PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ offensive drought ended quickly Thursday with a pair of early power-play goals and a lot of smiles.

No player in the history of the NHL has scored more against Philadelphia than Sidney Crosby, and he continued his torture of the Philadelphia Flyers, which began in his very first game against them in 2005 when Flyers defenseman Derrien Hatcher bloodied Crosby with a high stick.

More than 20 years ago, the Flyers created a monster that lives on. Crosby had a goal and assist Thursday, as well as several table-setting shifts.

The Penguins’ energetic start began on the first shift with Crosby and the top line applying pressure deep in the Flyers’ zone, resulting in the first Penguins power play when Flyers’ D-man Cam York took a hooking penalty at just 0:23.

Late in the power play, Penguins rookie center Ben Kindel faked a slapshot, instead slap-passing it to Justin Brazeau on the side of the crease. Brazeau (13) easily redirected the puck into the yawning cage for a 1-0 lead at 2:16.

The Penguins had three power plays in the first period and converted on two. The next power play goal was 10 minutes later, after Garnett Hathaway took a tripping penalty. Bryan Rust (17) whipped a shot from behind the left circle for a 2-0 lead at 12:25.

The Penguins’ galloping offensive attack continued as they raced to a 3-0 lead early in the second period.

After Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner made a last-moment shoulder save on Christian Dvorak from 10 feet and a long wrister through traffic by defenseman Jamie Drysdale, the Penguins counter-attacked. Center Tommy Novak’s stretch pass sprang Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov on a two-on-two rush.

Chinakhov beat his defender to the zone and easily accepted Malkin’s backhand saucer pass. Chinakhov (6) snapped a wrister shortside past Ersson at just 1:16 of the second.

The goal began a Flyers goalie transition as backup Aleksei Kolosov, who was recalled from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms Thursday, began to stretch and gear up.

However, the next whistle was a Flyers’ goal.

Fourth-line center Rodrigo Abols deflected York’s shot past Skinner at 2:17 of the second to pull the Flyers within 3-1, and gave Flyers coach Rick Tocchet time to swap goalies.

Ersson stopped 11 of 14 shots.

The teams swapped shots and chances for the remainder of the second period.

Kolosov stopped his first nine shots, including a charge to the net by Penguins grind-line winger Noel Acciari. However, Acciari (5) got a second whack at the puck, and his shot deflected off defenders and fluttered over Kolosov for a 4-1 Penguins lead at 18:29.

UPDATE: Scorers later changed the goal to Blake Lizotte (6), who whacked the puck into the net after everyone assumed it had already gone in.

The Flyers had a spirited attack in the second, but a few good saves by Skinner and a protective posture in the defensive zone largely blunted it. The Flyers outshot the Penguins 13-12 in the second, but were never back in the game.

The Penguins scored a pair of quick goals early in the third period to dispel any notions of a lost lead.

Crosby scored his 60th career goal against Philadelphia, his 25th goal of the season, and the third Penguins power play goal of the game at 3:10 of the third. Malkin pounced on a loose puck near the net and slid a pass to Crosby in the right circle. Crosby settled the puck, paused, and roofed a hard wrister over a fallen Kolosov.

And “Flyers Suck” from fans in the upper deck at PPG Paints Arena further punctuated the growing Penguins’ dominance.

Just over a minute later, Tommy Novak and Connor Dewar completed an odd-man rush when Novak’s pass appeared to fool Kolosov, and Dewar (9) easily scored into a mostly vacant net at 4:27 for a 6-1 Penguins lead.

And more “Flyers Suck” chants.

Philadelphia defenseman Nick Seeler (2) finished a nice sequence later in the third period for a garbage-time goal to make it 6-2 at 10:54.

Matvei Michkov (10) scored on an odd-man rush later in the third period as the Penguins were increasingly sloppy with the large lead. Michkov beat Skinner at 17:25 to make the score a respectable 6-3.

The Penguins and Flyers had each lost three in a row, though the Penguins were winless in three and the Flyers were winless in four.

Skinner stopped 30 of 33. Kolosov stopped 13 of 16.

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