Penguins continue to thrive on adversity during playoffs

PHILADELPHIA -- Evgeni Malkin, one of their star forwards, was out. It was a tougher-than-usual game for goalie Matt Murray. They were on the road, in a hostile environment, playing a team in a must-win situation and trailing by two goals midway through the second period, when they were down to 11 forwards.
A lesser team would have folded. The Pittsburgh Penguins are not a lesser team.

A little adversity continues to do wonders for the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their ability to handle it has pushed them to nine consecutive postseason series wins. Three more and they'll have the three-peat that no NHL team has accomplished since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s won four straight championships.
"There's a lot of trust and belief in each other," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said after he scored a goal and had two assists to help his team advance to the Eastern Conference Second Round with an 8-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the first round at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
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The Penguins will face the Washington Capitals or Columbus Blue Jackets in the second round. The Capitals can advance with a win against Columbus in Game 6 of their first-round series at Nationwide Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, SN, TVAS2, FS-O, NBCSWA)
"We've been in a lot of different situations, and it doesn't get any easier," Crosby continued. "It helps to have experience, but it still takes a lot to win a series and keep going. I think guys understand that and it took different guys in the lineup and playing through injuries and things like that [to beat the Flyers]. It's tough, any team will tell you that, and we had to fight through this one."
The Penguins started to face some adversity and feel some pressure after losing 4-2 loss in Game 5 at PPG Paints Arena on Friday. It was their first chance to eliminate the Flyers and, as has become their M.O. in the playoffs, they couldn't get it done on the first try.
The Penguins are 3-6 in their first chance to eliminate a team during the postseason series streak.
Do they need to experience failure to have success?
"I sure hope not," coach Mike Sullivan said.
Then why 3-6?

"It's hard to win that elimination game," Sullivan said.
The Penguins haven't had the same problems winning the elimination game the second time around. They're 5-1 in those games since 2016, but those victories haven't always been easy. They needed double overtime to take out the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final last season after losing Game 6. They needed overtime to defeat the Washington Capitals in Game 6 in the 2016 second round after losing Game 5.
And then came Game 6 in Philadelphia on Sunday.
The Flyers led 4-2 after Scott Laughton's goal at 12:14 of the second period. The Penguins, who were already playing without Malkin because of an undisclosed injury, were also down to 11 forwards with Carl Hagelin in the dressing room after a heavy hit by Flyers captain Claude Giroux less than three minutes before Laughton scored.
"Things are never going to always go your way, especially in the playoffs," said Murray, who allowed five goals on 26 shots in Game 6. "There's going to be times when you're going to fight it a little bit. [Sunday] was one of those nights. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, not even close, but we got the job done."
They did by showing the resolve Sullivan always talks about when describing his team, the resolve that always shows up when the Penguins appear on the verge of taking a knockout punch.
Sullivan showed it first by staying with Murray after Laughton's goal even though backup Casey DeSmith was getting his helmet on and getting ready to come in.
"My gut was telling me to stay with Matt, that he's such a battler," Sullivan said. "I was considering [changing goaltenders], but then my gut was telling me to stay with Matt. I'm glad I did."
Patric Hornqvist made it 4-3 when he scored at 13:35 of the second, 1:21 after Laughton's goal. Then Jake Guentzel started his streak of four consecutive goals in a span of 13:52 by scoring the tying goal 54 seconds before the second intermission.
Guentzel gave the Penguins a 5-4 lead 30 seconds into the third period. He made it 6-4 at 12:48 and 7-4 just 10 seconds later. Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers at 17:07, but Bryan Rust capped the clincher with an empty-net goal at 19:29.
"After they got up 4-2, our effort was there," Hornqvist said. "We know what we need to do to win in the playoffs."
They continue to do it. The three-peat dream is still alive.
"By no means are we satisfied," Sullivan said.