PHILADELPHIA, Pa- Sharing the state of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Flyers faced off against division rival, Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night in the Battle of Pennsylvania on Wells Fargo Center Ice.
When last meeting on October 22nd in Pittsburgh, the Flyers took the 5-3 win over Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.
The injury bug continues to hit the struggling Flyers team. After suffering an upper-body injury against the New York Islanders on Monday afternoon, defenseman Nick Schultz did not play against Pittsburgh. Also injured in the match up against the Islanders, defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo remained questionable for Tuesday night.
With Schultz out and Colaiacovo probable, Flyers recalled Brandon Manning and Oliver Lauridsen from the Leigh Valley Phantoms.
Taking the ice for warmups, Colaiacovo remained in the lineup.
In between the pipes for the orange and black, Ray Emery stood tall with Pittsburgh’s Thomas Greiss across the ice.
With the puck dropped, the Battle of Pennsylvania was underway at the Wells Fargo Center.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
Getting the first power play advantage early in the first period with Zac Rinaldo guilty of cross checking, the Penguins went to work. With many opportunities, the Penguins were unsuccessful.
Outshooting the Flyers 13-1 with 8:05 remaining in the first period, Pittsburgh would not get on the board first.
Finding the puck on his stick, Luke Schenn sent the puck under the cross bar, netting in his 2nd goal of the season.
Sending Kris Letang to the ice, Rinaldo found himself in trouble again. As both teams began to pile up against the boards, Rinaldo exited the ice for his consequences receiving a boarding major and game misconduct.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
As the period came to a close, the Flyers held onto the lead 1-0.
Starting off the second period with a bang, Michael Raffl and Zach Sill dropped the gloves. Along with Raffl and Sill in the penalty box, Wayne Simmonds was guilty of high sticking and Mark Arcobello was charged with cross checking, giving the squads 4 on 4 hockey.
Scoring on the shorthand disadvantage, Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz tied the game just 3 minutes into the second period.
As the physical game continued on, Jakub Voracek and Rob Scuderi tangled up in the the Penguins zone. Receiving a fighting major, instigation minor and 10 minutes misconduct, Voracek set the tone for the remainder of the period.
But the fighting did not stop there.
Dropping the gloves against former Flyer Steve Downie, Luke Schenn had the crowd on their feet. Along with a fighting major against Schenn, Downie also received an unsportsmanlike conduct giving the Flyers a power play opportunity.
With 5 minutes to go in the period, another pair squared off in the middle of the ice.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sent Bobby Farnham onto the ice, after swinging a hit to the face. With Bellemare and Farnham in the box, Chris VandeVelde and Arcobello found themselves taking a timeout in the sin bin.
Accumulating 4 fights in the second period, the Flyers and Penguins were tied at 1 at the end of forty minutes.
Gaining the lead just two minutes into the third period, Beau Bennett notched his third goal of the season.
Earning back a goal just shortly after, VandeVelde slipped the puck past Greiss, tying the game at 2.
As the clock clicked down to zero and a delayed penalty against Pittsburgh, the time ran out sending the Battle of Pennsylvania into overtime.
Taking a too many men on the ice penalty 2:04 in overtime, the Penguins gave the Flyers 4 on 3 man advantage.
Photo By Lewis Bleiman
With power play time diminishing, Voracek took the shot on net but was not successful. Gaining control of Voracek’s rebound, Flyers Captain Claude Giroux became the hero of Philadelphia, lighting the lamp for the 16th time this season on the power play.
The Battle of Pennsylvania was in the Philadelphia Flyers favor, taking the 3-2 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Playing with emotion and energy, head coach Craig Berube dicussed his clubs efforts,“Pitt brings that out of us, don’t they?” asked Berube. “ Lot of emotion in the game, for sure. Lotta physical play. Guys were battling for each other and played a real good hockey game.”
The overtime hero smiled as he talked about the emotion-filled game, “It was a pretty crazy game, we played as a team,” said the captain. “A lot of random guys who usually don’t fight, even Jake was able to get a fight. I think we stuck together.” He continued, “They are one of the top team’s in the league. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of penalties. Our PK was its best and shut them down.”
“It was a very emotional game, a battle for 64 minutes. Obviously, if that’s the way we gotta win games, we gotta play like that every day,” said Voracek. “I’m sure it’s emotional for the Penguins, as well. They don’t fight or hit as much. Sometime you have to find different ways to win games. I don’t know what it’s against the Penguins every time, but we won the game which is good.”
The Penguins and Flyers will meet two more times before wrapping up the regular season. Flyers will travel to the Steel City on April 1st and returning to home ice to face their rival on April 5th.
Representing the orange and black in the 2015 NHL All Star Game just a few days away, Giroux and Voracek are off to Columbus to participate in the NHL events this weekend.
The Flyers are back in action on Tuesday January 27th when they host Shane Doan and the Arizona Coyotes.
Puck drop between the Flyers and Coyotes is set for 7 p.m.
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