A lovely day for a win over the hated Flyers
overtime coming.”
The Penguins also have Sidney Crosby.
Once more, Crosby tortured the Flyers, setting up the winning overtime goal by Bryan Rust on easy chipin with a perfect pass. “He put it right where I wanted it,” Rust said.
Early in the third period, Crosby made an even better play to give the Penguins their 4-3 lead. He fought off Couturier — regarded as one of the NHL’s top defensive centers — with his left arm and controlled the puck on his stick with his right arm before beating goaltender Petr Mrazek with a wrist shot. It was an absolutely sick goal, rivaling the one Crosby scored against Montreal Wednesday night when he tapped the puck in the air to himself and swatted it by goaltender Carey Price.
“I’m not surprised,” Rust said. “He is who he is for a reason.” Mike Sullivan elaborated. “I think he’s the hardest player to get the puck away from in the league. The goal he got is an indication of how hard he is to check or defend when he has the puck in space. We’re seeing that more and more from Sid. He elevates his game when the stakes are high. That’s when he’s at his best. I think that’s why he’s one of the most accomplished players ever to play.”
Crosby owns the Flyers. In 63 games against them, he has 38 goals and 93 points. Don’t believe him when he says beating Philly is no more special than beating any other team. He hasn’t liked the Flyers since his rookie season when defenseman Derian Hatcher knocked a couple of his teeth out with a high stick and coach Ken Hitchcock accused him of diving. Crosby said as much during a 2012 playoff series against the Flyers. “I don’t like any guy on their team.” Those feelings intensified after the Flyers beat the Penguins in six games in that playoff series and coach Peter Laviolette called Claude Giroux “the best player in the world,” a direct slap at Crosby.
You don’t hear much of that talk these days even though Giroux has bounced back from a down year to have an MVP-caliber season after moving from center to left wing.
But it wasn’t just Crosby who got the better of Giroux and the Flyers Sunday. Each of the Penguins’ five goals — they scored five in all four of their wins against Philly — was terrific in its own way.
Conor Sheary set up the first goal by Derick Brassard on a breakaway by lifting the puck over the Flyers defense. That gave Brassard a six-game points streak. “Pretty creative,” Sullivan said of Sheary’s work. “It was the easiest lane, up over everything. He just laid the puck into space and allowed [Brassard] to get into a foot race. It was really good recognition by Conor.”
Patric Hornqvist scored the Penguins’ second goal on the power play, taking a pass from Phil Kessel with his back to the Flyers goal, turning and quickly firing a shot by goaltender Alex Lyon. It was Hornqvist’s 14th powerplay goal of the season, matching Evgeni Malkin for most among the Penguins.
Malkin then scored a fabulous goal by freezing center Jordan Weal with a toe drag before blasting the puck through the legs of both defenseman Andrew McDonald and Lyon. It gave Malkin 42 goals and 92 points, adding to his bid to win the NHL MVP award. I’m not sure Lyon even saw the shot, but that didn’t stop Flyers coach Dave Hakstol from replacing him with Mrazek.
“We marvel at what these guys do, night in and night out,” Sullivan said. “It’s a privilege to be a coach with this group of players. I can tell you this, we don’t take a day of it for granted. …
“We have the ability to score. We have some real creative players. These guys are some of the best players of their generation. There are nights when I drive home after games and replay the game in my mind and marvel at some of the things that these guys do. They think the game on a different level. They have the ability to change the outcome of games single-handedly. They’ve done that time and time again for us.”
The win moved the Penguins three points within first-place Washington and three ahead of Columbus and Philadelphia. With only six games remaining, it’s a good bet the Penguins will play the Blue Jackets or Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. I’m hoping it’s Philly. That would be just too much fun.