Sidney Crosby celebrates his rebound goal in the first period Monday night in Philadelphia.

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Sidney Crosby celebrates his rebound goal in the first period Monday night in Philadelphia.

The Penguins have the NHL’s No. 1 power play, converting at 33.3%, but there hadn’t been much to like about it of late, going 3 for 17 in the previous nine games.

And then, they pushed through to go 3 for 4 in a 5-1 flattening of the Flyers tonight at Xfinity Mobile Arena. 

The difference?

“I think we were more assertive,” said Bryan Rust, who scored a second-period goal on the power play. “When there were plays to be made, we didn’t hesitate. We just went and we took them. That’s the key. You can’t stay on your heels. When there’s plays to be made and when there’s space and there’s time, I think you gotta assert yourself and you gotta take it.” 

There was a lot to like. They moved the puck well, generated some high-percentage opportunities and were stellar in their zone entries, as both Sidney Crosby and Dan Muse mentioned. 

The latter was on full display on each of the Penguins’ first two power-play goals. Crosby broke a 1-1 tie and gave his team a lead it wouldn’t relinquish after receiving this back-hand pass from Rust: 

SPORTSNET PITTSBURGH

Perfect feed and just a vintage Crosby goal. But that play by Erik Karlsson was just as important to the success of this particular sequence, as he races up ice and takes the attention of both defensemen, Cam York and Travis Sanheim, before dishing a cross-ice pass to Rust. 

“I thought the execution was outstanding,” Muse said. “I thought guys were going into the areas they needed to be and you look at the first one there, obviously Karl comes up ice with just a ton of speed and a great play there on entry. They were sharp there tonight.” 

Karlsson had two assists tonight, adding another on Rust’s goal, one in which he took advantage of some extra space before letting go of a sharp wrister from the left circle: 

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“The first two goals, we ended up losing the faceoffs and we ended up getting in nice and being able to set something up,” Crosby said. “Rusty made a great play to me there and then, on his goal, he took the space up that was given there and took the shot.” 

With tonight’s effort, which included a Tommy Novak goal with the extra man in the third period, the Penguins have retaken the NHL lead in power-play percentage (33.3). They’ve now scored three power-play goals in a game twice this season (vs. Washington on Nov. 6) and they have produced multiple power-play goals in a game on five occasions. 

On this particular night, the Penguins were at their very best when they had their best players out on the ice making plays. There was no overthinking or a tendency to pass up an opportunity to make that extra pass. There were opportunities to make the Flyers pay for their lack of discipline and the Penguins took full advantage to secure their third win in their last four games and take some extra momentum into Thursday night’s game against the Lightning in Tampa, Fla.