Flyers Routed by Penguins for 9th Straight Loss
In several of their recent games, the Flyers have managed to be tied in the third period or leading the game late. With a losing streak at eight games entering Friday, they had been finding a way to lose more often. But against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday evening, the opposite occurred.
The Penguins scored two goals in the first period and two more in the second and the rout was on from there, as the Flyers were handed their ninth straight loss in a 4-1 defeat at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers opened the game with the first five shots on goal in the first 90 seconds. From there, the Penguins took over.
At 11:37, they finally broke through for a goal, as Justin Braun turned the puck over resulting in a two-on-one. Teddy Blueger fired a shot on goal that was stopped, but Josh Archibald followed up and put home the rebound to make it 1-0.
In the final minute of the period, the Penguins struck again. Marcus Pettersson got the puck into the slot for a deflection by Sidney Crosby, making it 2-0 with 30.5 seconds left in the period. It was Crosby's 11th goal of the season and also a historic tally, marking his 52nd career goal against the Flyers. That is the most all-time against the Flyers in franchise history, passing another Penguins legend, Mario Lemieux.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 15-7 Pittsburgh.
The Penguins had a goal disallowed 30 seconds into the second period, but that hardly slowed down their push to extend the lead.
At 2:59, less than a minute after Nicolas Deslauriers tried to change the momentum with a fight, Ryan Poehling scored on a deflection to make it a 3-0 game.
Midway through the period, at 13:37, Poehling scored again, finding a way to tuck the puck past Carter Hart from behind the net for his second goal of the game. That was the end of the night for Hart, who made 17 saves on 21 shots.
Through two periods, the Penguins had a 24-15 lead in shots.
The Flyers started to generate more shots in the third. They got a penalty shot from Zack MacEwen after he was impeded on a breakaway, but Tristan Jarry made the save.
With 9:56 remaining in the third, Kevin Hayes ended the shutout bid with his sixth goal of the season to make it 4-1.
Jarry made 29 saves in the win. Felix Sandstrom stopped all eight shots he faced in relief.
Blueger had three assists in the win. Archibald and Poehling each had two points.
The Flyers are right back in action on Saturday night as they take on the New York Islanders at 7:30 p.m.
Box Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
Penguins | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Flyers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- PIT Josh Archibald (4) (Teddy Blueger) 11:37
- PIT Sidney Crosby (11) (Marcus Pettersson, Kris Letang) 19:29
2nd Period
- PIT Ryan Poehling (3) (Blueger, Jeff Petry) 2:59
- PIT Poehling (4) (Blueger, Archibald) 13:37
3rd Period
- PHI Kevin Hayes (6) (Nicolas Deslauriers, Travis Sanheim) 10:04
Game Statistics | Penguins | Flyers |
Shots | 29 | 30 |
Power Play | 0/3 | 0/1 |
Hits | 28 | 42 |
Faceoff % | 63.0% | 37.0% |
Giveaways | 7 | 11 |
Takeaways | 3 | 9 |
Blocked Shots | 10 | 22 |
Penalty Minutes | 11 | 15 |
Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN and Flyers editor for SportsTalkPhilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.