Penguins Get Much Needed Win Over Cross-State Rivals
The Pittsburgh Penguins bounced back in a big way with a win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
PITTSBURGH - After blowing another third period lead to the New York Islanders, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed to shed themselves of that stink.
A down on their luck Philadelphia Flyers team rolled into Pittsburgh giving the Penguins a perfect opportunity to make a jump in the right direction, but there were some obstacles to start.
Prior to the game, head coach Mike Sullivan announced that Nick Bonino would be out week-to-week with a lacerated kidney, and to compensate the forward lines were tossed into a blender.
At first, things seemed to roll right along, the Penguins got out in front with the first goal of the game, but that was the most action they had in the opening period.
A shot from the point by Marcus Pettersson was deflected by Ricakrd Rakell, but the Penguins struggled to gain any offense after that moment.
The Flyers answered back by floating a muffin on net that Casey DeSmith just missed; a poor goal to give up but the Flyers kept pressing.
Shot totals at the end of the period showed the kind of edge the Flyers were playing with by leading 14-6 shots.
The Penguins needed to come out with a much stronger showing in the second period and they got it.
Helped along by a four-minute double minor against the Flyers, the Penguins capitalized with a power play goal and added 15 shots to their total.
Sidney Crosby scoring on the Flyers is about as common as the sun rising every morning so a power play goal from him was no surprise.
The second period came to a close with the Penguins up by a goal and they did a good job of mitigating the amount of shots reaching DeSmith.
The Penguins entered the third period with a lead and we all know what that means; they were going to have to buck a trend if they wanted to take two important points from the Flyers.
Despite a couple of penalties, the Penguins held on defensively and managed to just barely squeak one past Carter Hart for a 3-1 lead.
A shot from the point deflected by Jason Zucker for his sixth goal in the last seven games.
Jake Guentzel buried an empty net goal to give the Penguins a 4-1 lead and all but seal the victory.
Mikael Granlund didn't feel that was enough, however, and sniped his first with the Penguins while Hart was back in net for the Flyers.
The Penguins took the first half of their back-to-back situation with a huge 5-1 win over the Flyers.
It was good for the Penguins to get this win, but it also marks Sullivan's 400th career win as an NHL coach.
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