Penguins lose to Flyers in Malkin's return, drop to tie for first in East

PHILADELPHIA -- Evgeni Malkin had an assist in his return to the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup in a 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.

Malkin missed 23 games with a lower-body injury.
Sidney Crosby and Jason Zucker scored for Pittsburgh (34-16-3). Tristan Jarry made five saves after replacing Casey DeSmith to start the third period. DeSmith allowed four goals on 37 shots through the second period.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said DeSmith was being evaluated for a lower-body injury.
Claude Giroux had two goals and an assist, and Joel Farabee had a goal and two assists for Philadelphia (23-22-7), which ended a three-game losing streak. Alex Lyon made 35 saves for his first NHL win since Feb. 1, 2020.
"For the last little while here, I've just tried to say, let's try and get comfortable at the NHL level, and I think tonight was just a really positive step forward in terms of that progress," said Lyon, who has played 10 NHL games (eight starts) the past three seasons.

Pittsburgh is tied for first place in the eight-team MassMutual East Division with the Washington Capitals, who defeated the New York Rangers 6-3 on Monday. The Penguins, Capitals, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders have clinched the four Stanley Cup Playoff berths from the division.
"I just don't think we were on our game," Sullivan said. "I don't think we were skating, I don't think we were playing the game that we've played here for a long time that's brought us success."
The teams will play again here Tuesday.
Kevin Hayes scored for the first time in 17 games to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 5:58 of the first period. He took a shot from near the right post that DeSmith appeared to sprawl and save with his glove, but video review showed the puck crossed the goal line.
It was the first time in 11 games that Philadelphia scored the first goal.
"When you get that first goal, it feels like it kind of energizes the team, the bench a bit, and it takes a lot less energy, or at least it feels that way, to play the right way when you have a little bit of a lead like that, versus trying to chase down games, which is what we've kind of gotten in the habit of doing way too much this year," Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk said. "Definitely nice to kind of start like that and keep going from there."
Shayne Gostisbehere made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 14:08, and Giroux scored to make it 3-0 at 15:12.
Wade Allison put the Flyers ahead 4-0 at 7:50 of the second period.
Crosby scored on the power play to make it 4-1 at 2:30 of the third period.

Zucker tipped a John Marino shot on the power play to make it 4-2 at 8:24.
The Penguins were 2-for-4 on the power play after going 2-for-15 in their previous eight games.
"We got those power plays there and had some momentum from them," Zucker said. "It's unfortunate we weren't able to keep that up and we gave them another goal, and that put us in an even tougher spot."
Lyon made the save on all seven shots he faced after Zucker's goal.
"He really gave us a chance," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. "What we did tonight was make the other team pay for their early mistakes, and Alex made some big saves. They had some real good looks, and no doubt that he was a big part of tonight's win."
Farabee made it 5-2 at 11:37, Giroux scored an empty-net goal to make it 6-2 at 17:39, and Robert Hagg scored at 18:55 for the 7-2 final.
NOTES:Crosby's goal was his 47th against the Flyers, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for second-most against Philadelphia. ... The Flyers scored three goals in the first period for the first time since a 5-2 win against the Penguins on Jan. 15. ... Jakub Voracek had three assists for Philadelphia, and Travis Konecny had two.