Brian Elliott was the star as the Flyers took down the rival Penguins for their fourth straight win.
The Flyers were right back at it after grabbing an overtime victory against the Devils. They came back home to take on the Penguins.
It was a pretty even game to start. Neither team got much going as both were fairly sloppy early on
The Flyers grabbed the first goal in this game nine minutes in as Matt Murray couldn’t control the rebound off a Justin Braun shot. Derek Grant was there to shovel it past him and in.
The Penguins had trouble maintaining control as the Flyers did a nice job clogging up the zone. They also sacrificed the body on more than a few occasions. Brian Elliott, not tested much, stopped the opportunities he did see.
Claude Giroux couldn’t give the Flyers a two-goal lead in the second when he had a breakaway chance. He got in too close to Murray and ended up shooting it into his pads.
The Flyers would end up increasing their lead on a goal by Michael Raffl. Connor Bunnaman took the shot from the faceoff dot. Once again Murray couldn’t control the rebound as it went right to Raffl for the easy tap in.
The Penguins could hardly get anything going as the game went on. Elliott was sharp on the chances that they did have. They couldn’t capitalize on a power-play chance as the Flyers went into the third period up by two goals.
Travis Konecny had his own breakaway chance as he picked off a pass in the defensive zone. He never got the shot off, though, as Evgeni Malkin caught up and knocked the puck away.
And for the second game, the shutout was broken in the third period. Sidney Crosby grabbed the goal to break it. Some nice passing between Conor Sheary and Jason Zucker set up the opportunity for Crosby. Elliott had committed too far over as Crosby had a wide-open net to shoot at.
The key now would be to not collapse as they did against the Devils. The Penguins would end up taking a penalty with less than a minute to go, greatly hurting their chances of tying the game. The Penguins went to the empty net to even things up with 35 seconds left.
The Penguins weren’t able to get it done, though. The Flyers grabbed the empty netter to finish this one. Jakub Voracek would get credit after Sean Couturier’s shot was blocked.
Despite not having the shutout to show for it, Elliott was sharp all night long. He was the biggest reason the Flyers were able to win.
The Flyers will head on the road for one last time this season as they head to New York. They have a few days off, though, as the game is not until Wednesday.