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With a bizarre overtime sequence, the Flyers narrowly beat the Penguins in the shootout.

On the second game of a five-game homestand, the Flyers beat the Penguins by a score of 3-2 in the shootout. For the first time in quite some time, the Flyers and Penguins matchup had some juice to it, with one of the messier overtime periods in recent memory. 

The basics

First period: 10:19 – Justin Brazeau (Anthony Mantha, Matt Dumba), 17:25 – Bobby Brink (Noah Cates, Trevor Zegras) (PPG) 
Second period: 2:46 – Travis Konecny (Sean Couturier, Brink) 

Third period: 11:57 – Sidney Crosby (Filip Hallander, Bryan Rust)
Overtime: No scoring 
Shootout: Konecny – no goal, Rust – no goal, Matvei Michkov – goal, Evgeni Malkin – goal, Brink – goal, Koivunen – no goal 

SOG: 26 (PIT) – 34 (PHI) 

Takeaways

Brink, Zegras-led powerplay strike again 

After a relatively lackluster first period overall, the Flyers “second” power play unit got to work in the final three minutes of the frame. The unit has now scored four power play goals in its last four games, while the first power play unit with Michkov has been dormant. There’s a lot to be said about the work of Trevor Zegras as the facilitator on this unit, and the relentless pressure that Brink-Cates-Foerster apply all over the offensive zone. 

On the goal, similar patterns from the unit’s three power play goals last week played out. Zegras made a perfect pass down low to Cates, who muscled to the front of the net for a chance, and Brink was there to tap the rebound past Arturs Silovs. The goal was Brink’s third of the season, and kept Zegras on a point-per-game pace through 9 games. 

Konecny nets his 200th 

Much of the conversation about the Flyers’ lack of offense this season has revolved around Michkov, but Travis Konecny has been pretty disappointing too. Coming into the night, Konecny had only four points in eight games, with only one goal. He just hasn’t seemed as involved in the offensive zone as we know the best version of Konecny is, and that’s been another thing that’s contributed to the Flyers’ lowly scoring rates. 

Well, today was a breakthrough for Konecny, who scored his 200th career goal early in the second period. After breaking up a play in the defensive zone at the end of a penalty kill, Konecny rushed into the offensive zone and sniped a puck past Silovs from the circle. The defense-to-offense, rush-oriented Konecny is so essential to the Flyers offense, so it’s a good sign that Konecny might be rounding into form soon. 

Flyers take over in the second, have dominant underlying numbers

Although it might get lost in the shuffle of this loss, the Flyers completely took over in the second period. If it wasn’t for Arturs Silovs 13 saves on 14 shots in the period, we’re looking at a totally different game here. It was the classic case of a rested team controlling play against a tired team on a back-to-back, with the goaltender keeping the Penguins in it. 

For the first time all season, the Flyers eclipsed 30 shots on goal. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers carried nearly 55% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, and just over 60% of the expected-goals for on the night. The Penguins had a much stronger third in comparison to the other two periods, but the Flyers’ effort tonight was one of the best they’ve had from a play-driving standpoint this year. 

Some Sam Ersson commentary 

About halfway through the first period, Ersson let in the worst goal of this season for a Flyers goaltender thus far. On a weak backhander from the Penguins’ Justin Brazeau, Ersson let in a goal that should really never go in. Especially on the heels of Ersson surprisingly getting the nod over early-season standout Dan Vladar, Ersson allowing a terrible goal early was not inspiring. 

However, Ersson completely redeemed himself, and avoided the spiral that can come from allowing a weak goal early. Credit where credit is due, Ersson was solid for the rest of the game, stopping 24 of the 26 shots that came his way. Pittsburgh didn’t challenge him too much, but Ersson came up with all the saves needed to win this one, especially during the first half of the third period. The weird, unlucky Sidney Crosby game-tying goal can’t be held against Ersson, especially after his strong performance in overtime and in the shootout.

In his four starts thus far, tonight was the first night Ersson hasn’t allowed at least three goals in a game. Dating back to last season, Ersson had gone 9 consecutive games allowing 3 or more goals. So, perhaps it’s a sign that Ersson is getting closer to his 2023-24 level. He was able to successfully build off of a strong second half of the Islanders game, so now we’ll see if he keeps building even further. 

A weird overtime, a heck of a penalty kill, and two called back game-winners

To get started in the overtime, the Flyers had a chance in the Penguins zone that ended with Noah Cates getting chopped down to the ice with no call being made on Pittsburgh. Back the other way, Zegras was flagged for a slashing penalty on Kris Letang, and in the delayed penalty sequence, Evgeni Malkin scored as the whistle blew. Instead of a Penguins win, the Penguins went to a powerplay on a strange rule, where the whistle was blown because Silovs didn’t get off the ice in time for the extra attacker. 

On the ensuing penalty kill, the Penguins had one real chance on a Crosby deflection, but the Flyers did an excellent job of keeping the Penguins away from dangerous areas. That’s an extremely tough task for a 4-on-3, so kudos to the penalty kill for that. 

Then, on a Flyers power play opportunity, Tyson Foerster thought he ended the game – until the play was ruled offside on a Zegras entry. And to make the overtime even messier, there was a massive scrum at the final whistle of overtime, with Zegras and Foerster getting into it with a few Penguins. Truly, one of the weirder overtimes we’ve seen in a while. 

A shootout recap 

Unfortunately for the Flyers, Zegras going crazy at the end of overtime booted him from the shootout – but Crosby was also ruled ineligible for the competition after hopping off the bench in the overtime scrum. 

Even though the Flyers would like to have the NHL’s all-time best in the shootout available, it turns out Michkov and Brink are pretty darn good at the shootout as well. Both players pulled off some high-end goals, and Brink in particular put an exclamation point on his game today. With two points, and a shootout winner, Brink continues to be one of the Flyers’ most consistent contributors in the first 9 games of the season. 

Rivalry reignited?

For the first time in such a long time, a Flyers-Penguins game had some serious bite to it. There were scrambles, weird calls, and overall just more tension than we’ve seen in a while. It seems like the Penguins really aren’t a fan of Zegras, so we’ll see if some bad blood spills over in the next matchup between the teams. As shown tonight, it would be really fun if the rivalry makes a real comeback this season.