Postgame Rav4: Shootout Lifts Flyers over Penguins

The Philadelphia Flyers prevailed via shootout, 3-2 (2-1) over the Pittsburgh Penguins in an emotional and wild finish at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday evening. The Flyers, now 5-1-0 on home ice, outplayed Pittsburgh in the first two periods, Pittsburgh had the better the third period.

There were two disallowed goals -- one for each side -- in overtime. There was a multi-player scrum at the end of overtime, resulting in various players being unavailable for the shootout, including Sidney Crosby on the Pittsburgh side and Trevor Zegras for the Flyers, due to misconduct penalties.

The teams traded off one first period goal apiece. A Justin Brazeau short side goal (6th) was answered by a Bobby Brink power play tally (PPG, 3rd). Travis Konecny (2nd) put the Flyers ahead in the second period.

In the third period, Crosby (8th) tied the game on a fluke bounce off Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler. Evgeni Malkin had a would-be OT winner on a delayed penalty shot overturned for an illegal substitution. Later, a would-be Tyson Foerster winning tally was disallowed for an offside entry.

Finally, in the shootout, Matvei Michkov and Brink converted their shootout attempts. Only Malkin scored for Pittsburgh.

Samuel Ersson finished the night with 24 saves on 26 shots before stopping two of three in the shootout. Arturs Silovs made 34 saves on 36 shots but was just 1-for-3 in the shootout.

First Period Synopsis

Matvei Michkov led a 2-on-1 rush at 2:02 of the first period and then went to the net for his own rebound. Silovs made both saves.

At 7:53, after losing his stick, Ersson covered the puck in the crease amid a pileup near the net. At 8:45, Silovs denied Nick Seeler from the left slot.

At 10:19, with Ersson down in the RVH, Brazeau put a shot off the goalie's stick and into the short side of the net for a 1-0 lead for the Penguins Initially, Brazeau beat Travis Konecny to move below the circle. The assists went to Anthony Mantha and Matt Dumba.

The Penguins went to the power play at 11:19. Garnet Hathaway went off for slashing. The Flyers killed off the penalty in good shape.

Dumba went off at 16:53 for interference. Brink collected a Noah rebound in front and beat Silovs. The helpers went to Cates and Zegras at 17:25.

SHOTS: Flyers 10 - Penguins 8
FACEOFFS: Flyers 12 - Penguins 7

Notables

* With his assist on Brink's goal, Zegras became the first Flyers player with a six-game home point streak to start a season since Claude Giroux (7 games) and Wayne Simmonds (6 games) in 2016-17.

* Travis Sanheim skated 8:05 across 11 shifts.

* Michkov was charged with four giveaways in the opening period. He partially atoned with the good chance off the 2-on-1.

Second Period Synopsis

Brink was called for a hooking minor behind the Pittsburgh net at the 37-second mark.With 20 seconds left on the PK, Konecny had a good shorthanded scoring chance off a Cates passout.

Konecny had another chance in transition after the Brink penalty expired. This time, he found the mark. Konecny received a short pass from Sean Couturier and wristed home a shot from the right circle. The assists at 2:46 went to Couturier and Brink.

At 10:06, Silovs made a fantastic save at the doorstep on a Michkov backhand attempt. The score remained 2-1 Flyers.

Pittsburgh went to their third power play at 10:26. Crosby drew a high-sticking penalty on Cam York behind the Flyers' net.The Flyers staged another successful kill.

Tyson Foerster took the puck directly to the net after going around Parker Wotherspoon. Silovs made a clutch save at 14:27.

The Flyers got a little disorganized. Ersson held and froze a routine point shot to get a needed whistle. At 17:00, Silovs stepped up again and stopped Rodrigo Abols.

The Cates line created havoc in the Pittsburgh zone. They didn't score but got a power play at 19:24 on a Dumba high-sticking minor. The Flyers took 1:26 of carryover power play time into the third period.

SHOTS: Flyers 14 (24 overall) - Penguins 5 (13 overall)
FACEOFFS: Flyers 7 (19 overall) - Penguins 10 (17 overall)

Notables

* This was a dominating period for the Flyers against a Penguins' team that played the previous night. Silovs was the primary reason Philadelphia didn't build a multi-goal lead.

