Seeking redemption after a stinging 6-1 defeat in Philadelphia, the Penguins welcomed their bitter rivals, the Flyers, back to PPG Paints Arena, where, in a nail-biting overtime clash, they managed to flip the script, securing a hard-earned 5-4 victory. The Penguins’ offensive surge was spearheaded by a pair of double-scorers, with Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson each finding the net twice. For Philadelphia, Matvei Michkov contributed two goals, and both Owen Tippett and Noah Cates found the back of the net. The Penguins will be hosting the Boston Bruins, while the Flyers head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Saturday, March 1st.
Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
Beauvillier – Malkin – Glass
Heinen – Hayes – Tomasino
Imama – Lizotte – Acciari
Shea – Letang
Grzelcyk – Karlsson
Graves – Desharnais
Nedeljkovic
Blomqvist
Philadelphia Flyers Lineup:
Foerster – Cates – Brink
Tippett – Couturier – Michkov
Kuzmenko – Laughton – Konecny
Pelletier – Poehling – Hathaway
York – Sanheim
Seeler – Drysdale
Zamula – Ristolainen
Ersson
Fedotov
Early into the opening frame at 18:00, Noah Cates opened the scoring for Philadelphia, picking up his 13th goal of the season to put the Flyers ahead on their first shot on goal. Bobby Brink carried the puck from the left corner in the Flyers’ zone and into the Penguins’ zone, passing it off to Cates, who went on to put a wrister past Alex Nedeljkovic through traffic.
Owen Tippett gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead early into the middle frame for his 18th goal of the season, as well as his fourth in the past five games. At 18:17, Tippett’s point shot from below the right circle went in off Ryan Shea. At 13:47, it appeared that Andrei Kuzmenko extended the lead, but it was determined that he used a high stick to tip it in. Matvei Michkov ended up pushing it to 3-0 with 12:36 on the clock when he tucked in a backhand at the left post for his 18th of the season. 30 seconds apart for the Penguins, both Philip Tomasino and Erik Karlsson scored. Tomasino cut it to 3-1 when he lifted a backhand over Samuel Ersson when Evgeni Malkin fed across to him before putting in the first Pittsburgh goal of the night at 10:55 of the second. Karlsson put in his seventh of the season to pull the Penguins within 3-2 at 10:25 on a one-timer after taking a pass from Sidney Crosby right off the face-off. Michkov struck for his second of the night with a power-play goal to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle after some passing back and forth with 8:55 on the clock. With little time left to play in the second, Karlsson put in a snap shot from the right circle after his initial shot had been denied by Ersson.
Evgeni Malkin recorded his third point of the night when he had been drifting into the left circle for a snap shot after taking a no-look pass from Anthony Beauvillier to knot it up 4-4 early into the third period at 17:30.
The Penguins and Flyers headed into overtime, and Evgeni Malkin found the back of the net for his second goal of the night when he took a pass from Kris Letang on a 2-on-1, holding the puck as Jamie Drysdale slid by, and scored the game-winner on a snap shot for the 5-4 final.
Evgeni Malkin on his game-winner, the game, and performance: “Not a great start tonight. We were down like three goals, and I’m glad we came back. We fight, score a couple goals, and believe we can change momentum and win the game. Lots of emotion for me. I hope it gives me confidence and gives confidence to the team. …The next couple of games we play at home, just use momentum, have fun, and just try to win like the next, I don’t know, 20 games. We still have a great team, I believe in these guys. Just play hard every night.”
Philip Tomasino on Alex Nedeljkovic, performance, and going forward: “Ned kind of gave us a little bit of a wake-up call. It was needed. I thought we left him out to dry a little bit. Bloomer did a heck of a job coming in there. Once we started going, we played really well. Wanted to get that one back for him, for sure,” – “I think it really kind of motivated our group. We kind of turned the page and started playing our game. Again, we wanted to get that one back for him. …Going forward, we got to do a better job from the start and not leave our goalies out to dry here.”
Game Notes:
– Before being pulled in the second period, Alex Nedeljkovic allowed three goals on 15 shots. Joel Blomqvist made a total of 21 saves in relief for Pittsburgh.
– Evgeni Malkin had a four-point night, picking up two goals and a pair of assists. Erik Karlsson had a three-point night, recording a goal and two assists. …Sidney Crosby, who picked up an assist, and Malkin have become the first duo in NHL history to have over 400 wins where they both had at least one point.
– Philip Tomasino has two goals in his past two games, four in his last eight.
– The Penguins snapped their four-game losing streak with this win.
– Michael Bunting had been placed on injured reserve and will be out indefinitely after having surgery on Wednesday to remove his appendix.
– Skating in his 500th NHL career game, Noel Acciari had one shot on goal in 12:32 of ice time.
– PIT: 24-28-9, PHILLY: 26-26-8
– Samuel Ersson made a total of 20 saves for Philadelphia.
– Noah Cates has three goals in his past five games, and Owen Tippet has four goals in his past five games. …Tippett recorded both a goal and an assist, and Matvei Michkov picked up a pair of goals and recorded an assist.
– Having his third three-point game, Michkov ties Matt Read (2011-12) for the most by a Flyers rookie in a season in the past 30 years. He recorded three points in a period for the second time, tying Mikael Renberg, Al Hill, Brian Propp, and Read for the most instances in Flyers history by a rookie.
– The Philadelphia Flyers’ three-game winning streak was put to an end.
ITR 31: Let Them Fight – Inside The Rink
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