Bringing a four-game losing streak with them to Pittsburgh on Thursday, things went from bad to worse for the Philadelphia Flyers (22-16-8) as they were defeated in a fifth consecutive contest to the Penguins (22-14-10), 6-3.
The Penguins raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before making it a 3-0 game early in the second period. Rodrigo Ābols immediately responded with his first goal in 12 games, but Pittsburgh reclaimed their three-goal advantage near the end of the period. It eventually became a 6-1 game with two quick third period goals before the Flyers clawed into the lead with tallies from Nick Seeler and Matvei Michkov.
Despite the disappointing result on the scoreboard, Michkov shone brightly in this game on a line with Denver Barkey, who reentered the lineup after being scratched for Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at red-hot Buffalo. Michkov stuck up for Barkey by fighting Blake Lizotte after the Penguins forward laid a massive hit on the recently named AHL All-Star. He then later finished off a fantastic play from Barkey on a 2-on-1 on his natural right wing, ending a 10-game goal drought. However, if you disregard that empty net goal against Vancouver on December 22nd, it was Michkov’s first goal against a goaltender since November 29th against New Jersey, a span of 21 games.
“I think it was our first time playing together,” said Barkey postgame. “Such a special player. Just trying to get him the puck and go to open spaces for him. Thought we did a good job tonight of complementing each other and getting on the scoreboard, but we’ve got to be better.”
Barkey had a solid performance as well, racking up two assists and was noticeable all night when he was on the ice for Philadelphia with his relentless style of play.
FIRST PERIOD
The start of this game was almost a carbon copy of Wednesday’s loss in Buffalo. Cam York took a first penalty and the opposition made the Flyers pay as Justin Brazeau buried a tap-in feed from Ben Kindel for the first goal of the game.
The Penguins took advantage of another power play with 7:35 to play in the first period as Bryan Rust fired a dart from the left circle past the glove of Sam Ersson to double the lead.
SECOND PERIOD
The Penguins made it 3-0 after Egor Chinakhov took a cross-ice feed from Evgeni Malkin and shot the puck through Ersson on the short side just 76 seconds into the middle frame.
Rick Tocchet elected to not make the goalie swap right away, but Aleksei Kolosov relieved Ersson after Philadelphia responded with a York slap shot that Ābols deflected home just over a minute later.
Whether it was the goal or the goaltender switch, the Flyers seemed to pick up momentum afterwards and were peppering Stuart Skinner with shots and had plenty of quality scoring chances, but they just couldn’t finish. The Flyers would finish the second period with 23 total shots and 17 of them came in that middle stanza.
The home team was able to solve Kolosov as the period wound down after Philadelphia couldn’t bury their opportunities. Noel Acciari drove the net with the puck after stripping a tired Travis Konecny in the right corner, and Lizotte got the last touch as the puck bounced over the goaltender on the jam play.
THIRD PERIOD
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but the Flyers took another penalty and the Penguins capitalized on the power play. This penalty is one that some fans are probably okay with, however, as Lizotte leveled Barkey and Michkov stepped in to defend his linemate in his first career fight.
Michkov picked up the extra roughing minor, and none other than Sidney Crosby rifled home a wrister from the bottom of the right circle on the power play for his 60th career goal against the Flyers and a 5-1 Pittsburgh lead.
Connor Dewar added to the damage after a defensive zone turnover led to Tommy Novak finding Dewar across the crease, leaving no chance for the sprawling Kolosov to make the save.
Nick Seeler cut the lead to four just past the halfway mark of the third period with a shot from the left wing that beat Skinner. Barkey and Michkov started the entire play and the Flyers cleanly cycled the puck before Seeler potted his second goal of the season.
Michkov then finally found the back of the net after Sean Couturier spotted Barkey racing up ice with Michkov on a 2-on-1. Barkey made no mistake on the pass and Michkov roofed the puck past a diving Skinner’s glove hand, giving him his 10th goal of the season. The Flyers now have eight players with 10 or more goals this season, more than any other team in the NHL.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Sidney Crosby – PIT, 2) Blake Lizotte – PIT, 3) Evgeni Malkin – PIT
UP NEXT
The Flyers will host the last place team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers, on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (1:00pm ET; NBCSP).
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