Flyers beat Penguins for third win in a row

PITTSBURGH -- The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins continue to go in opposite directions.

Brayden Schenn scored twice and the Flyers won their third consecutive game by beating the Penguins 2-1 on Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center, handing Pittsburgh its third loss in a row.

Philadelphia (7-10-1) has climbed out of the basement of the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers are in seventh place with 15 points, seven behind first-place Pittsburgh (11-7-0), which owns a one-point lead over the Washington Capitals. Despite having the fewest goals in the League (33), the Flyers are three points out of the last playoff berth in the division.

"We're winning right now. It was a good win," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "We didn't get off to a great start, but our goalie was really good and gave us a chance to win and get our feet under us. And more than anything, I like the fact that we grinded the win out.

"We played the night before and did a lot of little things right. I thought we did a good job of getting the puck out and getting it in deep and it's just another game. There's a long way to go."

The Penguins outshot Philadelphia 31-21, including 6-3 in the third period. Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn recorded the game's final shot on goal, a wrister with 7:13 to play.

"We're not doing enough around the net and in the net to get those goals that I think were there," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "We had opportunities, there were rebounds, there were situations, but we're not able to get in their end and finish and find those rebounds and go there to get that second-chance opportunity.

"With no even-strength goals in the last two games, you look at that as something we have to do better."

Brayden Schenn scored his second goal of the game with 1:20 remaining in the second period to break a 1-1 tie. With Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis off for slashing, Jakub Voracek sent a shot from the point into traffic in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. The puck bounced off a few players, including Steve Downie, and came to Schenn, who tapped it in for his sixth goal of the season.

"[Schenn] produces," Berube said. "He's good around the net, puts pucks on net. He's one of those guys who knows how to score, knows how to get points and help the team win by producing."

Prior to Schenn's goal, the Penguins had killed 18 consecutive power plays dating back to a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 28.

Ray Emery stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced in his second win of the season. Fleury, who made 19 saves, has lost three in a row after beginning the season 10-2-0.

"It feels good," Emery said. "Gain some confidence and get more comfortable in the net and as a team, I think that's the same feeling that we have. That we're gaining more confidence and really getting into it."

The Penguins trailed 1-0 before captain Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal 8:29 into the second period to tie the game.

Late in the Penguins' second power play of the game, Evgeni Malkin darted a pass from the right boards onto Crosby's tape in the crease. Crosby redirected the pass past a sprawling Emery for his team-leading ninth goal of the season and the 30th of his career against the Flyers. Crosby had not scored a goal in his previous seven games.

"I think we played a pretty good game for the most part," Crosby said. "We didn't give them much and generated a lot of chances. Unfortunately, they didn't go in, but it's never easy losing. I think that when you get those chances we feel like we deserve better, but we still didn't get the result we wanted."

Malkin's goal drought reached 11 games, but he extended his assist streak to five games and seemed poised for a breakout performance in the opening period.

As did the rest of the Penguins.

Pittsburgh came out flying and appeared to take the lead 19 seconds into the game, but Chris Kunitz's goal was disallowed after a video replay. Crosby split the Flyers' defense and drove to Emery's left side before sliding a shot off the goaltender's pad. Kunitz gathered the rebound a whiffed on a backhand shot attempt, but the puck caromed off his skate and into the net. However, the puck was ruled to have been directed into the net with a distinct kicking motion and was disallowed.

"I thought he kind of [kicked it]," Emery said. "But he was stopping too, so you never know, but it's a good break. They came out really hard and sometimes on a back-to-back, you kind of want to just get in the game and we weren't allowed to do that tonight with the way they came at us."

Bylsma said he had not looked at the play other than on the video board and did not have a clear look to determine whether Kunitz kicked the puck.

Philadelphia was outshot 16-8 in the opening period but left the ice with a 1-0 lead when Schenn scored at 16:02. Wayne Simmonds dug the puck away from Robert Bortuzzo on the end boards behind the net and found Schenn alone in the left circle. Schenn wristed a shot past Fleury's glove and into the top right corner to put the Flyers ahead.