Snap Shots: Flyers 5, Penguins 2
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OVERALL ASSESSMENT
When Mike Sullivan first took over as head coach of the Penguins, he had a clear vision of what he wanted in his team's identity. Speed, of course, was one principle. And another, which we saw on display tonight, was resiliency.
After the Flyers showed their quick-strike capability in their win over the Penguins in the season opener on Wednesday, turning a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 lead in a matter of minutes, they did the same thing on Friday. The Flyers scored three times in just over four minutes to take a 3-0 lead, chasing Tristan Jarry from the net just 11:30 into the first period.
After the Flyers showed their quick-strike capability in their win over the Penguins in the season opener on Wednesday, turning a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 lead in a matter of minutes, they did the same thing on Friday. The Flyers scored three times in just over four minutes to take a 3-0 lead, chasing Tristan Jarry from the net just 11:30 into the first period.
The Penguins could have imploded and hung their heads. Instead, they remained calm and went right back to the task of chipping away that lead. And in no time at all, goals from Sidney Crosby and Brandon Tanev just 32 seconds apart had them right back in the game.
"I thought there was plenty of emotion and plenty of pushback from our guys tonight," Sullivan said.
However, while the Penguins again carried play for the rest of the night, they couldn't find a way to get the equalizer. Instead, the Flyers were eventually able to build on their lead.
"We had a ton of chances," Bryan Rust said. "You saw it there in the second, we had a bunch of 2-on-1s. We had a really good power play look there in the third where we were in their zone for a minute and 40 seconds. We had a lot of chances to tie the game up and score some goals. It's just that we weren't able to do it. Hopefully we can learn from that and start putting more pucks in."
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MORE THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
* It's been a tough start to the season for Jarry, to be sure. But it's still early, and the Penguins believe that the sky is the limit for the 25-year-old goaltender coming off of an All-Star season. He'll get back to work with Penguins goalie coach Mike Buckley and get things back on track.
"It's really difficult to assess in such a short window where Tristan's game was the last couple of games," Sullivan said. "I know he gave up a fair amount of goals, but to his defense, the types of goals that went in the net were high-quality chances. That's not an easy thing. We're going to try to assess it as objectively as we can. But Tristan is a good goalie. He's a competitor. I know he'll bounce back. He's a solid goaltender."
"Jars is the perfect candidate for a bounce back," Casey DeSmith agreed. "He doesn't get too high or too low. He's pretty even keel. Next game he plays, I'm confident he'll be good."
For now, let's give credit where credit is due to DeSmith for stepping into a tough situation and doing a tremendous job. DeSmith, seeing his first NHL action since March 16, 2019 after spending all of last season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, was an absolute rock back there.
He made all of the saves he needed to make along with some difficult ones as well - most notably when Kevin Hayes got a step on the D and went in alone. DeSmith gave his team a chance to settle down and get back into the game. It was unfortunate that they weren't able to put one in down at the other end to really get momentum back on their side.
"I was really happy with how I felt, honestly," DeSmith said. "It's been a long time since I played at this level. Obviously games feel a little bit different than practices and scrimmages and stuff like that, so it was nice to get some game action and build the confidence a little bit."
\It was another great game for the third line. Mark Jankowski and Jared McCann earned the assists on Tanev's goal, the second straight night they have gotten on the scoresheet. As Sullivan said, they are a trio that should be hard to play against who brings an offensive threat every night. So far, so good in that regard.
\ Crosby scored his second in as many games, both coming on the power play. Unfortunately, they weren't as opportunistic as they needed to be tonight. Like Rust mentioned, they had a big opportunity in the third to get the equalizer, and I thought the work ethic from the first unit was tremendous. They were battling like crazy to keep possession. But they couldn't convert, and a few minutes later, the Flyers went got a two-goal lead.
* Going off of that, the Penguins have to do a better job of staying out of the box. The penalty kill did look better compared to Wednesday, but they've been forced to go over the boards too much. The Penguins are being called for things that are preventable, like too many men - which they got whistled for on Wednesday as well - and stick infractions.
* Apart from the captain, the rest of the members of Pittsburgh's top-six are taking a little bit longer to get going, but I thought there were a bunch of good looks from that group. Particularly from both of Crosby's wingers, Jake Guentzel and Evan Rodrigues, who had some chances 5-on-5 they couldn't convert.
In addition, John Marino sprung Jason Zucker on a breakaway chance, one of a few good looks for the winger. As Crosby always says, the positive is that the chances are there, and hopefully they'll start to fall sooner rather than later.
"I know they're working hard," Sullivan said. "I believe these guys will score. They're talented players. It didn't go in for us tonight, but certainly there was a lot to like in this game."