* Konecny's goal was the 200th of his NHL regular season career.

* Foerster had an excellent period both with and without the puck, along with linemates Cates and Brink. Foerster didn't have a point through 40 minutes but nearly created a couple.

* The Flyers' fourth line also chipped in several solid shifts, enabling Tocchet to roll his lines at 5-on-5.

Third period Synopsis

The Flyers had a lot of attack zone time on the carryover power play but generated only an unscreened deep slot shot from Foerster.

The Abols line got hemmed in on a lengthy defensive zone shift about five minutes into the period. Most of the play was kept to the perimeter but the Flyers failed on a couple of clearing attempts.

At 10:18, Ersson made one of his better saves of the game (16th overall). Brazeau was foiled on a bid for his second goal of the night.

Crosby tied the game at 11:57 on a fluke goal. From behind the net, Crosby's attempt to put the puck in front bounced off Nick Seeler and then into the net. The assists went to Filip Hallander and Bryan Rust.

The Flyers went to the power play at 13:15 as Malkin was called for slashing Couturier. Philadelphia failed to generate much in the scoring areas. Zegras fired a shot on net just after the man advantage expired.

SHOTS: Flyers 8 (32 overall) - Penguins 9 (22 overall)
FACEOFFS: Flyers 26 overall - Penguins 25 overall

Notables

* Zegras' shot on goal at 2:21 was the Flyers' 27th of the game: a new season high for the team.

Overtime synopsis

Pittsburgh's Malkin scored during a delayed slashing penalty on Zegras at 49 seconds. The goal was disallowed for an illegal substitution (Malkin came out before Silovs reached the bench).

There were close calls at both ends, with Ersson denying a chance at the doorstep and Seeler crashing the net at 1:09.

At 3:14, Pittsburgh's Malkin returned to the box for hooking Cates. Now the Flyers had a power play for the remainder of OT.

At 4:35, the game seemed to be over on a grip-and-rip shot by Foerster from the deep middle slot. The goal was reviewed for a potential offside entry. After review, the goal was disallowed.

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A big scrum broke out at the end after Zegras shot the puck at the horn. All skaters on the ice received 10-minute misconducts, The Flyers' misconducts were on Zegras, Foerster, Jamie Drysdale and Owen Tippett. Pittsburgh's Crosby, Wotherspoon, Ryan Shea and Noah Acciari received misconducts.

All eight players were unavailable for the shootout, However, Malkin was allowed to shoot because minor penalties, unlike misconducts, don't extend past the final buzzer.

Shootout 1st round:Konecny was stopped on a glove-side shot. Rust was stoned by Ersson's left pad.

Shootout 2nd round: Michkov went west-east and scored upstairs on the backhand. Malkin scored over the blocker.

Shootout 3rd round: Brink put on several moved and scored on the backhand.Ville Koivunen was stopped in close to end the game.

SHOTS: Flyers 3 (35 overall) - Penguins 4 (26 overall)
FACEOFFS: Flyers 28 overall - Penguins 27 overall

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak– Matvei Michkov
Tyaso Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York– Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Noah Juulsen

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

Postgame Rav4 (Rav4 Things Revisited)

1. Playing from ahead.

The Flyers trailed first, so they didn't accomplish that goal. However, they got the game tied by the end of the opening frame and took over -- both in overall play and in a scoreboard lead change -- in the middle period. In the third period, the Flyers didn't stage their best possible closeout, although the Crosby goal itself was bad luck for Philly.

2. Getting to the inside.

This was not a problem for the Flyers in this game. They were able to get the scoring areas fairly regularly. Credit is due to Silovs for getting a regulation point for his team.

3. Zegras and Drysdale.

Zegras had one assist, two shots on goal, five attempts and won three of four faceoffs. Drysdale had one shot on goal, two blocks and 21:33 of ice time (25 shifts overall).

4. Flyers special teams vs. Penguins special teams.

The Flyers won the special teams battle on this night. Philly was stellar on the PK, both in regulation and overtime. The Flyers also made short work of their first power play of the night. Officially, the Flyers were 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the PK.