Empty Thoughts: Penguins 7, Flyers 1

Observations from the Penguins’ 7-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Sidney Crosby claimed ignorance.

He didn’t know he was on the verge of scoring 100 career points against the Penguins’ most enduring rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” he said. “Those are side notes you guys (media) keep track of. But that’s good.”

He might not have been aware, but he drove past that milestone like a Pennsylvania Turnpike plow truck clearing the ramp to exit 326 (Valley Forge) during a snowstorm as he recorded his 100th, 101st and 102nd career points against the Flyers.

Considering he was wearing a jaw protector to shield the tender left side of his face and had his vision somewhat hindered, it’s tempting to wonder what he might have done with full ocular faculties.

The Flyers and goaltender Brian Elliott didn’t seem ready for this game. Right from the start, they appeared as if they were observing Daylight Savings Time a few days early. The Penguins darted and dashed all around them en route to an early lead.

Elliott was mercifully pulled for Carter Hart at the start of the third period but the damage was done by that point.

As for Crosby and his history against the Flyers, here’s a look at the 16 Flyers goaltenders who have surrendered points to the Penguins’ captain:

(Insert joke about the Flyers having an empty net for three decades here. Also, how “impressive” is Niittymaki’s lead considering he hasn’t played for the Flyers since the 2008-09 season?)

As he has done so many times with the likes of Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz or even the likes of Tomas Surovy and Zigmund Palffy, Crosby clicked with his linemates. In this case, it was the 2019 vintage of Jake Guentzel and Dominik Simon.

“We just executed tonight,” Crosby said. “We get on the forecheck and create turnovers. Everyone is capable of making plays. All three of us are comfortable going to the net regardless of who it needs to be. You see on one of those goals there, (Guentzel) drives through the middle. It opens up the lane for Dom to throw it to me. Those little things are important. We’re all just trying to do those things.”

What happened

The Penguins opened the scoring at 5:57 of the first period. After Penguins forward Dominik Kahun pressured Flyers forward Kevin Hayes into turning the puck over in Philadelphia’s right corner, Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz claimed it at the right point and lobbed a wrister towards the cage. In front of the crease, Penguins forward Bryan Rust waved his stick at the puck hoping for a redirect but failed to make contact. The puck sailed on net and glanced just slightly off the right shoulder of Elliott and entered the cage on the far side. It was Schultz’s first goal of the season. Kahun netted the lone assist.

They made it a 2-0 game 2:16 later. After Kahun and Rust hounded Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov into a turnover to the right of his own cage, Kahun fed a pass through the legs of Flyers defenseman Matt Niskanen to the top of the crease where forward Jared McCann jabbed a forehand shot past Elliott’s blocker. Kahun and Rust got assists.

They poured it on at the 8:46 mark. Driving a puck deep on the right wing, Crosby spun off Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim and fed a pass to trailing forward Dominik Simon in the right circle. From inside the dot, Simon toasted Elliott’s blocker with a wrister on the far side. Crosby had the only assist, his 100th career point against Philadelphia.

The floodgates opened at 14:02 of the first. Simon gained the offensive zone on the right win with minimal resistance and coasted low below the left dot. Surveying the zone, he zipped a cross-ice pass to the right circle where Crosby wired a wrister past the glove hand of Elliott on the near side. Simon and Letang had assists.

It became a 5-0 contest at 16:40 of the second. Simon fed a pass off the right wing to the slot where forward Jake Guentzel jabbed a host on net. The puck hit the left skate Crosby who was positioned to the right of the cage while battling Provorov. Crosby kicked the puck above the blue paint where Guentzel shuffled it past a sprawling Elliott. Assists were credited to Crosby and Simon.

Their sixth goal came only 20 seconds later. Corralling a puck at the left point, Jack Johnson lobbed a wrister towards the cage which was tipped by forward Zach Aston-Reese from the slot and past Elliott’s blocker on the near side. Johnson and forward Teddy Blueger collected assists.

Philadelphia finally got on the scoreboard at 1:57 of the third period when forward Oskar Lindbolm fired a wrister from the left circle past a kneeling Johnson and between the blocker and right side of Matt Murray.

Kahun capped off his strong night with the game’s final goal at 19:53 of the third. Forward Nick Bjugstad hounded a way too passive Sanheim into a turnover behind the Flyers’ cage and allowed forward Patric Hornqvist to claim it. Hornqvist fed a pass from behind the net to the left circle where Kahun cranked a shot past Hart’s glove hand on the far side. Hornqvist had the lone assist.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 37-30.

• Crosby and Flyers forward Claude Giroux led the game with six shots each.

• Letang led the game with 24:40 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Provorov led the Flyers with 23:49 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• The Flyers controlled faceoffs, 33-28 (54 percent).

• Giroux was 17 for 28 (61 percent).

