Stolarz makes 30 saves for Flyers in win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Anthony Stolarz made 30 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers to earn his first NHL win in nearly two years, 4-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

"At the end of the day, I have a job to do, and that's to go out and prepare myself every day. Continue to get better," said Stolarz, whose last win was Dec. 11, 2016, when he made 28 saves in a 1-0 overtime victory against the Detroit Red Wings. "For me, it's just nice to be here and proving that I can play at this level."
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Penguins highlights]
Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux scored, and Andrew MacDonald had three assists for the Flyers (11-12-2), who were 1-5-1 in their previous seven games.
Sidney Crosby and Riley Sheahan scored for the Penguins (10-10-5), who have lost two straight after winning three of their previous four.
Stolarz missed most of the 2017-18 season after he had knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear Sept. 7, 2017. After returning to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League in February, he was sent to Reading of the ECHL in March before joining Lehigh Valley for the Eastern Conference Finals in May.

He became the fifth goalie to start for the Flyers this season in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (Brian Elliott, 13 starts; Calvin Pickard, eight; Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon, one each).
"To win on the road, you need good goaltending," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said. "We got that tonight. We got excellent goaltending."
With Radko Gudas in the penalty box for roughing, Scott Laughton sent Dale Weise on a breakaway, and Weise shot through Casey DeSmith's five-hole to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead 51 seconds into the third period.
The goal was Weise's second in 22 games this season, and his first shorthanded goal in 461 NHL games.
"It's huge to come in and win in this building. It's not an easy team to beat in their building," Weise said. "They get the first goal, that hasn't been good for us almost the whole year. So that's huge for us, but we have to start thinking about the next game. We haven't had much consistency this year. So it's about stringing some wins together."

Jakub Voracek scored into an empty net with 22 seconds to make it 4-2.
DeSmith, who made 22 saves, allowed two goals on three Flyers breakaways.
"One [save] out of three isn't good enough," he said. "At least two out of three. I'd like to have three out of three. Keep working on it. ... Not one thing in particular, I don't think."
Crosby gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 39 seconds into the game when he one-timed a pass from Jake Guentzel on a 2-on-1. It was his 14th goal of the season and fifth in three games.
Konecny tied it 1-1 at 5:42 of the first on a breakaway off a pass from defenseman Robert Hagg.
Sheahan put the Penguins ahead 2-1 at 5:49 of the second period. He tipped the puck around defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to himself, and then shot inside the left post for his second goal in three games after scoring one in his first 21 this season.
Giroux scored 1:03 later with a one-timer off a Voracek pass to tie it 2-2 at 6:52.

They said it

"For me, this is about where our team is at today and what we've gone through a little bit over the last week. There's obviously been a lot of things going on, but this group just wanted to focus on what was happening inside that dressing room and how they could go out and play at their best level." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol
"We don't have a conscience defensively on the ice when we're on the power play. It's simply inexcusable. We've talked about it and talked about it and talked about it. It just can't happen. It's hard to win when your power play gives up a goal like that in a game like this." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on allowing their sixth shorthanded goal this season

Need to know

The Flyers won for the first time since firing general manager Ron Hextall on Monday. They fired assistant general manager Chris Pryor and assistant coach Gord Murphy on Wednesday. ... It was MacDonald's first three-point game in the NHL. ... Konecny has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past six games. ... Flyers center Sean Couturier was 13-for-13 on face-offs. Since the NHL began tracking face-offs in 1997-98, Philadelphia's previous high for wins in a perfect face-off game occurred Oct. 19, 2002, when Michal Handzus was 10-for-10. ... The Flyers went on the power play for the first time in eight periods when Dominik Simon was called for roughing at 10:42 of the second. Their previous opportunity came at 12:41 of the second period of a 4-0 win against the New York Rangers on Nov. 23. They were 0-for-3 on the power play Saturday. ... Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist returned after missing three games with a concussion sustained against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 23. He was minus-3 with two shots on goal and five hits in 18:16.

What's next

Flyers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, ATTSN-PT, ALT, NHL.TV)