PHILADELPHIA -- On paper, the Flyers don't appear to be much of a threat.
Their record of 24-43-11 entering Sunday's game is the fourth-worst in the entire league. Claude Giroux is a Panther now. Goaltender Carter Hart, defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, and Kevin Connauton, forwards Cam Atkinson, Patrick Brown, Sean Couturier are all done for the year with injuries.
Mike Sullivan, speaking about the parity around the league in his pregame media availability, still cautioned against underestimating the depleted Flyers.
"If you don't bring your best as a team, you run the risk of getting beat," he said. "This is a proud team, and we know that they're going to play hard."
The Penguins didn't bring their best Sunday evening here in Philadelphia.
Not even close.
The Penguins were just outplayed in their 4-1 loss to the Flyers in the final road trip of the regular season.
"We just weren't good enough," Sullivan said. "We didn't play well enough to win."
It's hard to fault goaltender Louis Domingue for much -- if any -- of the result in this one.
Domingue, making his first NHL appearance since his 40-save performance in San Jose on Jan. 15, got the start on Sunday as Tristan Jarry still rehabs a broken foot.
Domingue allowed three goals on 42 shots -- the fourth goal was an empty-netter. The goal he had the best chance of stopping was Morgan Frost's opening tally. The Flyers gained possession after a turnover from Evgeni Malkin. Domingue made a series of stops, but after making a toe save on Owen Tippett, Frost put in the rebound:
"I had a bit of a desperation save to make," Domingue said of that goal. "It went to their stick and then just went in. I think it was just one of those plays where they just threw a bunch of pucks on net and caught a break."
The next two goals were nearly-identical deflections from Noah Cates, the latter coming on the Flyers' power play:
The blame for those lie more on the defensemen, if anyone, for allowing Cates to be that open in the crease as often as he was. That was a common theme throughout the game. Though the Penguins led the Flyers in shot attempts, 54-49, the Flyers were the ones getting more quality opportunities from the high-danger areas of the ice. They had 14 high-danger shot attempts to the Penguins' seven, and that's represented as clear as anything on the game's heat map:
It's not Domingue's job to clear his crease, but he was still critical of his play in this game, including on those two deflections from Cates.
"Tonight I got outplayed by (Flyers goaltender Martin) Jones, he was better than me," Domingue said. "It's tough, two similar goals. But when you get scored on twice the same way, it's usually something you need to work on. So I'll be working on that the next few days."
Domingue did bail out his teammates on a number of occasions, most notably on a 3-on-1 in the second period with Brian Dumoulin as the only man back, started by a Rickard Rakell turnover.
His teammates thought he did what he needed to do to give them a chance to win.
"He played well," John Marino said. "He made some really great saves. He played great, we know he's going to be reliable for us and we're going to need him down the stretch."
Domingue -- or whoever may be in net for the Penguins -- would benefit from tighter defense in front of him, and ideally a little run support.
"He made some big saves for us," Sidney Crosby said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get enough going offensively. We had some good looks. It's up to us in front of him. But he did everything that he needs to do to give us a chance to win."
The regular season is winding down. The Penguins have just two more home games before the playoffs begin on May 2.
Sullivan said that the Penguins' point of emphasis over this final week before the postseason is just to "get better."
"We're trying to get better with every experience," he said. "We're trying to win the game right in front of us, put ourselves in the best possible position to be successful."
Despite this stinker against an obviously inferior opponent, the Penguins are encouraged with their play right now and the position they find themselves in heading into the postseason. They're clinging onto the third spot in the Metropolitan Division standings with 101 points, one point ahead of the Capitals who have a game in hand.
"I think we've been playing pretty good," Crosby said. "We've been solid defensively. You look at the last couple games, we're playing teams that are playing more loose, they're playing a little more open. It's hard not to get sucked into that. I think we've tried not to. But we've got two games left here to make sure we're playing the right way going into playoffs and wherever that seeds us."
GETTY
Sidney Crosby passes the puck Sunday in Philadelphia.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins pulled Domingue in favor of the extra attacker with nearly five minutes remaining, trailing three goals. Crosby scored the Penguins' only goal in the ensuing 6-on-5:
• Other than the 6-on-5, the Penguins' two power plays were the only times in the game in which they really had control and maintained extended offensive zone time, though all they had two show for those man advantages were two shots on goal.
• Kasperi Kapanen was a healthy scratch for the first time since March 11, when he sat for one game against the Golden Knights. You have to think that tonight was a game in which Kapanen was especially looking forward to playing. His dad (and ex-Flyers forward) Sami was in town from Finland, and the two went out for dinner on Monday night. Sami was in the press box during the game and met with his son outside the Penguins' locker room afterward.
"They're never easy conversations," Sullivan said about having to tell Kapanen he was scratched tonight. "Those are the hardest decisions as a coach that you have to make. When we've got a healthy group of players, we have lineup decisions that are very difficult. These guys all want to play. Kappy is no different. So those are not easy conversations. But they're part of what we sign up for."
• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is in the playoffs for the first time since 2018. I asked Sullivan before the game for his thoughts on the job head coach J.D. Forrest has done with that team.
"I think he's done a terrific job," Sullivan said. "You know, him and (assistant coach Kevin Porter) do such a great job with those guys. They're really smart guys. They're hard-working guys. They care a whole lot about the Penguins, and about all of our players and our young players in particular. He does a great job creating a real good environment down in Wilkes. That's a very well-run organization from (CEO) Jeff Barrett on down. I think those guys just do a tremendous job."
• When the Penguins were in Philadelphia in January, I noticed this shot of Ron Hextall on the wall in the press box, which is full of pictures of current and former Flyers:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Here's a look at that same wall tonight:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
That was the only picture missing on the whole wall, and it wasn't even replaced. Just a big open space where Hextall's picture used to be. Just a little petty.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Wells Fargo Center:
1. Noah Cates, Flyers LW
2. Martin Jones, Flyers G
3. Morgan Frost, Flyers C
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Nathan Beaulieu, defenseman, was injured before he was acquired from the Jets at the trade deadline and is expected to remain sidelined for at least the remainder of the regular season. He has resumed skating with contact.
• Tristan Jarry, goaltender, is sidelined on a week-to-week basis with a broken bone in his foot. He has not skated yet.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Evan Rodrigues
Brian Boyle - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Brian Dumoulin- Kris Letang
Mike Matheson - Chad Ruhwedel
Marcus Pettersson - John Marino
And for Mike Yeo's Flyers:
Scott Laughton - Kevin Hayes - Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk - Joel Farabee - Bobby Brink
Noah Cates - Morgan Frost - Owen Tippett
Oskar Lindblom - Nate Thompson - Zack MacEwan
Ivan Provorov - Ronnie Attard
Linus Hogberg - Travis Sanheim
Keith Yandle - Yegor Zamula
THE SCHEDULE
The team has a day off on Monday. They have two games left on the regular-season schedule, both at home: Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Oilers, then Friday at 7 p.m. against the Blue Jackets.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
