Sidney Crosby joins esteemed company as Penguins handle Flyers
Sidney Crosby scored a goal and an assist and added to his resume for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who recharged their power play and ended a three-game losing streak in emphatic fashion with a 6-3 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.
Crosby's two points give him 51 for the season, the 19th time the 38-year-old has enjoyed a 50-point season. That ties Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin for sixth all-time in NHL history. Including postseason games, Crosby now has 75 goals and 100 assists against the rival Flyers. He also has 103 assists against the New York Islanders, making him the sixth player to rack up 100 or more helpers against two or more teams.
All 12 Pittsburgh forwards got at least a point in the win. Besides Crosby, whose 25th goal of the season came on a third-period power play, the Penguins also got goals from Justin Brazeau, Bryan Rust, Egor Chinakhov, Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar. Thomas Novak and Evgeni Malkin registered two assists, and defenseman Kris Letang also had an assist.
Stuart Skinner gave up a couple late goals but still finished with 30 saves for his fourth win in five starts.
Rodrigo Abols, Nick Seeler and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers, who extended their losing streak to a season-long five games (0-4-1). Rookie Denver Barkley doubled his season total with two assists.
Samuel Ersson made 11 saves but was pulled early as he lost his fourth straight start. Aleksei Kolosov, whom the Flyers recalled earlier Thursday after Daniel Vladar suffered an injury in the team's loss at Buffalo the night before, relieved Ersson and denied the Penguins 13 times after coming in less than three minutes into the second period.
Pittsburgh entered Thursday with the league's third-best power play at 27.9%, but the team had not scored in its last 10 opportunities with the man advantage. The Penguins tied a season high with three power-play goals, with Brazeau and Rust taking advantage of Flyers penalties to make it 2-0 after one period.
It would be 4-1 after two periods, and the defensive woes continued for the Flyers, who have been outscored 25-9 during their losing streak.