The Penguins gained ground in a tight Eastern Conference with a 6-3 win Thursday night over the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena, moving into third place in the Metropolitan division with a 22-14-10 record and 54 points.
How they got to the finish line against their archrivals, however, required a much needed answer against a furious pushback from the Flyers.
The Penguins played a dominant first period, not only holding a 2-0 lead at the break, but also a 14-7 advantage in shots on goal. In addition, the Penguins out-shot the Flyers, 10-3, at 5-on-5 during the opening 20 minutes. But the Flyers pushed back hard in the first 7:59 of the second period, out-shooting the Penguins, 12-2. In that span of time, Egor Chinakhov buried a pass from Evgeni Malkin past Samuel Ersson to put the Penguins ahead, 3-0, but the Flyers answered back in a hurry as Rodrigo Abols redirected a Cam York slap shot past Stuart Skinner just 1:01 later.
"That's kind of how the game's played. There's momentum shifts in the game," Skinner said after the game. "They were able to score one and then they turned it on. They were pressuring us a lot. They brought a lot of speed, and honestly, it didn't stop until the end of the game. They definitely had their push, but the way we were able to be mature about it and not let them get two, three (more goals) and just get back to our game, and then we were able to get one."
That one came off the stick of Blake Lizotte, who was the centerpiece of this "mature" response from the Penguins, putting the team back up by three goals with just 1:31 remaining in the second period:
That goal came off of sheer will from both Lizotte and Noel Acciari, but was fueled by an uptick in physicality from the Penguins. Lizotte went hard down the left wing on the rush and attempted a centering pass to Acciari while jumping over a sliding Noah Juulsen. Then the moment Travis Konecny had the lapse you see at the beginning of the clip above, Lizotte went in hard, stripped him of the puck and was rewarded after Acciari drove to the net.
But it doesn't stop there. Just because there's this 18-minute gap between periods doesn't mean there was any give in Lizotte's game. Less than two minutes into the third period, Lizotte kept pushing, with an exclamation point being a massive hit on Denver Barkey:
Matvei Michkov took exception to the hit and went after Lizotte, but the Penguins' new $6.75 million man had no problem landing a couple swings and finishing him off with a DDT that would make Jake 'The Snake' Roberts proud:
The Penguins have folded under similar circumstances a number of times this season. They've gotten out ahead by two or three goals, but caved when the opposing team pushed back. There are a number of ways to deal with the natural ebb and flow of a game to prevent such collapses from happening.
Tonight, every time the Flyers pushed back, the Penguins had an answer, whether it was Skinner standing tall or putting the puck in the Philadelphia net, which they did two more times in the third period. But, it was all built on an uptick in physicality. In fact, they kept two bricks on the throttle the rest of the way.
And based on the way this season has gone with two- or three-goal leads, it was no accident:
"If you look back at the history of our season, we've let some leads go that we definitely shouldn't have," Lizotte said after the game. "I think it just shows the learning curve that we've made. In games like this, you have to control emotion, especially when momentum is not in your favor at the moment. When we were protecting as lead, those moments in the game it could go sour quickly, you have to find a way to change momentum. I think we did a really good job of that tonight."
Being mature and controlling emotion doesn't mean you can't DDT a player on your archrival. Not in this game. And if this is how the Penguins circumvent collapses in games, the only question that remains is why we haven't seen this sooner.
THE ASYLUM
The response? Get physical
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
Blake Lizzotte, Noel Acciari, Connor Clifton celebrate Lizotte's goal Thursday night.
The Penguins gained ground in a tight Eastern Conference with a 6-3 win Thursday night over the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena, moving into third place in the Metropolitan division with a 22-14-10 record and 54 points.
How they got to the finish line against their archrivals, however, required a much needed answer against a furious pushback from the Flyers.
The Penguins played a dominant first period, not only holding a 2-0 lead at the break, but also a 14-7 advantage in shots on goal. In addition, the Penguins out-shot the Flyers, 10-3, at 5-on-5 during the opening 20 minutes. But the Flyers pushed back hard in the first 7:59 of the second period, out-shooting the Penguins, 12-2. In that span of time, Egor Chinakhov buried a pass from Evgeni Malkin past Samuel Ersson to put the Penguins ahead, 3-0, but the Flyers answered back in a hurry as Rodrigo Abols redirected a Cam York slap shot past Stuart Skinner just 1:01 later.
"That's kind of how the game's played. There's momentum shifts in the game," Skinner said after the game. "They were able to score one and then they turned it on. They were pressuring us a lot. They brought a lot of speed, and honestly, it didn't stop until the end of the game. They definitely had their push, but the way we were able to be mature about it and not let them get two, three (more goals) and just get back to our game, and then we were able to get one."
That one came off the stick of Blake Lizotte, who was the centerpiece of this "mature" response from the Penguins, putting the team back up by three goals with just 1:31 remaining in the second period:
That goal came off of sheer will from both Lizotte and Noel Acciari, but was fueled by an uptick in physicality from the Penguins. Lizotte went hard down the left wing on the rush and attempted a centering pass to Acciari while jumping over a sliding Noah Juulsen. Then the moment Travis Konecny had the lapse you see at the beginning of the clip above, Lizotte went in hard, stripped him of the puck and was rewarded after Acciari drove to the net.
But it doesn't stop there. Just because there's this 18-minute gap between periods doesn't mean there was any give in Lizotte's game. Less than two minutes into the third period, Lizotte kept pushing, with an exclamation point being a massive hit on Denver Barkey:
Matvei Michkov took exception to the hit and went after Lizotte, but the Penguins' new $6.75 million man had no problem landing a couple swings and finishing him off with a DDT that would make Jake 'The Snake' Roberts proud:
The Penguins have folded under similar circumstances a number of times this season. They've gotten out ahead by two or three goals, but caved when the opposing team pushed back. There are a number of ways to deal with the natural ebb and flow of a game to prevent such collapses from happening.
Tonight, every time the Flyers pushed back, the Penguins had an answer, whether it was Skinner standing tall or putting the puck in the Philadelphia net, which they did two more times in the third period. But, it was all built on an uptick in physicality. In fact, they kept two bricks on the throttle the rest of the way.
And based on the way this season has gone with two- or three-goal leads, it was no accident:
"If you look back at the history of our season, we've let some leads go that we definitely shouldn't have," Lizotte said after the game. "I think it just shows the learning curve that we've made. In games like this, you have to control emotion, especially when momentum is not in your favor at the moment. When we were protecting as lead, those moments in the game it could go sour quickly, you have to find a way to change momentum. I think we did a really good job of that tonight."
Being mature and controlling emotion doesn't mean you can't DDT a player on your archrival. Not in this game. And if this is how the Penguins circumvent collapses in games, the only question that remains is why we haven't seen this sooner.
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