Flyers tripped up from the jump in 4-1 loss to the Penguins

On the day the Flyers traded away part of their offensive future, they surely could have used his pop.

Facing their fellow Keystoners, the Flyers mustered 37 shots and 66 shot attempts but were only able to bury one puck past Alex Nedeljkovic in a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The game had the same feistiness as the Flyers’ win against the Calgary Flames on Saturday — although this one was a bit more expected from two long-standing rivals. Continuing to show a strong team bond, there were several five-on-five scrums. In the third period, one saw Kris Letang left bloodied with a cut to his forehead.

» READ MORE: Flyers trade No. 2 prospect Cutter Gauthier to Anaheim in shocking move

What tripped up the Flyers in this one was, literally, a trip. Sean Couturier was called for a two-minute minor just 28 seconds into the contest, putting the Flyers on their heels from the jump. And this is not the same Penguins power play that was mired in an epic slump when these teams last met in a home-and-home back in early December; they’ve jumped from 10.5% effectiveness through Dec. 5 to 19.6 since.

Rickard Rakell scored on the ensuing power play at the left post off a no-look pass by Evgeni Malkin for the Penguins’ fourth straight game with a power-play marker. Malkin added an insurance goal in the third period, and Chad Ruhwedel and Erik Karlsson also scored for the Penguins.

The Flyers took a total of five penalties in the first period, to two by the Penguins, and it put a crimp in the Orange and Black’s flow.

“I think giving one up early on the power play allowed their skill guys to get feeling it a little bit, and you could sense they were making plays,” Travis Sanheim said.

Hart faces onslaught

Carter Hart was the reason this ugly game didn’t become downright disastrous.

“Hartsy was unbelievable,” Sanheim said. “It could have gotten out of hand there. He’s been good all year and tonight was much of the same.”

Facing an onslaught of chances, he made several diving, spinning, and scrambling saves that kept the Penguins off the board. The Flyers allowed 68 shot attempts, including a season-high of 40 shots.

In the first period, he stopped Malkin on two back-to-back chances on the doorstep during a Penguins power play before robbing Sidney Crosby right after. Not long after, he stopped a Jake Guentzel shot from the left circle.

“Yeah, he’s been awesome,” Owen Tippett said. “Obviously, he’s been great all year, and say it again. He’s the heartbeat of this team and we want to do everything we can in front of him to make it easier on him, but he comes up with huge saves.”

» READ MORE: Sielski: Trading Cutting Gauthier is the Flyers’ first big setback in their rebuild

The second period was no different as the Penguins kept getting high-danger chances. Per Natural Stat Trick, they put nine on in the middle frame alone, including a chance by Jeff Carter from just 7 feet out. That save led to some pleasantries between the two sides, as Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee got into it behind the Flyers net with Jansen Harkins and Ruhwedel.

In the final period, Hart again stepped up and stopped Drew O’Connor on two straight chances when it was still a two-goal game.

“We spent too much time in our end zone,” coach John Tortorella said. “We didn’t come out clean enough. … And you give that team second opportunities on breakouts, sooner or later the momentum changes. I thought we fought. We just struggled to score. We just don’t have enough people going offensively. They were the better team.”

Power play

The Flyers did score one goal, and it was the lone bright spot in this one as the power play once again connected. That’s two power-play goals in two straight games. The Flyers haven’t done that since scoring against the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 30 and the Penguins on Dec. 2.

“I think we started to execute our plays better and read off each other better and it’s always good to see a little bit of success and hopefully keep going,” Tippett said.

» READ MORE: Egor Zamula providing a spark as the Flyers’ new power-play ‘quarterback’

Down by two in the first period, Tippett fired off a wrister from the right circle past Nedeljkovic for his 13th goal of the season and second power-play marker.

But the guy who made the play, the guy Tortorella has praised for settling down the team’s power play, was Egor Zamula. The defenseman who has become more and more confident in his game — especially with the man advantage — kept the puck in at the blue line and read the open space he had in front of him. He skated down the middle into the high slot and sent a no-look pass over to Tippett — who said it was a great play — for the goal.

Breakaways

During the first period, the Flyers announced they traded 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick.

Up next

The Flyers host the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. Wednesday on NBCSP.