Empty Thoughts: Penguins 7, Flyers 3

Observations from the Penguins’ 7-3 win against the Flyers:

First things first, no one got injured, substantially at least, in this game.

That’s something of a minor miracle given how heated this was.

If this game went five minutes longer, someone might have ended up in the hospital.

Each instance of hostility will be documented below, but it just got unnecessarily nasty, even by the traditionally bellicose standards this rivalry has offered.

In some ways, this game gave the Penguins a dry run of what the first round of the postseason could be against either the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders or Washington Capitals.

All three of those teams aren’t averse to mixing things up physically and initiating conflict. Whether it be Boston’s Brad Marchand, New York’s Matt Martin or Washington’s Tom Wilson, the Penguins are going to run into an extraordinarily belligerent jerk — and that’s as strong of a piece of vocabulary that can be used on this domain — in the first round (or the second round if they get that far).

The Penguins’ don’t really have anyone who can combat that, defenseman Mark Friedman’s best efforts notwithstanding. But that hasn’t been their style generally under coach Mike Sullivan.

They just play as best they can. That’s what they did on Tuesday.

“If teams want to do that to us, we can play that style,” Penguins forward Jake Guentzel said. “We just know we’ve got to win any way we can. Whatever it’s going to take for us to win, whether it’s playing physical or not, we’re ready to do it.”

What happened

An unlikely source provided the Penguins a lead only 1:44 into regulation. Off a cycle out of the left corner of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Frederick Gaudreau slid a pass from the left circle to the slot for forward Jared McCann. From there, McCann tapped the puck to defenseman Marcus Pettersson surging out of the left corner. Using his long reach, the 6-foot-3 Pettersson went forehand to backhand and slipped a shot under the left leg of goaltender Brian Elliott for his second goal of the season and first since Jan. 17. Assists went to McCann and Gaudreau.

A power-play score 3:10 into the second period made it a 2-0 contest. Taking a pass in the right circle of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin faked a slapper then dished a pass to the slot for defenseman Kris Letang who fired a one-timer as his stick broke. The puck struck off the left leg of Flyers defenseman Justin Braun and deflected into the left skate of Guentzel. As Elliott fell backward in reaction to Letang’s shot, Guentzel was able to sweep the rebound under him and into the cage with a forehand shot for his 23rd goal. Letang and Malkin collected assists.

It became a 3-0 game at 5:44 of the second. Off a defensive zone turnover by the Flyers, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby corralled a puck on the right wall and dealt a pass to the left point for Pettersson. Going backhand to forehand, Pettersson golfed a slapper that was blocked by the stick of Flyers forward Nolan Patrick and bounced to the right circle where Crosby was able to jab a shot through Elliott’s five hole for his 22nd goal. The lone assist was recorded by Pettersson.

Just prior to the goal, Flyers forward Travis Konecny slewfooted Penguins forward Bryan Rust who fell backward. Rust did not finish the second period but did return to the game by the start of the third period.

The Flyers got on the scoreboard at 8:21 of the middle frame. From the left point of the offensive zone, Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov chucked a wrister that hit Flyers forward Wade Allison above the crease. On the ensuing rebound, Braun dragged the puck out of a group of players in front and from a tough angle on the left wing, he lifted a wrister that beat goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker on the near side for his first goal of the season. Allison and Provorov tallied assists.

A lucky bounce made it a one-goal game late in the second period at the 18:40 mark. From the left circle of the offensive zone, Flyers forward Sean Couturier tried to shuffle a pass to the crease for Konecny. On a backcheck, Penguins forward Jeff Carter defended the pass but had the puck deflect off his right skate and through Jarry’s five hole. Couturier was credited with his 16th goal off assists from defenseman Travis Sanheim and forward Claude Giroux.

The Penguins restored a two-goal lead at 7:49 of the third period. After Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen picked Giroux’s pocket in Philadelphia’s zone, Malkin corralled the puck at center point and slid a pass to Zucker above the crease. Going forehand to backhand to forehand, Zucker lifted a slick shot over Elliott’s blocker for his ninth goal. Malkin and Kapanen had assists.

It became a 4-3 contest at 10:20 of the third. Racing up the left wing of the offensive zone, Konecny chucked the puck to the crease. Jarry booted it out with his right skate but the rebound deflected off of the left skate of Penguins defenseman John Marino and bounced back into the cage. Konecny was credited with his 11th goal.

