Bobby Brink scored a dazzling shootout goal Tuesday, providing the difference in the Philadelphia Flyers’ action-packed 3-2 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
Travis Konecny scored his 200th career goal — all with the Flyers — while Brink also scored in regulation for the hosts. Samuel Ersson made 24 stops through overtime and then denied two of the Penguins’ three attempts in the shootout.
Justin Brazeau and Sidney Crosby scored regulation goals for Pittsburgh, which had been 5-0-1 in its previous six games. Arturs Silovs finished with 32 saves for the visitors.
In the first minute of overtime, Penguins veteran Evgeni Malkin scored during a delayed penalty. However, the goal was waved off because Malkin had come onto the ice well before Silovs had reached the vicinity of the bench.
Philadelphia killed the ensuing power play and then got one of its own when Malkin went off for hooking with 1:46 left in overtime. Tyson Foerster scored the apparent game-winner on that man advantage, only to have the play challenged for offsides — and overturned.
Crosby and Philadelphia’s Trevor Zegras were among eight players ruled ineligible for the shootout due to their actions in a scrum at the end of overtime.
In the shootout, Matvei Michkov and Malkin each scored in the second round. Brink then beat Silovs with a nifty stick-handling sequence before Ersson made a pad save on Ville Koivunen to clinch the victory.
Each team scored once in the first period, beginning with Brazeau’s sixth goal of the season. Late in the period, Brink scored on the power play, ramming home a rebound to even the score.
The only tally of the second period was Konecny’s goal — just his second of the season — at 2:46 of the stanza. The goal came on a 3-on-3 rush up the ice with Konecny snapping a wrister just inside the left post.
Crosby tied it 2-2 with 8:03 remaining in regulation on a triple-ricochet. The Penguins’ star flipped a backhander from behind the net that caromed off Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler, then off the post and off Ersson before trickling into the net.
