Photo Credit: Katelynn Reiss
The Philadelphia Flyers only won one of four games on the road before having to meet with the Pittsburgh Penguins who were on a nine game winning streak coming into the game against the Flyers. Coming into this game, the Flyers had six players on COVID Protocol and were significantly short-handed with the loss of Sean Couturier. Unfortunately, the Flyers were playing the Penguins who are the NHL’s hottest team.
With 12:21 left in the opening period, Penguins Kris Letang made a vicious pass to Bryan Rust to the right side of Carter Hart who wristed a wicked shot that zipped past Hart’s right hip to make it a 1-0 game. 14 minutes later, the Penguins kept rolling as they got another great opportunity on a four on four advantage to make it 2-0. Bryan Rust pounced on the rebound of an Evan Rodrigues shot and shot it low where the Flyers goaltender couldn’t make a save.
The Penguins continued to play cohesively offensively as they scored again on a 4-on-4 situation. Kris Letang gave a good feed to Jake Guentzel across the ice to make the score 3-0. The goal was reviewed because the Flyers thought it wasn’t a goal, but Carter Hart’s glove was over the line with the puck in it and rightfully the goal was granted.
With 11 minutes left in the second period, Cam Atkinson unleashed a gorgeous slap shot on a 2-on-1 that went right past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jerry (assisted by Joel Farabee) that made the score 3-1. The Flyers dominated the second period.
“We played the right way and played for each other. We found a way to get one goal there but I don’t think we did a good job in front of Hartsy (Carter Hart) here. We kind of let him out to dry the entire night. There’s only so much you can do to keep us in these games. We have to find a way to not only help him out but help ourselves out with playing harder and creating more opportunities in front of their goalie.” – Cam Atkinson
Just 8 minutes into the third period, the Penguins spread out their lead to 4-1 on a breakaway goal by Evan Rodrigues which was set up by a beautiful pass by Kasperi Kapanen.
With 9 minutes to go in the final period, Tristan Jarry made a spectacular save on a Flyer chance and Jake Guentzel flipped a shot over Carter Hart’s left shoulder on the ensuing rush. The score was 5-1 Penguins.
A minute later, the Penguins Brian Boyle was able to finish a shorthanded 3 on 2 rush for his second goal of the year and the Penguins led 6-1.
The Flyers finally got their second goal of the night, this time, with 7 minutes to go in the final period. Oskar Lindblom skated towards the right side of the Penguins goaltender to hit the back of the net to make the final score 6-2 Penguins.
Unfortunately, the Flyers were unlucky to be so short-handed and had to run into the Penguins buzzsaw. Feeling bad for Carter Hart is fine as there was nothing he could do minus Giroux and Couturier, not to mention Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov being in Covid Protocol. The Flyers are now 13-14-6 on the season.
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NEXT UP: Flyers are back at it in South Philly on Saturday vs. the 17-16-1 San Jose Sharks at 7:00pm. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.