Crosby secured victory at 12:33 of the third. Off some strong work on the end boards of the Flyers’ zone by Guentzel and Rust, Crosby leaned down in the left circle and lifted a one-timer past Elliott’s glove on the far side. Assists went to Rust and Guentzel.

An empty-net goal by Friedman, his second of the season, came at 15:53 of the third. Forwards Teddy Blueger and Zach Aston-Reese had assists. In the immediate aftermath of the goal, Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere dangerously cross-checked Friedman from behind into the end boards. A small scrum ensued and Gostisbehere was given a minor penalty. Friedman appeared to escape injury.

On the ensuing power-play chance, the Penguins cashed in. Controlling play in the right circle of the offensive zone, Crosby zipped a cross-ice pass to Marino low in the left circle. From a tough angle, Marino lifted a wrister over a sprawling Elliott for his third goal. Assists went to Crosby and Guentzel.

Statistically speaking

• The Flyers had a 33-31 edge in shots.

• Provorov led the game with six shots.

• Crosby and Letang each led the Penguins with four shots.

• Sanheim led the game with 23:42 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 23:07 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• The Flyers controlled faceoffs, 39-30 (57%).

• Flyers forward Kevin Hayes was 13 for 20 (65%).

• Blueger was 10 for 12 (83%).

• Provorov led the game with six blocked shots.

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

• Jarry made 30 saves on 33 shots.

• Elliott made 24 saves on 30 shots.

Randomly speaking

• As stated above, this game got nasty. First, Friedman dropped Flyers forward Joel Farabee with a meaty hit then the two dropped the gloves at 1:32 of the second period.

Then after Konecny dropped Rust with that slewfoot, Crosby and Konecny got into an impromptu wrestling match that resulted in roughing minors for each player at 11:03 of the second.

A stiff, legal hit in the neutral zone by Gostisbehere on Ceci at 12:57 of the second didn’t defuse matters.

The night was punctuated by Gostisbehere’s hit on Friedman into the boards.

Forget about that hit being dirty, illegal and underhanded (it was definitely all of those things). Above all else, it was obscenely dangerous and could have had a cataclysmic result.

• It became pretty obvious as to why the Penguins were able to claim Friedman off waivers in February. He was clearly not a popular teammate in Philadelphia and those feelings haven’t dissipated now that he’s a member of the Penguins. There’s something personal there between him and some of his ex-teammates.

• It wasn’t the most important goal but Pettersson’s score helped establish a tone for the Penguins early on. And it came less than a day after he sternly critiqued the team for its poor play during Monday’s 7-3 road loss to the Flyers. Pettersson isn’t an overly prominent voice for the team but he backed up his words a bit with that goal.

• The Penguins’ top line of Guentzel, Crosby and Rust was light-years better than what they offered Monday, at least when Rust was able bodied. They controlled the puck a lot better and dictated play a good deal. On Monday, they got raced out of the building. On Tuesday, they led their team.

• The second line of Kapanen, Malkin and Zucker is starting to show some chemistry. The goal they generated was clear evidence of that.

• His numbers in this game don’t look great, but Jarry made some big saves, particularly early in the second period on a breakaway by Giroux at 3:48 to keep the Penguins in the lead, 3-2.

A goal there and it’s a different game.

• The Penguins’ power play is on a bit of a heater with two goals in each of their past two games.

Historically speaking

• Jarry (58 wins) surpassed Greg Millen (57) for seventh place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.

• Jarry appeared in his 100th career game.

• Guentzel (256 points) surpassed forward Pierre Larouche (253) for 33rd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• They’ve been kind of dancing back and forth for a few years on this list, but Crosby (1,323 points) surpassed Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (1,320) for 34th place among the NHL’s all-time leading scorers.

• Each of Friedman’s two career goals has come this season in games against the Flyers.

• Elliott appeared in his 500th career game.

• Braun scored his first goal in well over a year. His last score came in a 3-0 home win against the Penguins on Jan. 21, 2020.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on his team rebounding after Monday’s loss:

“I don’t think anybody was happy with it. It was a response game I think for all of us. I don’t think in particular our line, it wasn’t a good game overall. We bounced back tonight. Got an important two points and we’ll look to build off it here.”

• Flyers coach Alain Vigneault expected Crosby to rebound:

“It was safe to figure that Sid had a tough game (Monday). Him being the great player that he is, he’d want to have a bounce-back game and he certainly did.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports