Pregame

Michael Bunting’s appendix removal takes him out of the lineup for tonight and the near future. Boko Imama is back from the IR. P.O. Joseph’s dash 4 in the +/- last game earns him a night off, which shuttles Ryan Shea up the lineup and gets the odd jersey for Ryan Graves.

First period

Noah Cates heads up the ice on a routine looking play, going 2-on-2 so the Pens are in good shape, right? Well the two are Graves and Vincent Desharnais, so no they’re not. The defenders crowd Cates but fail at blocking his shot. Instead it deflects off one and at least gives Alex Nedeljkovic an excuse for another first shot goal against. Bad omens off the bat.

It takes until 7:29 to go for the Penguins to register their first shot on goal, an outside one from Phil Tomasino. Crowd gives a sarcastic cheer. It’s well deserved. The scorekeepers actually take that shot away since it wasn’t on target but Pittsburgh finally starts getting a few pucks that are.

Pittsburgh gets the first power play, Kevin Hayes has a nice open chance from right at the side of the net but Samuel Ersson stops the puck on the best chance.

A little later, Sidney Crosby cuts against the grain and dekes backhand, Ersson is in perfect position to make it look easy.

Period ends, 1-0 is not the most fitting of scores, but that’s where it stands just. To his credit, Nedeljkovic did settle in and make a few nice stops to at least limit the damage. Ersson made a few of his own. Shots are 8-6 PHI.

Second period

The breaks conspiring against the Penguins continue, Owen Tippett’s long-range shot is going wide until it hits the skate of Shea and angles into the net instead.

The Flyers put the puck in the net again, but it is quickly waved off for Andrei Kuzmenko using a high stick to do so. While the Pens are saved on that one, Philadelphia makes it 3-0 shortly there after, Matvei Michkov gets to a loose puck and tucks it by Graves with Nedeljkovic taking an aggressive stance and losing the net.

The Pens decide to switch goalies and Nedeljkovic goes bananas. He smashes his stick on the goal and then angrily chucks part of it into the corner. When he gets to the bench he slams the door as hard as possible. His helmet is off and he barks some anger. After settling down he takes a spot on the bench, sitting stone faced.

The outburst seems to help, Danton Heinen does well to turn the puck over and get it to Evgeni Malkin. Malkin feeds a wide open Tomasino, who dekes backhand and does what he does to finish with authority. Pens were on the board, 3-1 game.

Thirty seconds later, they get another one. Sidney Crosby wins a faceoff and Erik Karlsson flings it to the net. That ends up being enough to slip by Ersson. 3-2 Pens.

If the game wasn’t off the rails it gets to that territory on the next sequence. Garnet Hathaway checks Noel Acciari and keeps looking that way and Boko Imama responds to level Hathaway in turn. It’s a hit Hathaway, away from the puck, never sees and smacks his head off the ice. Hathaway is down for an extended time and very shakily leaves the ice under assistance.

The refs call it a major penalty, as they often do to trigger an automatic video review. It was clear interference but a shoulder to shoulder hit that did the damage on the fall more than initial impact. Somehow that’s enough to modify the call to a standard two minute minor.

That turn of events naturally leads to John Tortorella going stark raving mad on the bench. Michkov picks him up though, scoring his 19th goal of the season on the power play to get the Flyer lead back to 4-2.

Crosby gets behind the defense coming down the right side and beats Ersson but rings the shot right off the joint where the post and crossbar meet. The Pens stay after it and they score again. Karlsson fires home his second goal of the game, 4-3 now.

Pittsburgh keeps pushing, Rickard Rakell puts a high shot off Ersson’s noggin. The horn sounds before any more chaos can result. The Flyers are up by a goal.

Third period

Malkin and Anthony Beauvillier hook up for a nice goal to tie the game at 4-4. Malkin feeds Beauvillier then receives a drop pass and steps into a shot that blows by Ersson.

