Penguins/Flyers Recap: Crosby scores four points, Pens hold on and win a wild game against Philadelphia

In a game that had a little of everything and a LOT of goals, the Pens find a way to defeat the Flyers 7-6

Pregame

Newly acquired forward Emil Bemstrom makes his Pittsburgh debut around what has become a familiar looking lineup.

First period

Not a great start for the home team, Lars Eller makes a terrible misplay of the puck in his own end and Travis Sanheim tips a Scott Laughton shot in front that throws off Tristan Jarry just enough to miss it. 1-0 Flyers just 2:11 into the game.

The Pens get back into the game with a solid effort from their first line. Rickard Rakell throws the puck to the net, Bryan Rust tips it. Cal Petersen makes the first save but the puck is sitting there for Sidney Crosby to chip in past the goalie’s leg. 1-1 game.

Pittsburgh gets rewarded to go into the break up a goal, Marcus Pettersson fires a puck from the point that Rust is there to deflect in. 2-1.

A few red lights early and that trend would continue. Shots were 11-7 Pittsburgh in the first period.

Second period

The Flyers come out strong in the second. Tyson Foerster makes Jarry look awkward when he controls an incoming shot and dekes to the forehand to tuck it in. 2-2 game only 55 seconds into the period.

Eller takes a double minor, but Philadelphia gives two minutes back by taking a penalty during their power play. Everything cycles through.

Midway through the period, the Pens temporarily take control of the game. The Pens’ power play does something good, exterior passing swings around to Rust, who has space to step into a shot. Petersen has nothing for it. 3-2, Pittsburgh back in front.

Lightning strikes twice for the Pens’ power play with the rare second goal in a game. It’s the new guy. Bemstrom steps out of the corner with the puck and the Philadelphia defense is caught a step behind. Somehow the shot ramps off the goalie and in. 4-2.

The Pens are far from out of the woods. Off a faceoff, Sanheim rockets a shot that clicks off Reilly Smith and into the net. Ouch. 4-3.

Pittsburgh gets another power play, but hey they’ve scored twice and all is well right? Right?

Wrong. The Flyers get aggressive and go up the ice. Rakell flounders around atrociously, but then Erik Karlsson doesn’t pick up the trailer. It’s always the trailing player. Tie game after Scott Laughton knocks it in.

Five total goals during an unhinged second period leaves the game tied.

Third period

The Pens keep the forechecking pressure going, and it pays off. Evgeni Malkin gives it to Drew O’Connor, who has no angle. But no one needed much of an angle to score on Cal Petersen today. 5-4, Pens back in front.

Crosby keeps making things happen, he passes from behind the net to Rakell who steps out and lifts in his first goal in 16 games. 6-4.

The Flyers aren’t going away though, Cam York jumps up as the fourth man in on a rush, they find him with a pass and he blows one by Jarry. 6-5, and almost half the period remains.

Pittsburgh keeps digging, Kris Letang flips one from the right point that isn’t hard but it finds a way in. 7-5 with less than five minutes to go.

But it’s not quite over yet. Crosby gets called for a penalty and some snappy passing by Philadelphia sets Foerster up for his second goal of the night. 7-6.

Flyers pull their goalie, Letang ices the puck with 45 seconds left and Philly calls their timeout to try and find one more goal. They can’t and the Pens milk the clock down to zero and skate out with the win.

Some thoughts

• Goal-fest in this one. Petersen looked dreadful, making only his second NHL start in the past few months and playing shaky throughout. Jarry gave up plenty of goals, a couple off redirections. Wasn’t a solid outing at keeping the puck out of the net for either netminder.
• In what could be a major storyline moving forward, Rust left the game in the third period and didn’t finish the game after taking two hits in rapid succession. He was awesome before he left, scoring two goals and adding an assist. His health and status in the immediate future is critical for the Pens.
• Jansen Harkins absolutely smoked Jamie Drysdale in open ice. Drysdale was in immense pain and got off the ice in a hurry. That wasn’t good to see for a player with a history of shoulder injuries. Surprisingly enough, the physical temperature of the game didn’t really tick up after that during or after the whistles. Maybe everyone on both teams were too busy scoring goals to worry about getting mad and go after each other.
• Bemstrom got the goal in his first game, and as to be expected he was eased into the lineup with only 10:50 total icetime (and a low for Pittsburgh forwards at ES of 8:09). Three shots on goal and a nice display of finishing touch on the power play made for a strong introduction to the team.
• Sidney Crosby keeps the team on his back. It was the captain’s seventh career 5+ point game, against his favorite opponent to light up. Well, only four points, the officials removed an assist on the Letang goal after the game. MVP usually goes to the player with the most points, but in the pure definition of “value” it’s tough to imagine that many mean more to their team than the Pens’ captain.
• Pittsburgh finishes up 2-0-2 against the Flyers this season. That’s a good result there. Now the Pens sit seven points behind Philadelphia, with four games in hand. Those only count if something positive happens, but the Flyers were a team everyone was waiting to come back to the pack a little. At a 1-3-1 in their last five games, that time could be now. The Flyers currently have less points (67) than the No. 2 Wild Card (68, Detroit), so crazy as it sounds, Pittsburgh’s best chance to the playoff might not be the Wild Card but actually finishing third in the division. (New Jersey losing today and lacking a lot of answer as of late only helps that cause too).

Total mayhem, but at this point a win is a win. The Pens now set off on an important West Coast trip after having kept their season afloat with a 2-1-1 homestand.