Letang on Carter:

“I always thought highly of Jeff. He’s a very good player on both sides of the puck. He fits in every aspect of the game. He can play across your lineup on the first, second, third line. He brings us a ton of speed. He was good around the net. We saw everything tonight in his play. The more we practice and play games, he’s going to get chemistry with his teammates and just going to get better.”

• Jarry on Carter:

“He’s an awesome player, he’s an awesome guy. You see what he brings to our team. He had a couple of good rushes tonight and some good breakouts. He just completes our team. He brings us all together.”

• Letang on the game:

“Their goalie was really, really good tonight. He made a lot of key saves on different two-on-one (rushes) during the game or odd-man rushes. He did a pretty good job. If you look at the overall game, I don’t think we played well for 60 minutes. We had some bursts here and there. Maybe the fact that we didn’t play for three days showed a little bit. We’re used to playing every other day. Maybe it’s a little bit of that. But we have to find our game where it was before.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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