The Crosby-Less Penguins Roll Past Flyers

It was the battle of two Pennsylvania teams as the Flyers traveled to the western part of the state to try to secure a win in the first of a three game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was the first time there were fans in the stands for a home game for the Penguins, and there were 2,800 to be exact. The Flyers were trying for their fourth win in a row, but the Penguins cruised having no problem at all without their best man on their roster, Sidney Crosby.

The first period started with two consecutive penalties to the Penguins resulting in four minutes of power play time for the Flyers. Unfortunately, the Flyers were unable to capitalize on the power plays even though they moved the puck well. The Flyers had a number of shots and chances, but Tristan Jarry kept the Flyers scoreless.

Just 2:32 into the second period, Sean Couturier sent a great pass to Joel Farabee on the right side of the goal, and Farabee flicked the puck into an open net to make the score 1-0 Flyers. Just over a minute later, Shayne Gostisbehere made a cross ice pass in the Penguins end that was picked off by Kasperi Kapanen and Kapanen roared down the right side, made a shot fake and whistled the puck through Carter Hart’s legs to tie the game at 1. Michael Raffl took what ended up being a costly penalty at 7:31 of the period, and Kapanen scored his second goal of the period on the ensuing power play off a great feed by Jake Guentzel. The Penguins kept getting outstanding chances as they tallied another goal by Bryan Rust when Kris Letang made a spectacular pass to him for a goal to go up 3-1. It was Rust’s seventh goal of the season. The second period ended 3-1 Penguins.

The Flyers started out the final period on a power play, but they couldn’t get a goal to cut into the Penguin’s lead. With nine minutes left in the third period, Joel Farabee scored his second goal of the game from right in front of Tristan Jarry. The goal was assisted by James van Riemsdyk and Travis Sanheim. The Penguins retook a two goal lead with a great goal by Cody Ceci that was assisted by Jared McCann and Mark Friedman. It was the second time in the game that the Penguins scored very quickly after a Flyers goal. The Penguins scored a weird goal with less than 4 minutes left in the period as Mike Matheson shot the puck into the net from center ice as Carter Hart was thinking about getting off the ice for an extra attacker. Hart was caught in no man’s land as he thought the Flyers had shot the puck deep into the Penguin’s zone. The Flyers fell to the Penguins 5-2. The Flyers are now 11-5-3 on the season and the Penguins are now 11-8-1. Both teams have the same number of points. For Friedman it was his first point as a Penguin, as he finished the game with a +2, as well.

NEXT UP: The Flyers are back at it on Wednesday, March 3rd against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh at 7:00 PM EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.