3 takeaways: Penguins' Marcus Pettersson steps up to fight Flyers heavyweight

Three takeaways from the Penguins’ 4-1 win in Philadelphia on Friday night:

Fight card

Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson recorded the sixth fighting major of his career Friday night. At at 2:04 of the second period, Pettersson dropped the gloves with winger Nicolas Deslauriers — considered one of the NHL’s toughest players — after Deslauriers dropped defenseman Kris Letang with a hit.

“I saw (Letang) got hit pretty hard,” Pettersson said to media in Philadelphia. “I figured I’ve got to stand up for him. He would have done the same for me.”

Pettersson now has 13 penalty minutes on the season, fifth-most on the team.

It was Pettersson’s sixth career fight. He was involved in four scraps during his first full season in the NHL in 2018-19 but only one fight since, an altercation with Max Domi, then of the Montreal Canadiens, on Jan. 4, 2020.

Deslauriers, conversely, has six fights in 21 games already this season. He fought 10 times last season.

Faceoff whiz

Penguins forward Jeff Carter was dominant in the faceoff circle, going 14 for 15 in draws.

The team’s only right-handed center, Carter leads the Penguins with a faceoff winning percentage of 61.8% (149 wins and 92 losses). Among players with at least 100 faceoffs taken, Carter is fifth-best in the league. Chicago’s Jonathan Toews leads at 65.3%.

Forward Sidney Crosby is second on the Penguins at 52.3% (227 wins, 207 losses)

Good at drawing

Penguins forward Josh Archibald leads the team with 10 penalties drawn this season. Forward Brock McGinn is second with six. The league leader is Toronto’s Michael Bunting with 16.

While killing a penalty, Archibald was interfered with by Flyers defenseman Provorov at 15:30 of the first period, wiping out a power-play opportunity for the Flyers.