Penguins Bounce Back In A Big Way

WHAT HAPPENED:

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:

As head coach Mike Sullivan said, to a man, the Penguins were a much better team tonight compared to Monday - and it started with their leaders.
After the top line of Guentzel, Crosby and Bryan Rust had a particularly rough outing in their 7-2 loss last night - each finishing a minus-4 in the game - the trio bounced back in a big way.
Crosby (2G-1A) and Guentzel (1G-2A) each had three-point nights, while Rust added a primary assist.
"I think it was a response game for all of us, but I think in particular our line," Crosby said. "It just wasn't a good game overall. So we bounced back tonight and got an important few points, and we'll look to build off it here."
While the Flyers have officially been eliminated from postseason contention, that doesn't mean this game didn't have a playoff-like intensity. Credit to the Penguins for staying focused in a physical affair where the bad blood reached the boiling point on a few occasions.
"I just think this this rivalry is so strong that it doesn't matter where teams sit in the standings," Sullivan said. "Anytime the Flyers and the Penguins play, they're usually emotionally charged games, and tonight was no different. I thought it was it was a hard-fought game on both sides.
"Emotions ran high at times. I thought our guys played through it. That's what we're going to have to get used to and be prepared to do moving forward. So I thought our team played well tonight."
Emotions ran especially high after Rust left the game at the 5:44 mark of the second period, when he was slewfooted from behind by Flyers forward Travis Konecny during the play that led to Crosby's first goal, before returning for the start of the third.
"You don't want to go too much into it, but you just don't want to see stuff like that in the game," Guentzel said. "So we got the job done getting the two points, and that's what we came here to do tonight. We needed to bounce back from last night, so I think we did the job on the scoreboard."
With two games remaining, the Penguins now have 73 points - two more than second-place Washington, who has two games in hand.

OTHER THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Pettersson earned the player of the game helmet, a well-deserved honor for the defenseman after his first multi-point performance since Feb. 28, 2020.
  Guentzel said Pettersson really gave the team a boost by opening the scoring just 1:44 into the game with his second goal of the year, which was an absolute beauty. Jared McCann found him at the side of the net, where he powered across the top of the crease and went forehand-backhand before tucking a shot through the five-hole.
  "Hadn't seen that from him in a little while, so we were giving him a hard time about it," his D partner Marino said. "But that was an awesome play. It was great to see him get that one."
  Pettersson then made another great play to set up Crosby's first goal. The defenseman faked a shot before making a no-look, cross-ice pass over to the captain, who reached around Ivan Provorov to re-direct it past Brian Elliott.
  - Jarry became the 16th goalie in franchise history to play 100 games with the Penguins. He now has 58 wins over that span, ranking second behind Matt Murray's 62.
  Jarry had to earn this one with some timely stops throughout the course of the game. As Sullivan said afterward, the Penguins would prefer not to give up as many chances as they did.
  Jarry made a huge shorthanded save on Sean Couturier early in the second to keep the score 1-0 and allow Guentzel to go down and convert. He then came up with a huge pad stop on Claude Giroux streaking in alone early in the third.
  Overall, it was another solid performance from the 26-year-old netminder, especially considering two of the three pucks that got past him deflected in off his own teammates. He is now 12-1-1 in his past 14 outings and is heading into the postseason on quite the upward trajectory.
  "We have all the confidence in the world in Tristan," Guentzel said. "He's one of the top goalies in the league and we have faith in him each and every night. So we're definitely lucky to have a guy like that in our net and you know he's going to make the big-time saves for us when we need them. So just a great guy to have back there for us."
  - The Penguins went 2-for-3 on the power play tonight, with Marino also converting. Overall, they went 4-for-7 in this series with Philadelphia.
  Pittsburgh has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to its power-play personnel right now. With Evgeni Malkin back on the top unit with Kris Letang, Crosby, Guentzel and Rust, McCann is on the second unit with Kasperi Kapanen, Jeff Carter, Zucker and Marino.
  - Speaking of Malkin, he picked up two assists tonight after registering one in his return last night. It's just his second game back after missing 23 contests with a lower-body injury, but it looks like his line with Zucker and Kapanen is starting to rediscover their chemistry.
  "It's tough when you don't have any practice to be out there as a line, so we got to get back into it as the games go on here," Zucker said last night. "I feel confident that we'll be able to do it. It's just a matter of sticking together and working together and lots of talk on the bench and trying to get that back."
  Meanwhile, Zucker has scored in two straight, and seems to be heating up at the right time. He honestly should have a few more goals than he does, as there have been a few other Grade-A chances he just couldn't convert. But as Crosby always says, the positive is that the chances are there in the first place. Hopefully they'll start to fall in bunches.