Observations from the Penguins’ 3-0 loss to the Flyers.

PHILADELPHIA - No one really wanted to admit it. But they didn’t really deny it either.

The Penguins were looking forward to nine-day break. They just happened to start looking at it one day early.

“We have a long break coming up,” forward Bryan Rust said. “The mindset was probably empty the tanks and I don’t think we did a good enough job of that.”

For the vast majority of the season, the Penguins have been true in terms of offering a legit effort in most games. There have been games where they’ve made terrible mistakes or just had rotten luck. And, the injuries have certainly inhibited the level of talent they’ve had at their disposal most games this season.

But very rarely have they simply not offered an honest effort.

Tuesday was one of those occasions.

So was Dec. 21 in Vancouver, a 4-1 loss.

And don’t forget Jan. 19, 2019, in Vegas, a 7-3 loss.

Each of those games preceeded lengthy breaks. The loss in Vancouver was before the holiday break while the loss in Vegas was in advance of last season’s All-Star break.

This piece of prose isn’t intended to be an excuse for them. They’re professionals. They should give 100 percent no matter if it’s the first game of the season or the 82nd.

But they’re humans.

Like a lot of us on the verge of a long vacation, they slacked off at the office.

It’s not acceptable. But it happens.

“We’re not going to make excuses,” said captain Sidney Crosby. “We have a long break here. We need to do better. There’s not much to say. We can make excuses but we haven’t made excuses all year. We’re not going to start now.”

What happened

After a scoreless first period, the Flyers struck first at 5:26 of the second period. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Flyers forward Sean Couturier veered toward the high slot and fed a pass between Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Jack Johnson to Flyers forward Jakub Voracek driving up the left wing. Cutting across the front of the crease, Voracek tucked a backhander under goaltender Tristan Jarry’s left skate for his 10th goal of the season. Couturier and forward Joel Farabee netted assists.

With the benches being on the far side of the ice, defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and Johnson were stuck on the ice for 1:20 seconds - a long shift by any measure - before the goal was scored.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 2-0 game at 18:40 of the second period. Penguins rookie defenseman John Marino tried to skate a puck out of his own zone but lost it on a pokecheck from behind by Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk who tapped the puck to the neutral zone where Flyers forward Claude Giroux claimed it and banked it off the right wing boards creating a rush into the offensive zone for forward Travis Konecny. From the left dot, Konecny fed a pass to the front of the crease where van Riemsdyk tapped the puck through Jarry’s five hole for his 14th goal. Assists went to Konecny and Giroux.

(Video courtesy NHL)

An unassisted empty net goal by defenseman Justin Braun at 19:00 of the third period capped the scoring.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

-The Flyers controlled shots, 30-19.

-Voracek led the game with five shots.

-Defenseman Kris Letang and forward Jared McCann led the Penguins with three shots each.

-The Penguins had a 26-24 edge in faceoffs (52 percent).

-Forward Evgeni Malkin was 6 for 9 (67 percent).

-Flyers forward Kevin Hayes was 6 for 10 (60 percent).

-Braun and Marino each led the game with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins’ last shutout at the hands of the Flyers was a 4-0 road loss, March 15, 2017. Goaltender Steve Mason made 23 saves in the victory.

Randomly speaking

• Already missing the talents of franchise staples such as forward Jake Guentzel and Brian Dumoulin, the Penguins avoided another injury scare early in the contest when Chad Ruhwedel left the game at 18:46 of the first period. As he lunged for a puck in the air at center ice, Voracek tried to hit him with a shoulder check but ended up striking Ruhwedel’s left knee with his own left knee. Ruhwedel left the ice in considerable discomfort but returned by the start of the second period. Voracek was given a minor penalty for tripping.

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— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) January 22, 2020

• The Penguins had chances to get on the scoreboard. At 16:21 of the first period, forward Andrew Agozzino took a pass off the right wing from forward Alex Galchenyuk and put a redirection off the left post.

(Video courtesy NHL)

• Arguably, the Penguins’ best chance to get on the scoreboard came 5:41 into the third period when Pettersson chopped a slapper from the left point which clanged off the near post. Crosby battled for the rebound but could not get a clean handle on the puck as he fell on top of Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott.

(Video courtesy NHL)

• With Dominik Kahun sidelined due to a concussion, the Penguins switched up their top two lines. Crosby centered Dominik Simon on his left wing and Patric Hornqvist at the right wing. Meanwhile, Malkin centered McCann on the left wing and Rust on the right wing.

Publicly speaking

• Penguins coach Mike Sullivan tore into the team after the game.

“There wasn’t anything. For me, there was a lack of execution, a lack of attention to detail, no sense of urgency, no cooperative play. Can’t play in this league and expect to win. … I would hope they are as disappointed as I am in how we played tonight. I just know we are a way better team. We’re capable of much more. The level of expectation and the standard is a lot higher. … All of us have to take ownership for our own respective contributions. We just weren’t good enough.”

• More from Sullivan:

“Tonight, we were easy to play against. We didn’t chip bodies, finish checks, we didn’t make great decisions with the puck, we didn’t execute when we had it. There’s nothing positive I can draw from this game. It’s disappointing.”

• Crosby suggested the break should have boosted his team beforehand then made a slight guarantee:

“It should be motivating. You go out there, you empty the tank. You get adequate rest after that. For whatever reason, we didn’t have it tonight. It’s unfortunate. It’s a big divisional game. It just seemed like they wanted it more. It’s never a good feeling when you finish the game and that’s the feeling you have. To have to sit on this one a bit, it’s not great. We’ll be motivated when we come back.”

• Crosby knows his team will be ready to go when they play the Flyers at home on Jan. 31:

“We should use the rest. Battled through a lot of different things but the most challenging part of the season is ahead of us. We’ll use the rest and make sure we’re focused when we come back.”

• Rust gave props to the Flyers, to a point:

“They played hard. They played a smart, simple, hard game and they were rewarded for it. We could have probably shot a lot more pucks than we did and got some more traffic. A lot of that is on us. … Give some credit to them. But a lot of that is on us. We didn’t play hard enough, we didn’t play smart enough.”

• Jarry spoke about the benefits the break should offer:

“It’s time to spend time away from the rink and just recharge and not think about hockey for a couple of days. The mental game is just as big of a physical game. That helps a lot in the aspect of just resting your mind.”

• Elliott spoke about what his team did to the Penguins:

“I thought we really frustrated them. If you give them time and space and they can make plays. We took it away. We just moved our feet. That was the key to the game.”

• Flyers coach Alain Vigneault was asked about certain line combinations he might use after the break and offered the quote of the night:

“You know what I’m going to do? I’m getting on a plane tomorrow and I’m getting on my pontoon. I’m having a martini. When I get back, I’ll think about that. … I might have more than one.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.

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