Sidney Crosby scores overtime winner as Penguins beat Flyers
Having stumbled into their nine-day respite from the NHL’s grinder of a schedule, the Pittsburgh Penguins profess they are fully aware of how they must perform following the All-Star break. Especially because 17 of their final 32 games come against Metropolitan Division foes.
“We’re going to get right into it,” forward Sidney Crosby said. “From here on in, we understand that every point is crucial. Every team that wants to be there at the end of the year in the playoff picture has got to elevate their game this time of year.”
One person clearly took that decree to heart.
Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins’ captain scored the winning goal 55 seconds into overtime and recorded two power-play assists in a 4-3 victory against the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Friday at PPG Paints Arena.
Ten days earlier, Crosby sat in his stall at Wells Fargo Center at Philadelphia, minutes after a putrid 3-0 loss to the Flyers and vowed, “We’ll be motivated when we come back.”
He personally validated that guarantee Friday.
“It was important to find a way to get that second point,” Crosby said. “We’re glad that we did that.”
During a very hesitant first period in which the teams combined for seven shots, the Flyers took the first lead of the game with 29 seconds left in the opening frame when forward Jakob Voracek cashed in on a power play for his 11th goal of the season.
The Penguins tied the score, 1-1, 3:55 into the second period when forward Evgeni Malkin cleaned up a loose puck to the left of the crease for his 16th goal.
A power-play score 81 seconds later gave the Penguins their first lead of the game. Taking a pass low to the right of the cage, Patric Hornqvist snapped a pass to the slot for Malkin, who one-touched the puck to Crosby in the left circle. Crosby settled the puck with his left skate then fed a pass to the right of the crease, where forward Bryan Rust lifted a wrister for his 22nd goal.
It became a 3-1 score with another power-play goal at 11:03 of the second. From the center point, Malkin fed a pass to Crosby on the left half wall. Surveying the offensive zone, Crosby snapped a cross-ice pass to defenseman Kris Letang, slinking his way up the right wing. Moving in toward the cage, Letang lifted a wrister that deflected off Brian Elliott’s left leg and into the cage for his 11th goal.
The victory was hardly perfect. Allowing the Flyers to climb back from a two-goal deficit was evidence of that.
But?
“We got the two points, right?” said Justin Schultz, returning to the lineup after missing 17 games because of injury. “Obviously, it didn’t go our way in the third. We want to clean that up. But for the most part, it was a pretty good game.”
They’ll need plenty of games like this over the next two-plus months.
“We’ve got a lot of division games, tough opponents,” Crosby said. “Every point is crucial.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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