Flyers Postgame Report: Penguins 4-Goal 1st Helps Down Flyers

The final game before the holiday break was hardly a happy holiday for the Flyers. At the end of 20 minutes, a four-goal first period for the Penguins had already set the tone for the night.

The Flyers struggles in December continued, as they dropped to 3-6-1 in the month and entered the break with a 7-3 loss to the Penguins on Monday night.

The Penguins got on the board right away at 1:29. Bryan Rust remained hot with his 15th goal of the season, beating Sam Ersson to make it 1-0.

The Flyers evened things up at 6:12. Egor Zamula fired a shot over the glove of Tristan Jarry off a rush to make it a 1-1 game with his second of the season.

The Penguins appeared to regain the lead on a Rickard Rakell goal, but it was disallowed due to offside. At 11:53, Rakell scored anyone on a tic-tac-toe passing play to give Pittsburgh the 2-1 lead.

Lae in the period, the Penguins added a pair of power-play goals to extend the lead further. Michael Bunting finished off a tap-in at 16:15. Then Philip Tomasino similarly tipped in a shot on the doorstep at 17:44 to make it 4-1.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 10-9 Flyers.

The Flyers started to chip away at the lead at 4:29 of the second. Noah Cates scored for the fourth straight game, finishing off a chance in front to make it 4-2. At 13:06, the Flyers cut the lead to one. Sean Couturier got space and slipped a shot through Jarry to make it 4-3 with his seventh of the season.

With just 1:12 remaining in the second, the Penguins restored the two-goal lead. Bunting scored his second of the game, getting space and fired a slap shot past Ersson to make it 5-3.

Through two periods, shots were 21-14 Flyers. Ersson was pulled after two periods, making nine saves on 14 shots. Aleksei Kolosov finished the game stopping six of seven shots he faced.

The Flyers were unable to generate much in the third, as the Penguins clogged up the ice and any quality chances were turned aside by Jarry. With 2:30 to play, Sidney Crosby capped off a four-point game with an empty-net goal to make it 6-3. With 11.2 seconds remaining, the Penguins added another power-play goal to make it 7-3 with Blake Lizotte getting the goal.

Jarry made 23 saves on 26 shots in the win.

Scott Laughton had two assists for the Flyers. In addition to Crosby’s four-point game, five other Penguins had multi-point games.

The Flyers hit the holiday break with a 15-16-4 record. They get back on the ice on Saturday afternoon, taking on the Anaheim Ducks at 4 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PIT Bryan Rust (15) (Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell) 1:29
• PHI Egor Zamula (2) (Ryan Poehling, Scott Laughton) 6:12
• PIT Rakell (16) (Rust, Erik Karlsson) 11:53
• PIT Michael Bunting (8) PP (Evgeni Malkin, Crosby) 16:15
• PIT Philip Tomasino (4) PP (Crosby) 17:44

2nd Period

• PHI Noah Cates (6) (Bobby Brink, Cam York) 4:29
• PHI Sean Couturier (7) (Travis Konecny, Laughton) 13:06
• PIT Bunting (9) (Malkin, Karlsson) 18:48

3rd Period

• PIT Crosby (10) EN (Unassisted)
• PIT Blake Lizotte (8) PP (Ryan Shea, Matt Nieto) 19:48

Game Statistics