Perhaps it was the pressure or intensity of having their backs to the wall, but the Pittsburgh Penguins played the type of game they’ve needed to play all season.
And they also made just as many maddening, pull-your-hair-out-by-the-roots mistakes as they’ve made all season.
They scored a power-play goal, and they allowed a brutal shorthanded goal. Multiple times, their playoff lives flashed before their eyes, and multiple times, they rallied for goals. And … multiple times, they gave it back.
Bryan Rust scored a pair of goals. Sidney Crosby had one goal and three assists, and the Penguins survived themselves and the Flyers, 7-6 at PPG Paints Arena.
The wild swings are everything right and everything wrong with the Penguins.
“A lot of mistakes. A lot of good plays. It was a back and forth on a game, we got a (power play) goal,” said defenseman Kris Letang. “We allowed a shorty. It was kind of all over the place. That’s what happens during the course of 82 games. You get different types of games, and good teams usually find ways to win those games.”
The Penguins matched the Flyers’ hunger for the puck. Physical on the walls and aggressive on the power play. They also gave up an ugly shorthanded goal and failed to hold a two-goal lead with incredibly undisciplined plays.
It was a scrappy and energetic game that devolved into a wild and mistake-filled afternoon tilt between rivals. It wasn’t far from the Gong Show 2012 playoff series.
You wouldn’t know the Flyers are rebuilding and might trade away a pair of top-four defensemen before the March 8 NHL trade deadline. Before the opening puck drop, they had a nine-point lead over the Penguins for third place in the Metro Division.
The Flyers quickly signaled they would not roll over or succumb to tired legs of playing the day before. The Penguins also signaled that in Game 55 of their season, they’re still getting their act together.
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim beat Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry from the top of the zone just 2:11 into the game. They didn’t pack up and head home down 4-2, nor 6-4.
The clack of sticks was a constant sound as every puck was contested. The ones that weren’t usually wound up in the back of one of the nets.
The Penguins were just a little better. Sidney Crosby’s line was not going to lose. I maintain Crosby had four assists instead of three, but the line was on the puck and around the net for the entirety of the game.
Crosby, Rakell, and Rust were the difference makers. Flyers’ goalie Cal Petersen was the Flyers’ difference for the worse
And the Penguins control their playoff fate again.
