Penguins Outclass Flyers In 7-3 Triumph

 

BUNTING BELLS! 🔔 pic.twitter.com/L9NVeEAVxK

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 24, 2024

   After being shutout 3-0 against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Penguins exploded for seven goals against the Philadelphia Flyers, cruising to a dominant 7-3 victory behind a four-point performance from Sidney Crosby and Michael Bunting's dynamic two-goal performance. The Penguins dominated the game from start to finish, while the Flyers struggled to contain the Penguins' offensive onslaught, ultimately succumbing to the onslaught. Sidney Crosby hit the 1,033 career assist mark, tying Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins franchise history. It had been an unfortunate loss for the Flyers as they snapped a three-game losing streak in overtime against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Philip Tomasino, and Blake Lizotte also scored to help the Penguins secure this fantastic victory. Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, and Egor Zamula scored for the Flyers.

Penguins Lineup:

Rakell - Crosby - Rust

Bunting - Malkin - Glass

Beauvillier - O'Connor - Tomasino

Nieto - Lizotte - Acciari

Joseph - Letang

Grzelcyk - Karlsson

Graves - Shea

Jarry

Nedeljkovic

Flyers Lineup:

Farabee - Couturier - Konecny

Tippett - Frost - Michkov

Laughton - Poehling - Hathaway

York - Sanheim

Seeler - Ristolainen

Zamula - Drysdale

Ersson

Kolosov

   Bryan Rust got the party started early into the opening frame to put the Penguins ahead 1-0 with his 15th goal of the season. The puck was shot out of Pittsburgh's zone and Sidney Crosby picked it up, carrying it through the neutral zone into the Flyers' zone before sending it along the walls behind the net where Rust collected it along the right boards, and passed it back to Crosby, who came around from the right side and behind the net, sending it right back to Rust for a one-timer on the Penguins' first shot on goal from just above the right face-off circle at 18:31. Not long after Rust's goal, Egor Zamula sent a wrister past Tristan Jarry's glove from the left circle to tie it 1-1 after taking a pass from Ryan Poehling. It appeared that Rickard Rakell scored to get back the lead, but the Flyers successfully challenged for offside... however, Rakell struck again, this time breaking the tie for the 2-1 lead at 8:07 in the slot off a pass from Rust on a wrist shot. Michael Bunting scored his first of the night to make it 3-1 at 3:45 with a power-play goal when he tapped in a pass from Evgeni Malkin, who received the puck from Sidney Crosby after Crosby took a pass from Erik Karlsson. With 2:17 left on the clock in the first, Philip Tomasino picked up his fourth of the season off a pass from Crosby, extending the lead to 4-1 with another goal on the power play, finishing Sidney's backhand pass from just outside the crease.

   At 15:31 of the second period, Noah Cates cut the Penguins' lead to 4-2, extending his goal streak to four games on a shot that went in off the left post. Bobby Brink sent the puck to Cates after carrying it into Pittsburgh's zone for the second Flyers tally. Sean Couturier pulled Philadelphia within 4-3 with his seventh of the season when he skated around Kris Letang, shooting through Tristan Jarry's five-hole after receiving a pass from Travis Konecny back down in the neutral zone. With 1:12 remaining in the middle, Michael Bunting struck his second of the night, pushing it to 5-3 on a slap shot.

   Sidney Crosby sent the puck into Philadelphia's empty net for his 10th goal of the season with 2:30 on the clock, and with just 12 seconds left to play, Blake Lizotte scored a power-play goal with his eighth of the season for the 7-3 final.

Sidney Crosby on hitting the milestone, the win, how nice it is to feel good about where they're at, the first/second periods, and mindset: "I didn't think I'd be close to that. I've played a lot of games, he played a lot less than I did. It's what happens when you play long enough," - "I think we're just burying our chances. In the first, we had a lot of momentum. I felt like we built off of that big goal from Rusty to get us going, and we've been working hard, working off each other well, and pucks going in. ...I think we're definitely excited about the break, but I think we're all encouraged by the way we're playing and we want to keep going. So, it's good to get some momentum before the break, and just continue to build off of that when we come back. - It was just shift after shift, and with the power play, we found ways to put it in. There are a lot of different things I think went right, and then it's kind of the opposite story in the second. It got a little hairy there, and I thought we stayed poised, found a way in the last 5 minutes to get it back, and then Bunts got a huge goal there for us. - I think the mindset tonight was just the rebound from last game, and then obviously, with the break, just leave it all out there. You're not saving it for anything, you get a break. I think that should be the mentality every night, but definitely, when you have a break, it's not one that, you know, you don't want to have a bad game and have to sit on that over break. So, I think all of us, we wanted to respond from last game."

Tristan Jarry on getting points in 10 of his last 13 games, Sidney's milestone, Rickard and Bryan, and the win: "I think it's a little bit of a confidence boost for me to kind of play well going into the break. I think we as a team have played some really good hockey. We've played some really good games and it's nice to go into the break with that one. ...It's cool. I've got to be here for a lot of milestones, so it's neat to be able to see it from my end and to be on this team. It's just a privilege to watch him every night, doing his thing. I think there's nothing better, and honestly, we're lucky to have him," - "They've been really good. They've been getting goals for us, they've been playing some tough minutes, and they've been taking some D-zone draws. I think they've just been a really good line as a whole. They've been really good for us. - It's fun to watch. The guys were doing a great job of just putting pucks on the net, and I think when we're passing like that and they're moving the puck, it's hard for anyone. I think the guys were really connected and just coming off our last game in Jersey, I thought they did a really good job."

Notes:

- Sidney Crosby had a four-point night, recording a goal and three assists. ...Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust each picked up a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson both collected a pair of assists. ...Rust has 18 points in his last 13 games; 10 goals and 8 assists. ...With an assist on Michael Bunting's first goal of the game, Malkin has become the third Penguins player in history with 500 power-play points (180g, 320a) in the NHL. He joins both Mario Lemieux (701) and Crosby (571).

- Crosby has 1,635 points and 602 goals, and is second in Penguins history in both categories to Mario Lemieux (1,723p, 690g)... He also has the 42nd four-point game of his NHL career, which ties Gilbert Perreault for third-most in NHL history by a No.1 Draft Pick, behind Lemieux (124) and Dale Hawerchuk (45).

- Tristan Jarry made a total of 23 saves for Pittsburgh.

- The Penguins have won three of four.

- The Penguins played without Owen Pickering due to a concussion he sustained on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

- Sean Couturier made his return after missing the Flyers' 5-4 overtime victory on Saturday to attend the birth of his child.

- Scott Laughton picked up a pair of assists.

- The Philadelphia Flyers have lost four of five.

- Samuel Ersson allowed five on 14 shots in the first two frames before being pulled and replaced by Aleksei Kolosov made six saves in relief.

- The Penguins take on the New York Islanders on Saturday, December 28th at UBS Arena, and the Flyers take on the Ducks in Anaheim to continue their road trip on Saturday as well.