The first matchup between Pennsylvania rivals Pittsburgh and Philadelphia went to the defending Cup champions on Thursday night, as the Pens outlasted the Flyers 5-4. Sidney Crosby was held pointless, but, as is so often the case with the Penguins, when one superstar has a quiet night, someone else steps up. Evgeni Malkin supplied a goal and an assist, while Jordan Staal and Bill Guerin added markers of their own.
Malkin opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, as the Penguins scored their only powerplay goal of the night. Daniel Briere followed his overtime winning performance against the Capitals with a two goal night, scoring his first midway through the period to tie it at 1-1. Malkin got his second point of the night on his assist to Jordan Staal, who broke in behind the Flyers’ defense and used his giant wingspan to beat Philly keeper Ray Emery.
The teams traded goals in the second, with Briere and Jeff Carter scoring powerplay goals for the Flyers. Bill Guerin and Alex Goligoski scored two goals less than three minutes apart to keep the Pens ahead in the game. Goligoski added an assist on Guerin’s goal as well, although his goal was less than spectacular. Braydon Coburn failed to clear the puck out properly and it bounced in off Emery’s skate. Tyler Kennedy gave the Pens some insurance in the 3rd, giving Marc-Andre Fleury all the cushion he would need to finish off the Flyers.
Carter would score his second goal of the game with less than a minute left in the game, but it was some typical Flyers-Pens antics at the end of the game that caught the headlines. After Fleury covered the puck in a last-second scramble at the goal mouth, a bunch of Flyers and Penguins ended up in a shoving match that turned into a flailing pile of fists, skates and sticks. In the aftermath, Pens’ defenseman Kris Letang left the ice holding his hand, claiming Flyers’ troublemaker Scott Hartnell bit his hand. The NHL hasn’t passed down any official ruling as of yet, but VP Colin Campbell is expected to investigate the incident.