The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins continue to go in opposite directions. Brayden Schenn scored twice and the Flyers won their third consecutive game by beating the Penguins 2-1 on Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center, handing Pittsburgh its third loss in a row. Philadelphia (7-10-1) has climbed out of the basement of the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers are in seventh place with 15 points, seven behind first-place Pittsburgh (11-7-0), which owns a one-point lead over the Washington Capitals. Despite having the fewest goals in the League (33), the Flyers are three points out of the last playoff berth in the division.
"We're winning right now. It was a good
win," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "We didn't get
off to a great start, but our goalie was really good and gave us a
chance to win and get our feet under us. And more than anything, I
like the fact that we grinded the win out. We played the night before
and did a lot of little things right. I thought we did a good job of
getting the puck out and getting it in deep and it's just another
game. There's a long way to go."
The Penguins outshot Philadelphia 31-21, including
6-3 in the third period. Flyers defenseman Luke
Schenn recorded the game's final shot on goal, a wrister with
7:13 to play.
"We're not doing enough around the net and
in the net to get those goals that I think were there,"
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "We had opportunities, there
were rebounds, there were situations, but we're not able to get in
their end and finish and find those rebounds and go there to get that
second-chance opportunity. With no even-strength goals in the last
two games, you look at that as something we have to do better."
Brayden
Schenn scored his second goal of the game with 1:20 remaining in
the second period to break a 1-1 tie. With Pittsburgh's Pascal
Dupuis off for slashing, Jakub
Voracek sent a shot from the point into traffic in front of
Marc-Andre
Fleury. The puck bounced off a few players, including Steve
Downie, and came to Schenn, who tapped it in for his sixth goal
of the season. Prior to Schenn's goal, the Penguins had killed 18
consecutive power plays dating back to a 3-1 win against the Carolina
Hurricanes on Oct. 28. Ray
Emery stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced in his second win of
the season. Fleury, who made 19 saves, has lost three in a row after
beginning the season 10-2-0. The Penguins trailed 1-0 before captain
Sidney Crosby
scored a power-play goal 8:29 into the second period to tie the game.
Late in the Penguins' second power play of the game, Evgeni
Malkin darted a pass from the right boards onto Crosby's tape in
the crease. Crosby redirected the pass past a sprawling Emery for his
team-leading ninth goal of the season and the 30th of his career
against the Flyers. Crosby had not scored a goal in his previous
seven games.
"I think we played a pretty good game for
the most part," Crosby said. "We didn't give them
much and generated a lot of chances. Unfortunately, they didn't go
in, but it's never easy losing. I think that when you get those
chances we feel like we deserve better, but we still didn't get the
result we wanted."
Malkin's goal drought reached 11 games, but he
extended his assist streak to five games and seemed poised for a
breakout performance in the opening period. As did the rest of the
Penguins. Pittsburgh came out flying and appeared to take the lead 19
seconds into the game, but Chris
Kunitz's goal was disallowed after a video replay. Crosby split
the Flyers' defense and drove to Emery's left side before sliding a
shot off the goaltender's pad. Kunitz gathered the rebound a whiffed
on a backhand shot attempt, but the puck caromed off his skate and
into the net. However, the puck was ruled to have been directed into
the net with a distinct kicking motion and was disallowed. Bylsma
said he had not looked at the play other than on the video board and
did not have a clear look to determine whether Kunitz kicked the
puck. Philadelphia was outshot 16-8 in the opening period but left
the ice with a 1-0 lead when Schenn scored at 16:02. Wayne
Simmonds dug the puck away from Robert
Bortuzzo on the end boards behind the net and found Schenn alone
in the left circle. Schenn wristed a shot past Fleury's glove and
into the top right corner to put the Flyers ahead.
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