Crosby, Penguins Respond with Resounding Victory Over Flyers

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

It was pretty clear in Monday's game that the Pittsburgh Penguins were not at their best. They sure showed that on Tuesday.

The Penguins put the finishing touches on the season series with the Flyers with a four-goal third period in a 7-3 decision at Wells Fargo Center.

It took just 1:44 for the Penguins to jump on the board. The Flyers got caught in a breakdown, and the Penguins quickly moved the puck around until Marcus Pettersson got it down low and all alone with Brian Elliott. Pettersson went to the backhand and scored his second goal of the season to make it 1-0 Pittsburgh.

For the rest of the period, both teams had some scoring chances and the Penguins had the only power play. Through 20 minutes, Pittsburgh had built up an 11-7 lead in shots.

Early in the second period, the Penguins put their stamp on the game with two quick goal. First, the Penguins got a power play after Jake Voracek took a cross-checking penalty moments before Joel Farabee and Mark Friedman dropped the gloves. 

Kris Letang broke his stick on a shot and it went into the crease. Jake Guentzel was the first to get to it and put it home, making it a 2-0 game at 3:10 of the period. 

Under three minutes later, the Penguins were on the board again. It was Sidney Crosby doing the honors, knocking in a chance off a slap pass from Pettersson to make it 3-0.

The Flyers did respond with two goals in the period as well. Less than three minutes after Crosby's goal, Justin Braun was able to stay with a play near the crease and score from an angle on a rebound. It was his first goal of the season.

With 1:20 remaining in the period, the Flyers got a friendly bounce to close to within one. Sean Couturier tried to get the puck into the slot for Travis Sanheim, but his attempt hit the leg of Jeff Carter and ricochetted through the legs of Tristan Jarry to make it 3-2.

Through two periods, the Penguins had a 23-20 lead in shots.

The Flyers were pressing early in the third, but a costly turnover put them back in a two-goal hole.

Off a turnover by Claude Giroux trying to exit the zone, the Penguins quickly moved the puck to the front of the net for a wide-open Jason Zucker, who scored to make it 4-2 at 7:49.

The Flyers did get the goal back on another bounce, as Travis Konecny's shot found the net on a rebound off a Penguin. The Penguins answered just over two minutes later though, with Crosby getting his second of the night.

Friedman later iced the game with an empty-net goal, taking a cross-check from Shayne Gostisbehere after scoring. That gave the Penguins another power play and John Marino scored on that to cap the scoring in the game.

Elliott finished with 24 saves in the loss. Jarry made 30 in the win.

Giroux had two assists for the Flyers. Crosby and Guentzel each had three points.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Friday night for the first game of a back-to-back against the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PIT Marcus Pettersson (2) (Jared McCann, Frederick Gaudreau) 1:44

2nd Period

• PIT Jake Guentzel (23) PP (Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin) 3:10
• PIT Sidney Crosby (22) (Pettersson) 5:44
• PHI Justin Braun (1) (Wade Allison, Ivan Provorov) 8:21
• PHI Sean Couturier (16) (Travis Sanheim, Claude Giroux) 18:40

3rd Period

• PIT Jason Zucker (9) (Malkin, Kasperi Kapanen) 7:49
• PHI Travis Konecny (11) (Giroux, Shayne Gostisbehere) 10:23
• PIT Crosby (23) (Bryan Rust, Guentzel) 12:33
• PIT Mark Friedman (2) EN (Teddy Blueger, Zach Aston-Reese) 15:53
• PIT John Marino (3) PP (Crosby, Guentzel) 16:57

Game Statistics