Murray, Crosby lead Penguins past Flyers

Matt Murray guzzled a sports drink through part of his postgame interview. It’s not surprising the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie needed to rehydrate after such an intense outing.

Murray made a careerhigh 50 saves and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist to lead the Penguins to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

“When you’re out there, you don’t really think about that,” Murray said of the shot total. “You just do what you can to try to stop the puck.”

Jake Guentzel and Nick Bjugstad also scored and Kris Letang had an emptynetter for the Penguins, who snapped a four-game losing streak while winning for just the fourth time in 12 games. Pittsburgh entered holding the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

Murray was a wall for the Penguins, withstanding an offensive flurry by Philadelphia that included a franchiserecord 28 shots in the second period.

“He was great, especially in the second period,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s the type of game he’s capable of.”

Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia, which lost for just the second time in 11 games. The Flyers could’ve pulled within four points of Pittsburgh with a victory, but now stand eight points behind the Penguins. The Flyers’ disappointment stemmed from the defeat, but not their play.

“We play like that, we won’t have to worry about anything,” interim coach Scott Gordon said.

Flyers rookie goalie Carter Hart had his eightgame win streak halted, falling one game shy of setting an NHL record for consecutive victories prior to turning 21 years old. The 20-year-old also finished a game short of tying Pelle Lindbergh for the Flyers’ rookie record for wins in a row. Hart had 24 saves.

“I have to be better than today,” Hart said.