Murray and Crosby lead Penguins past Flyers, 4-1
Murray, Crosby lift Penguins to a win in Philly
PHILADELPHIA >> Maybe if talented toddler Evgeni Malkin hadn’t tried to decapitate Michael Raffl when he thought the Pittsburgh Penguins had the game wrapped up Monday night, it wouldn’t have hurt so much.
Perhaps if the Penguins weren’t the very team occupying the very spot the Flyers are (were?) trying so hard to get to, another blind act of officiating during the second period of what became a 4-1 Penguins victory wouldn’t have been so frustrating.
As it was, the Flyers were outplaying their cross-state rivals but characteristically were failing too miserably to get a puck past goalie Matt Murray. Down a pair of goals but in the midst of a period in which the Flyers would outshoot the Penguins 28-8, Travis Konecny fired a puck that Murray couldn’t grab onto. He fumbled it behind him into the crease in front of a wide open net, and Nolan Patrick was there to jam it home for what should have been a goal to halve the lead.
Instead ... no goal. The whistle had been blown by ref Kyle Rehman.
“Obviously when you score, it gives you momentum, so obviously it’s disappointing,” Patrick said after what would have been his 12th goal wasn’t counted. “I guess everybody makes mistakes.”
Rehman immediately got a lot of blowback from the players on that ... but nothing was going to change that blown toot. To show how confident they were in the call, the officials and NHL security made sure to tell everyone that by league rules the refs don’t have to talk. Thanks.
“It would have been, probably, a different game,” Sean Couturier said. “Going into the third down one, it’s totally different than when you have to force things and try to create more and pushing.”
The lost goal seemed obscured by the final score, but that’s only because Murray was magnificent in the Penguins’ crease. He had been treated to a onegoal lead only by circumstance, as a deflected puck rolled toward the corner instead leaped into the air and fell back on the other side of the Flyers’ net.
Carter Hart had no idea where it was. Neither did anybody else ... except one Sidney Crosby.
The uber-savvy Penguins’ captain easily scored it 8:19 into the game. And from there ... it was all Flyers. Until Nick Bjugstad doubled the lead on a shot that may have gone off Ivan Provorov before slipping past Hart.
But the rookie still made a few saves to keep his team in the game, and when Patrick seemingly scored during a period the Flyers were absolutely dominating, it was easy to see a comeback in the works.
But it wasn’t meant to be ... despite Geno “The Hitman” Malkin’s best efforts.
To be fair, Malkin, who had missed the previous five Pittsburgh games with an injury, was “attacked” first. Raffl, with the Flyers down 3-0 and time ticking away, had put a gloved fist into the back of Malkin’s helmeted head for late-game kicks ... and perhaps to instigate the volatile Penguins star.
It worked. Malkin swung his stick and hit Raffl in the head, good for a major match penalty against Malkin for the remainder of regulation. It was also good for a dumb quote.
“I know I was not playing smart with five minutes left, but it’s only like one point,” Malkin actually said. “I know it was dirty, but I missed my stick and I touched his, like, shoulder to shoulder, I don’t know. Everyone was like, give me five minutes. (But) it wasn’t dangerous, he wasn’t bleeding or anything.
“I know it gave them a five-minute power play and it was my fault for sure, but just play smart next time.”
Jake Voracek promptly scored 30 seconds into the major power play and then Hart was pulled for a twoman edge.
Alas for the Flyers, Murray (50 saves) would be too good the rest of the way.
Maybe it would have been easier to complete a comeback had that earlier goal counted?
“Definitely the whistle was blown way too fast,” said Provorov, who had the oddest of games with eight shots on goal and a minus-3 rating. “But we still had 30 minutes after that to get a goal (or two).
“It’s hockey, it’s a game. Sometimes you deserve to win and you don’t.”