Without Crosby, Penguins easily end Flyers’ streaks
The shutout streak is over, as is the three-game win skein.
The good news is the Flyers have two more chances this week to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins after surrendering a 5-2 decision Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
The bad news is the Flyers were handled by a Penguins team that had lost two of its last three games and was playing without Sidney Crosby, who’s on the COVID protocol list.
After the scoreless first period, they weren’t the Flyers with the exception of the Sean CouturierJoel Farabee-James van Riemsdyk line.
“Coots’ line brought their A game,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “I would say the other three lines that I mixed and matched, they were looking for some chemistry, some jump. Coots’ line played a real strong game. We needed a little bit more from the other guys, obviously. But at the end of the day this is a team game and a team effort. And we lost today as a team.”
The Flyers (11-5-3-25) entered the night with back-to-back shutouts, having allowed no goals for the previous 159 minutes, 51 seconds. Kasperi Kapanen end snapped that with a wrist shot between Carter Hart’s legs on a breakaway in the second period.
The sequence was reminiscent of a rush during a shootout, only with Kevin Hayes turning the puck over to a streaking Kapanen near the blue line.
That proved to be the turning point, for it was the kind of fatal mistake the Flyers avoided in their win streak.
Farabee gave the Flyers the lead in the second period on the first of two goals. Couturier slid the puck across the crease on a two-on-one, goalie Tristan Jarry having no chance. It didn’t last long because the Flyers too often were standing around instead of creating chances. They were 0-for-5 on the power play.
“Mentally we were there,” Farabee said. “I think just the execution was a bit off all over the ice. I think in all three zones we had plays to make and they just didn’t go for us.”
Kapanen scored five minutes after his first goal on the power play to put the Penguins (12-81-25) in front, teammate Jake Guentzel staked out in the crease and sliding the puck to him.
Hart robbed Kapanen on a rebound with 9:40 left in the frame, keeping the Flyers in the game. Twenty-five seconds later, Bryan Rust jammed a rebound home to make it 3-1. At that point, it was Hart against the Penguins, his defenders outmuscled out of the crease.
That said, the Flyers didn’t go quietly. Hart stopped another breakaway and with nine minutes left, then Farabee jammed home a rebound to get the Flyers within 3-2.
Just when the Flyers reorganized, Cody Ceci slid the puck under a diving Hart with 7:52 remaining.
The bottom fell out with 3:54 left when defender Mike Matheson stole the puck, skated a few feet and noticing that Hart was headed toward the bench, fired it in for the 5-2 lead.
Hart stopped 22 of 27 shots. “Carter did what a goaltender had to do here,” Vigneault said. “He gave us a chance to win.”