Flyers Drop First to Penguins, Lose, 4-1; Malkin Dominates

PHILADELPHIA – This Philadelphia Flyers game against the Pittsburgh Penguins was nothing like the first two. Not even close.

This Flyers game was way more intense, and the run of play was wide open. Both teams are fighting tooth and nail for incredibly important points in the Metropolitan Division. In the wake of the Jamie Drysdale and Cutter Gauthier trade news, the Flyers just lost sight of themselves on Monday night. The Penguins, led by Evgeni Malkin, defeated the Flyers, 4-1 on Monday night.

Malkin turned back the clocks against the Flyers, helping open the scoring with a vintage backdoor pass on the power play to set Rickard Rakell up for a tap-in just 45 seconds into the game. Seven minutes, Erik Karlsson’s long-range wrister beat Carter Hart through heavy traffic to double the Pens’ lead to 2-0. However, with five minutes to go in the opening frame, Owen Tippett’s blistering shot from the right circle beat Alex Nedeljkovic cleanly to give the Flyers hope, as well as a much-needed power play goal.

Things only got worse for the Flyers, as Chad Ruhwedel scored his first of the season in the second period to restore the Penguins’ two-goal lead. In contrast, the Flyers never really threatened much, and again lacked the finishing touch they need to take this season far. At the start of the third period, Malkin scored a goal of his own to put Pittsburgh up 4-1. The Flyers were running out of hope, and fast.

It was a typical Flyers game in the sense that both teams traded rush chances and was completed with a massive scrum that the refs goofed up the calls on. Carter Hart was uncharacteristically left with a ton of work as the Pens poured on over 40 shots on goal. Overall, it wasn’t a complete effort as the Flyers again showed signs of a team going through physical and mental fatigue.

The Flyers will have to get back on track Wednesday after falling to the Penguins, 4-1.

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