93.7 The Fan (PITTSBURGH) - The Penguins came up short in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period, Kris Letang tried to pass the puck to Jake Guentzel in front of the net but the puck was hit by Travis Sanheim and the puck deflected past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson. Under two minutes later, the Penguins turned the puck over and Owen Tippett scored on a backhander to tie the game at 1-1 after the second period,
In the third period, Pittsburgh had the puck in the attacking zone. Erik Karlsson got the puck in the corner and just threw it at the net. Luckily for him. Jake Guentzel was at the right place at the right time to redirect the pass from Karlsson past Ersson for the goal to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.
Later in the period, the Penguins were on the power play and a loose puck got past Evgeni Malkin's stick. Malkin fell and Scott Laughton grabbed the puck and dangled in front of Tristan Jarry until he found the back of the net to tie the game. Philly scored again on the power play, Scott Forester wristed one past Jarry giving the Flyers a 3-2 lead with 6:08 to play.
In the final 30 seconds the Penguins pulled Jarry and had the extra attacker on the ice. Malkin passed the puck to Bryan Rust who redirected the pass at the net, Ersson made the save but Guentzel was right in front of the net for the rebound, scoring the goal to send the game to overtime.
"I think Jake's one of the better players in the league around the net," said Mike Sullivan. "He plays with a lot of courage, he goes to that area a lot, he's scored a lot of goals in that area over his time in Pittsburgh. He's really good in that area."
In overtime both teams had opportunities to end the game but both goalies stood tall and the game went to a shootout.
In the shootout, both teams came up empty in the first round. Sean Couturier was the difference with a round 2 goal, Sidney Crosby was denied by Ersson. Jarry kept the Penguins alive with a round 3 save on Travis Konecny, setting the stage for Rust. Rust had to score to keep the shootout going but was denied by Ersson giving the Flyers the extra point.
"I don't think we were very good," said Sullivan.