• Penguins forward Teddy Blueger was 11 for 20 (55 percent).

• Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin and Schultz each led the game with three blocked shots.

• Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere led the Flyers with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Guentzel (170 points) surpassed forwards Troy Loney, Ryan Malone and Rod Schutt (169 each) for 47th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Crosby (1,233 points) surpassed Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Phil Housley (1,232) for 39th place on the NHL career scoring list.

• Crosby has a lot of multi-point regular season games against the Flyers:

• Only the New York Islanders (113 points) have surrendered more offense to Crosby.

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins have scored seven goals a league-high four times this season.

• The Penguins had 12 players record at least one point.

• The Penguins are pretty good at preventing goals too:

Through 13 games, Pens are allowing an average of 2.38 goals per game. After 13 games last season, that number was 3.46.

— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) October 30, 2019

• Murray had a shutout sequence of 107:35 snapped with Lindblom’s goal.

• Simon had eight points in his past eight games.

• After going 11 games without a goal, Kahun is on a modest two-game goal-scoring streak.

• Dumoulin returned to the lineup after missing four games due to injury. He logged 19:57 of ice time on 27 shifts, including 3:49 on the penalty kill, and had two shots on two attempts.

• Penguins forward Alex Galchenyuk had a quiet return after missing nine games due to injury. Primarily used on the second line, he logged 11:08 of ice time on 17 shifts and recorded two shots on two attempts.

• Bjugstad initially was awarded a secondary assist on Kahun’s goal but a scoring change nullified that.

Publicly speaking

• There is rarely anything such as a fully healthy lineup, but with Evgeni Malkin on the verge of potentially returning from injured reserve for Saturday’s home game against the Edmonton Oilers, the Penguins are going to be scratching a pretty solid forward according to coach Mike Sullivan:

“When we have a healthy lineup, we’ve got a pretty competitive lineup. The coaching staff is going to have some real difficult decisions. We had some for tonight’s game. That’s a good challenge to have as a coaching staff. We really like the depth of this group. We feel as though we can be a four-line team and every line is participating. That’s what it takes to win in this league. We’re really pleased with where we’re at right now but by no means are we satisfied. … Right now, with the mindset of this group with the way we’re playing, we’re a competitive hockey team. Getting some of our guys healthy and back in the lineup I think creates an internal competition amongst our own group where there’s that internal push to be at your best. That’s a real neat dynamic to watch.”

• Crosby liked his team’s start:

“We came out hard. It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes, you don’t have a lead at all. But I think we executed really well. We had the right mentality coming out. Every line was forechecking hard, putting pressure on them. We put the puck in the back of the net when we had our chances. It doesn’t always happen that way but we were really opportunistic.”

• Dumoulin is high on the top line of Crosby, Guentzel and Simon:

“They’re moving the puck well. It’s been fun to watch. You can see they’re starting to really all get on the same page. They know what they’re doing. Their chemistry is great right now. They’re clicking. They’re the horse that drives us. They pin (opponents) in the offensive zone and get the (defensemen) tired.”

• After the morning skate, Crosby said his vision could be limited a bit by wearing a jaw protector. Considering he had three points, his vision seemed fine. He still felt it limited him:

“There was a few (times it was limited). On (Guentzel’s) goal, I would have normally had that one I’d like to think. A few around the net, when the puck is in your feet, that’s harder to pick up. For the most part, I think it helped as far as being comfortable with it. Haven’t used it for a good chunk of time.”

• Kahun suggested this wasn’t his best game:

“That’s how sports is. Sometimes you play great games and just nothing goes in. You get no points. Today, I think I played good but not as good as the last games. (But) I have three points. Sometimes, it just goes in.”

• Even without many points before this game, Sullivan was high on Kahun:

“We felt like he was getting better with every game. The last few games, when he didn’t score, he didn’t get a point, we thought he was making plays. Our advice was just to stay with it. Keep his confidence and just stay with it. It’s great for him that he’s getting rewarded on the scoresheet. He had another strong game tonight. He made some nice plays, he scores a goal for us.”

• Don’t forget Murray’s contributions to the Penguins’ play as of late. Dumoulin certainly isn’t:

“He’s seeing the puck really well right now. He’s got a lot of confidence. He’s making those timely save. And also, not leaving big rebounds out there which is huge for us defensemen in front of the net. He’s playing the puck really well too.”

• Sullivan assessed Dumoulin and Galchenyuk in their returns:

“They were fine. It’s not an easy thing. (Dumoulin) hadn’t missed much time so I think it was a little bit easier for him. Alex has missed a fair amount of time. He missed a fair amount of training camp. He’s missed a fair amount of the season. There’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment process for Alex. The first one for him was fine. Hopefully, with each game he gets under his belt, he just feels a little bit more comfortable, he gets his timing back, he gets his game conditioning back and he can be the player we know he’s capable (of being).

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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