Flyers Rally for Point, But Fall in OT to Penguins

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers nearly pulled off some big heroics in Pittsburgh, but in the end, it was an all too familiar ending.

Bryan Rust was able to deflect a pass from Sidney Crosby into the net at 2:25 of overtime, capping off a 5-4 Flyers loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon.

The Flyers opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first. Jordan Weal left a drop pass for a trailing Travis Sanheim and he unloaded a wrister that beat Matt Murray high to give the Flyers the lead.

The Penguins answered back four minutes later. Conor Sheary exited the zone off a Flyers turnover and lifted a pop fly ahead to Derick Brassard who was behind the defense. Brassard beat Alex Lyon to the blocker side to tie the game.

The Flyers had an answer to that just over a minute later. On a similar rush up the ice, Weal left a drop pass for Brandon Manning and he put a slap shot on goal and in to make it 2-1 Flyers.

The Flyers took the 2-1 lead to the locker room after 20 minutes, leading in shots, 14-6.

Pittsburgh started the second period with 1:49 of power play time and made sure to take advantage. Patric Hornqvist was able to get a turnaround shot on goal and past Lyon to make it a 2-2 game just 37 seconds into the period.

Two minutes later, the Flyers were set to go back on the PK with a delayed call. Unable to get possession, Pittsburgh wore out the Flyers defense with an elongated 6-on-5 shift. Evgeni Malkin ended up with the puck after an endless cycle and got a shot on goal that deflected in through the legs of Lyon, putting Pittsburgh in front for the first time in the game.

That was all for Lyon, who stopped eight of 11 shots. Petr Mrazek entered and stopped all nine shots for Pittsburgh for the rest of the period.

The Flyers struggled to get scoring chances for most of the period, but finally got a power play in the closing minutes of the period and cashed in. Shayne Gostisbehere took a shot that Murray stopped, but left a big rebound for Weal, who scored to pick up his third point of the game.

The Flyers had another power play in the final two minutes of the period, but were unable to score, and the game remained tied at three after 40 minutes. The Flyers were outshooting the Penguins, 32-20.

Pittsburgh took the lead back just 17 seconds into the third. Crosby finished off a tremendous opening shift by working through the checking of Sean Couturier and getting a shot off from the left circle that beat Mrazek.

For the rest of the period, the Flyers struggled to get positions and quality chances. In desperation, the Flyers pulled the goalie with two minutes to play looking for the equalizer. With 42 seconds left in regulation, the Flyers got the tying goal. Gostisbehere took a shot from the point and the rebound went right to Couturier for the goal, forcing overtime.

In the overtime, the Flyers struggled to gain possession and Pittsburgh was able to put the finishing touches on a season sweep. Crosby set up Rust for an easy deflection in front of the net for the game-winning goal at 2:25 of overtime.

Murray made 41 saves in the win. Mrazek made 19 saves on 21 shots in relief.

The Flyers suffered their fourth loss to the Penguins this season, going 0-2-2 against Pittsburgh. By getting a point, the Flyers were able to move into a tie for third place in the Metropolitan Division with Columbus. By virtue of tiebreakers, Columbus still holds the third spot.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Tuesday night to face the Dallas Stars. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Sanheim (2) (Jordan Weal, Wayne Simmonds) 5:03
• PIT Derick Brassard (21) (Conor Sheary, Phil Kessel) 9:38
• PHI Brandon Manning (7) (Weal, Valtteri Filppula) 11:07

2nd Period

• PIT Patric Hornqvist (24) PP (Kessel, Justin Schultz) 0:37
• PIT Evgeni Malkin (42) (Schultz, Brian Dumoulin) 2:37
• PHI Weal (8) PP (Shayne Gostisbehere, Oskar Lindblom) 17:10

3rd Period

• PIT Sidney Crosby (26) (Schultz, Jake Guentzel) 0:17
• PHI Sean Couturier (31) (Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux) 19:17

Overtime

• PIT Bryan Rust (13) (Crosby, Kris Letang) 2:25

Game Statistics