Penguins rally to beat Flyers

Their young franchise goaltender was in the trainer’s room dealing with a lower-body injury, and their struggling cross-state rivals were up two goals. That’s when the Penguins’ erratic start came into sharp focus during the second intermission Monday night.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions responded with perhaps their best 22 minutes since raising the Cup in June.

Patric Hornqvist and Bryan Rust scored 39 seconds apart early in the third to tie it, Jake Guentzel’s second of the night evened it again with 64 seconds left in regulation and Sidney Crosby’s deflection 1:48 into overtime lifted the Penguins to an improbable 5-4 victory over reeling Philadelphia in Pittsburgh.

“In a lot of ways, it was a microcosm of our season,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said.

Meaning an inconsistent mix of dazzling offense, inexplicable breakdowns on the other end with an injury thrown in for good measure. Matt Murray exited with 4:21 left in the second period after Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek crashed into him during a breakaway.

Murray will be re-evaluated Tuesday. Rookie Tristan Jarry picked up the second win of his career by stopping 8 of 10 shots, spending most of his 25:24 of ice time watching his teammates pound away at Philadelphia’s Brian Elliott.

The Penguins finished with 52 shots, the last when Crosby deftly redirected Kris Letang’s shot from the point over Elliott and into the net for the 11th overtime winner of his career.