Penguins defeat Flyers in Stadium Series game

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby scored, Matt Murray made 36 saves, and the Pittsburgh Penguins sent most of the sellout crowd of 67,318 fans at Heinz Field home happy after a 4-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game Saturday.
Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen and Chad Ruhwedel scored for the Penguins (38-14-8), who are 1-1-0 in games at Heinz Field. They lost 3-1 to the Washington Capitals in the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2011.

"Not everybody is as lucky to play in these kind of events, so to do it at home, to have friends and family here, to take in the whole experience with the guys, I think it's exciting, and those are things you're fortunate to be part of," Crosby said. "When you're able to win, it's always better."
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Penguins highlights
Michal Neuvirth made 25 saves, and Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Flyers (28-26-7), who have lost two games in a row, four out of five and seven of their past nine (2-6-1). Philadelphia, which has scored 13 goals in its past nine games, is five points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We had good opportunities, but it's getting old," Voracek said. "You can play good, but as long as you don't find a way to win the game, nobody really cares."
Cullen, who at 40 was the oldest player in the game, his first outdoors in the NHL, gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead by scoring off of his own rebound at 1:50 of the third period.

"When I scored, looking up in the crowd and just seeing that whole wall of Pittsburgh fans, that was pretty awesome," Cullen said. "That little snow in the air, in the lights, it was a pretty cool picture."
Gostisbehere scored a power-play goal at 6:48 to make it 3-2, but the Penguins killed off Cameron Gaunce's tripping penalty at 11:19 and got the two-goal lead back at 14:06, when Ruhwedel scored with a shot off of a faceoff win by Evgeni Malkin.
"There were swings in momentum for both sides, and I thought we stuck with things," Crosby said. "Our kill had some good kills too. But you're going to see that, especially down the stretch. Teams are fighting hard, so you have to be able to grab that momentum back pretty quickly."

Voracek scored at 11:14 of the second period to make it 2-1.
The Penguins built a 2-0 lead on Bonino's power-play goal at 6:44 of the second period and Crosby's League-leading 34th goal at 11:18 of the first. It was Crosby's first goal in his fourth NHL outdoor game.
"When you finally get one, you try to soak it in," Crosby said.

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Goal of the game

Eric Fehr won the puck behind the goal line and dropped it to Cullen, who was denied on his initial wraparound attempt but got the rebound and shot it through Neuvirth's five-hole.

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Save of the game

Murray made a right-pad save on Brayden Schenn from the slot with the Flyers on the power play and 8:30 remaining in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Crosby said Friday he was hoping for a better outcome than the last time he played at Heinz Field. His problems with concussions that plagued him for the better part of 14 months started with a hit in the 2011 Winter Classic. He not only got the better outcome, but he scored Pittsburgh's first goal off of a pass from rookie Jake Guentzel.

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Unsung performance of the game

Guentzel assisted on the goals from Crosby and Bonino. He also was on the wrong end of a big hit from Brandon Manning early in the second period, but on his next shift he drew a penalty on Gostisbehere that helped lead to Bonino's goal.

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They said it

"It was great. These events I think are so unique. I think they're all different in their own right depending on the venue, but all of the environments, all the atmosphere, they're electric. I think it's a great opportunity for all of us to experience it. ... It brings everybody back to their childhood days when they're skating outside on the pond. Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated and it was cold enough that I think the ice was as best as it could be for this type of an event. Heinz Field is just such a great venue. It was awesome to be part of it." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"It was fun. I'm not going to lie. I really enjoyed it. It was cool, but it would be better if we ended up on the winning side." -- Flyers forward Jakub Voracek

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Need to know

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang did not play and is day to day with an upper-body injury. ... The total attendance for the NHL's 22 outdoor games is 1,208,317. ... The teams switched ends 10 minutes into the third period because of strong winds.

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What's next

Flyers: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CSN-PH, NHL.TV)
Penguins: At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, ROOT, NHL.TV)