Crosby scores two goals as Pens surge past Flyers
PHILADELPHIA » Sidney Crosby scored two goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins regained first place in the East Division with a 7-3 win over the Flyers on Tuesday night.
Marcus Pettersson, Jake Guentzel, Jason Zucker, Mark Friedman and John Marino also scored goals while Tristan Jarry had 30 saves for the Penguins, who moved two points ahead of idle Washington and bounced back from a 7-2 loss to the Flyers on Monday night.
“These guys are proud guys and terrific players and leaders on our team,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “When they have a night when they don’t play as well as their expectations, they find a way to respond. ... We were much better tonight and it started with our leaders.”
The Flyers got goals from Justin Braun, Sean Couturier and Travis
Konecny. Brian Elliott had 24 saves in the loss.
“It was safe to figure that Sid — after having a tough game (on Monday) and him being the great player that he was, he would have a bounce-back game and he certainly did,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said.
After posting minus-4 showings Monday night, the Penguins’ top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Brian Rust dominated the game.
“I don’t think anyone was happy with it,” Crosby said. “It was a response game for all of us. I think in particular that for our line, it wasn’t a good game. We bounced back, got an important two points and we move on from here.”
For Crosby, his two goals were the 48th and 49th in 77 games against the Flyers in one of the sport’s most
intense rivalries. The only other Penguins player to have more against Philadelphia was Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who scored 51 in 71 games against the Flyers.
“I think there’s a lot of history there,” Crosby said. “A good chunk of guys on both teams have been in this rivalry for a while. They are intense, more emotional and it brings out everyone’s best. We did a good job of playing all around better
game today.”
Crosby’s first goal — a deflection of a stick-to-stick pass from Pettersson that slipped under Elliott’s pad — gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead.
The Flyers rallied, however, as Braun and Couturier had back-toback tallies in the second period.
Zucker and Konecny traded goals less than three minutes apart in the third period to make it 4-3 Penguins with nine minutes to play.