Penguins defeated by Flyers, lead for third in Metropolitan shrinks

The Pittsburgh Penguins had their lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division cut to one point after a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sunday.

The Penguins (45-24-11) entered Sunday with a two-point lead over the Washington Capitals, who gained one point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. The Capitals have one game in hand.
Sidney Crosby scored, and Louis Domingue made 39 saves for Pittsburgh.
"We just weren't good enough," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We didn't play well enough to win."
Noah Cates had two goals and an assist, and Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (25-43-11). Martin Jones made 37 saves.

Philadelphia ended a five-game home losing streak and won consecutive games for the first time since March 5 and 8; the Flyers won 6-3 at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
"You never want to disrespect anybody but I knew that this was going to be a tough game, just in the sense of ... they're obviously meaningful points for them," Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. "You're looking through their lineup ... obviously a very deep team. Knew we were going to be challenged all the way throughout the lineup and I felt that our guys responded well."
Yeo said putting the three rookies on a line -- Cates, Frost and Owen Tippett -- allowed them to play free rather than worry about deferring to a veteran teammate.
"So much of the game is mental and how you feel, and if you're a little bit intimidated, if you're feeling like maybe you need to do something to get the puck to somebody else, then you're probably not just relying on your instincts," Yeo said. "I think that just putting the three of them together allowed them to play with their instincts, and with that they're building some confidence."
Frost gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 15:49 of the first period when he drove to the net and poked a loose puck in the crease past Domingue.

Cates made it 2-0 at 6:49 of the second period when he redirected a point shot by Keith Yandle, and he made it 3-0 at 9:38 of the third period with a power-play goal when he tipped a point shot by Ivan Provorov.
"It's nice to be around some younger guys," said Cates, who made his NHL debut March 29. "It feels a little easier to talk to those guys when they're a little younger and kind of not new but a little bit younger, a little bit more personable. It's really nice. We're chatting a little bit, we're helping each other out, talking on the ice a lot, producing a little bit, so that's nice."
Cates has scored nine points (five goals, four assists) in 13 games.
"I don't think on a given shift he has the mindset that I just need to go score a goal this shift," Yeo said. "I think because of that he gets into a situation where he has a shift where he's in the [defensive] zone, he's good in the [defensive] zone. He has a shift where he has to play in the neutral zone and he has to find a way to get to the wall and win a battle and get that puck deep, he does that. It shows signs of maturity for a young player that he's able to stay in that moment and do what's required and with that, and it helps him get to his game and have offense."
Crosby scored to make it 3-1 at 16:27 when he tapped in a rebound.
"When it was 1-0 and 2-0, we generated enough to get back in the game and unfortunately we didn't score," Crosby said. "It wasn't our best, but sometimes you're not going to be at your best to get a win. We didn't do enough to get that win today."

Konecny completed the scoring to make it 4-1 with an empty-net goal at 17:26. He has scored six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.
"You've got to get up for these games," Crosby said. "You've got to find a way, obviously. The circumstances are different if you're playing a team in a similar situation or fighting for a playoff spot. … We still have to find ways to win these games and we didn't do that today.
NOTES: Crosby's goal was his 51st against the Flyers, tying Mario Lemieux for the most goals by an opposing player against Philadelphia. It also gave Crosby 1,409 points (517 goals, 892 assists), tying him with Dale Hawerchuk for 21st all-time. ... Yandle had two assists for his first multipoint game since Jan. 13. ... Frost has two multipoint NHL games; his first came Nov. 21, 2019, in his second NHL game. ... Defenseman Travis Sanheim led the Flyers with 26:24 in ice time; it's his fourth straight game playing at least 26:00.