The Flyers played great the first two periods of the game today with a lot of energy on both sides of the ice but they couldn’t hold on to their lead as the Penguins tied the score up at one point and scored a go ahead goal in the third period.
Just 6:08 into the opening period, the Flyers got on board first as the Penguins Sam Lafferty left an ill advised drop pass that was intercepted by Scott Laughton. This created a 2-on-0 break the other way. Laughton and Konecny played catch down the ice and Konecny buried a shot from the left of Tristan Jarry to make the score 1-0 Flyers. Later in first period, Flyers Ivan Provorov went to the penalty box for hooking. Evgeni Malkin capitalized on the ensuing power play by going around the net for a nice backhand power play goal (assisted by Sidney Crosby and Guentzel) to tie the game up at one a piece. Travis Sandheim tripped in the crease to leave an open net for Malkin.The Flyers could not score on a couple of power plays late in the period. With 2:11 left, the Penguins went on a power play in result of a minor penalty by Flyers Michael Raffl. The Penguins scored another power play goal a few seconds later on goal by Bryan Rust. The goal was the result of quick passes between Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. The Penguins led 2-1 going into the second period.
The Flyers started out the second period on a power play and the Flyers got on board tied the game with a wrist shot by Kevin Hayes (assisted by Ivan Provorov) to make the score 2-2. Nolan Patrick screened Penguin goalie Jarry. Kris Letang and James Van Riemsdyk went to box with roughing penalties creating a 4 on 4 situation. The Flyers came up huge with a dirty slap shot by Shayne Gostisbehere from the point to put the Flyers up 3-2. With les than 2 minute left in the period, Zach Aston-Reese took a bad angle shot from the left corner that slipped between the post and Brian Elliot to tie the game at 3.
With just a little more than 10 minutes to go in the third period, Jake Guenzel found himself alone in front of the Flyer goal but Brian Elliot robbed him of a backhand goal. Less than a minute later, the Penguins scored the go ahead goal by Jared McCann. Evgeni Malkin brought the puck into the Flyers zone and Brandon Tanev took a shot from the right of Brian Elliot. The rebound bounced to McCann who buried the shot into the net to make the score 4-3 Penguins. The Penguins were able to hold off the Flyers and take the 3 game series 2-1. Penguins improve their record to 13-9-1 and Flyers fall to 12-6-3.
NEXT UP: Flyers will play the 13-6-4 Capitals on Sunday, March 7th. This will be the first game in front of fans at the Wells Fargo Center since last March. Puck drop is slated for a 7:00 PM EST start time on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
