Brink gets 4 points, Flyers cruise past Penguins for 3rd straight win

Bobby Brink had a goal and three assists, and the Philadelphia Flyers scored the final four goals in a 6-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Brink had never had more than two points in his first 122 NHL games.

Noah Cates had two goals and an assist, Tyson Foerster had a goal and two assists, and Matvei Michkov had two assists for the Flyers (26-26-7), who have won three straight. Samuel Ersson made 23 saves.

“I think the biggest point that I liked about it is I thought we were on our toes,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “I thought we were on top of them. ... Bobby Brink, it’s good to see him get rewarded. Hasn’t scored a whole bunch, but has really worked at the other parts of his game.”

Philip Tomasino scored for the Penguins (23-28-9), who have lost four in a row and have been outscored 19-7 in their past three. Alex Nedeljkovic made 32 saves.

“It’s hard to win when you don’t manage the puck,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “You turn it over in the wrong areas of the rink and you don’t win a puck battle in any zone. ... Listen, the goaltending had nothing to do with it tonight. We simply weren’t good enough as a team.”

The teams will play again in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Rasmus Ristolainen put Philadelphia ahead 1-0 at 3:56 of the first period on its first shot on goal, a one-timer five-hole from the left face-off circle. It was Ristolainen's second straight game with a goal after having scored two goals in his first 54 games this season.

“I didn’t think we played particularly good today, right from the start,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “It obviously wasn’t our best night out there. It’s unfortunate. ... It’s one of those nights where it didn’t feel like we had much of anything.”

Cates made it 2-0 at 12:19, ending an 11-game point drought and a 12-game goal drought. He carried a pass from Brink to the left circle and scored with a wrist shot past Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang and Nedeljkovic’s blocker.

“I think the break (for the 4 Nations Face-Off) helped,” Cates said. “Before the break, team, personally, kind of just struggling, flat, whatever. No energy. So, really took the break personally. ... So now, I think we’re refreshed and we’re excited to come to the rink, get to work and play in these games again.”

Tomasino cut it to 2-1 at 6:09 of the second period, taking a saucer pass from Michael Bunting to the net before going forehand to backhand around Ersson’s right pad.

Foerster extended the lead to 3-1 at 11:55. Brink dropped a pass to Jamie Drysdale, who sent one cross-ice to Foerster for a one-timer in the left circle.

Cates and Brink then scored 10 seconds apart. Cates chipped in a loose puck from the crease, making it 4-1 at 18:55, and Brink deflected a pass from Cates in the crease to push it to 5-1 at 19:05.

“We’ve kind of strung a couple good games together,” Brink said. “Tonight, just bounces kind of went our way and pucks went in. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Owen Tippett made it 6-1 at 6:06 of the third period, tapping in a pass from Sean Couturier.

“It’s hard to look at these games and say we’ve played well, but we have,” Nedeljkovic said. “Just can’t stop anything right now. It’s pretty frustrating. The guys deserve better.”

NOTES: Cates' and Brink's goals 10 seconds apart were the two fastest goals for the Flyers since Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux scored six seconds apart on April 7, 2018. ... Penguins forward Bryan Rust had two shots on goal in 18:52 of ice time in his return from missing the previous three games, the first with a lower-body injury and the past two because of an illness. ... Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Grzelcyk played 18:52 after sustaining an upper-body injury in the first period of a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday. ... Karlsson had a seven-game point streak end.