PHILADELPHIA -- They looked very much like a team that had lost three games in a row, and four of their previous five.
A team that would be quite content to sleepwalk through the final week of a disastrous season.
A team that had come by its status as the NHL's most porous defensive group honestly.
Seeing that team turn up at Wells Fargo Center Monday night shouldn't have surprised anyone.
But having it be the Penguins certainly did.
After all, they were playing to move closer to the East Division championship, or at least home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
What's more, they were coming off a couple of impressive road victories against Washington, their closest challenger for the top spot.
But the club that was embarrassed by the Flyers, 7-2, didn't look much like the one that had just taken a couple of high-stakes games from the Capitals.
The Penguins were flatter than a shadow for the first two periods, operating with less structure than a jellyfish.
Sidney Crosby lost the game's opening faceoff -- he would go 4-15 on draws for the evening -- and, as has been the case so often this season, his teammates followed his example.
That's a big part of the reason they're competing for the top spot in the East, but on this occasion, it just meant that most of their evenings were every bit as miserable as his.
"I just don't think we were very good tonight," Jason Zucker said. "I think that showed pretty quick. We were fighting it, from the first shift, it seemed like."
That didn't begin to change until the third period, by which time the Penguins were in a 4-0 hole.
They finally got a puck past Philadelphia goalie Alex Lyon at 2:30 of the third, as Crosby, stationed along the goal line to the right of the net, steered in a Kris Letang feed for a power-play goal.
Crosby's goal invigorated the Penguins and, when a John Marino point shot went off Zucker and past Lyon at 8:24, the Penguins were within two and had more than 11 minutes of regulation time remaining.
It had taken less than half a period for a comeback that seemed preposterous during the second intermission to become downright plausible.
"Once we got it within striking distance, I thought our guys got a little bit of life, they got some juice," Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we had a real chance."
That changed at 11:37, when Flyers forward Joel Farabee came off the right-wing boards and drove to the net before putting a shot past Tristan Jarry to make it 5-2 and choke off the comeback that was in progress.
"I thought we were gaining some momentum there off a couple of power plays and some nice goals," Mark Friedman said. "It just (stinks) that they put the fifth one in."
Jarry entered the game at the start of the third, replacing Casey DeSmith, who Sullivan said had sustained an unspecified lower-body injury. Perhaps DeSmith was being treated for exhaustion, too, after facing 37 shots during his 40 minutes of work.
"We just gave up way too much," Marcus Pettersson said.
That was probably the only thing the Penguins did consistently all evening.
They had figured to enter the game on a high, not only because of their victories over Washington but because Evgeni Malkin was back in uniform after a 23-game absence.
He didn't have much of an impact, however. Malkin centered a line for Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen, recording one assist and three shots and going 6-11 on faceoffs in 14 minutes, seven seconds of playing time. He also was on the ice for three Philadelphia goals.
Sullivan said it is difficult to assess individual performances in such a game, but the impact of the Penguins' defeat wasn't tough to evaluate.
It dropped them into a tie with Washington, which has a game in hand, for first place in the East. They are three up on Boston, which has two games in hand, and four ahead of the New York Islanders, who have one.
"We have a lot to play for," Sullivan said. "We're trying to finish strongly. We want to feel good about our game."
The first step toward that might be forgetting the one they played Monday.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins are 2-4-1 in the season series with the Flyers, their worst record against any opponent. "They played well tonight, and they've played well against us this year," Zucker said. The Penguins must win the final 2020-21 meeting with Philadelphia Tuesday to match their 3-4-1 record against Boston, their worst against any opponent with whom they have completed the season series.
• This victory was Philadelphia's first by more than one goal since Feb. 28.
• The Jake Guentzel-Crosby-Bryan Rust line was on the ice for four Flyers goals.
• Friedman, who moved into Mike Matheson's spot alongside Cody Ceci, tied Letang for the team lead in blocked shots with four.
• The Flyers finished with a 47-22 advantage in faceoffs, dominance headlined by Sean Couturier's 18-2 effort.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Wells Fargo Center:
1. Alex Lyon, Flyers
2. Claude Giroux, Flyers
3. Shayne Gostisbehere, Flyers
THE INJURIES
• Winger Brandon Tanev has resumed skating after suffering an unspecified upper-body injury April 3.
* Defenseman Mike Matheson is week-to-week after being struck in the face by a puck May 1.
• Forward Evan Rodrigues is day-to-day with an unspecified lower-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Jared McCann-Jeff Carter-Frederick Gaudreau
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mark Friedman-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Alain Vigneault's Flyers:
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk-Nolan Patrick-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Oskar Lindblom-Scott Laughton-Wade Allison
Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun
Shayne Gostisbehere-Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim-Philippe Myers
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will close out their season series against the Flyers Tuesday at 7:08 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center. They will not hold a game-day skate.
THE CONTENT
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