Tomasino takes a tripping call, the Flyers throw some hands in the ensuing scrum but the refs opt to only take the initial penalty. The Pittsburgh PK holds.

It’s mostly Flyers at the end of the game but Blomqvist helps steer the Penguins to OT.

Overtime

The Pens get the puck back and suddenly spring out on a 2-on-1 with Kris Letang and Malkin. Malkin lets the defender belly slide out of the play (dummy!) and comes to a complete stop in front of the net. He takes his time to measure up a shot and fires one short-side on Ersson to win the game for the Pens.

Some thoughts

The Pens power play went 0/1 and is now 2 for it’s last 28. So why is Kevin Hayes still out there with the first group and not Evgeni Malkin? Those types of personnel choices make sense when they’re working but look regrettable to not put the best players in the optimal positions when it dries up.
Hard not to feel bad for Nedeljkovic, even before the Penguin response to score a couple goals and actually step up I thought it nice to see some emotion and that someone cares. The first two goals went off his own teammates, the third was not a lovely one to surrender but it’s not like goaltending is the reason the Pens are losing (even though it’s not been pretty). Mike Sullivan vouched for Nedeljkovic after last game publicly when Nedeljkovic owned up feeling like he wasn’t doing his part and voiced frustration after last game. He wasn’t pleased again tonight, and he shouldn’t have been. Ideally when emotions cool this will blow over as a competitor in the heat of the moment venting frustration.
How about Blomqvist coming in and stopping 20 of the 21 shots he saw in regulation to get the game to OT? It’s kinda crazy to step back and think the top two goalies in the organization entering the season are both completely broken at the moment, now would be a very good time for Blomqvist to keep going with it and steady the ship a little (even though, he himself has been shaky in recent games too).
I was shocked they reduced Imama’s penalty from a major to a minor. The collision was a nasty one and nowhere near relation to the puck. It caused what looked like a serious injury. You never like to see that, even to a notorious shitheel like Hathaway that is one of the more detestable characters out there. You never know what NHL officiating will come back with but that was an unexpected reduction. The blindside hit rule isn’t on the books any longer but due to the severity of the collision and the original ruling of a major it’s an odd one to reduce down to the most minor of infractions on what ended up being a big hit totally away from the play.
Hockey in 2025 means no Flyers challenged or even breather on Imama for the rest of the game. Tough guy Nic Deslauriers (a healthy scratch) must have been foaming at the mouth to not have had the chance to respond. No one else dressed for them is all that tough, never thought we would live to see the Flyers resort to a “just play through it and score on the power play” team in response to a bad hit against.
Ryan Graves first point of the season! Fittingly it had almost nothing to do with the goal and was the third touch after Malkin and Beauvillier went back and forth. But it counts just the game for Graves to earn his first assist and point 43 games into his season.
Each passing game down the stretch will be a referendum on which players to keep for next year or move on from one way or another. If Tomasino keeps scoring goals at this rate he could be one of the few to play his way into the plans for next year. The guy has some hands and ability to finish down by the net and keeps showcasing it.
As far as big physical defensemen go, Desharnais makes Erik Gudbranson look like Chris Pronger. It’s a wonder the Oilers lugged this guy into the Stanley Cup Final last year.
Tonight marked the first game in 12 that the Penguins scored four goals (Jan 20th, 5-1 win in LA). In this day and age of the NHL, four goals is not typically a big hurdle to get to.
Michkov scored two goals and added an assist, but if you track him on the OT GWG, he aimlessly circled himself right out of the play and handed Pittsburgh the odd man rush to win the game.
How poetic that the Penguins come back from a 3-0 deficit to the Flyers on Max Talbot bobblehead night? The bobblehead naturally features Talbot’s shh moment from the 2009 playoffs, in a game where the score was also 3-0 Philadelphia at the time. In both nights the Penguins would go onto score five goals and win. Can’t draw it up any better than that.

A three-goal comeback and win! The Pens looked down but they weren’t out of this one. They roll on with two afternoon games coming up, starting on Saturday afternoon.