In Pittsburgh, Jake Guentzel‘s second goal of the game came with 21 seconds left on the game clock in the third period to tie the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, 3-3, and force extra time which solved nothing.
Sean Couturier was credited with the deciding goal on penalties for a 4-3 win to the Flyers.
Samuel Ersson made 29 saves in the win.
“Find a way here,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “We’re not always going to score the first goal. Long season, 82 games. Have to find something to lean on so you can come back. … It’s a good start for us, as far as understanding how to do it.”
The Flyers improved to 12-10-2.
After a scoreless first period, Kris Letang scored at 14:31 of the middle frame to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.
Owen Tippett hit off a breakaway at 16:47 to tie the game, 1-1, for the Flyers.
In the third, Guentzel hit for his first of the night at 1″50 for a 2-1 lead to the Pens.
The Flyers’ Scott Laughton hit for a shorthanded marker at 7:01 to tie the game, 2-2.
“I almost blacked out,” said Laughton, who scored his second goal in 24 games this season. “Been a little snake-bitten. Finally found a chance there. Felt nice, to be honest, especially when you get a little bit more minutes and get more opportunities, you want to do well and contribute as best you can. Felt really nice.”
The Penguins dropped to 11-10-2.
“Everybody cares about what’s going on there,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “The players, the guys that are on it, are proud guys. So obviously, the fact that we haven’t got some traction with it, that we haven’t gotten it going yet, is a little bit disappointing for all of us.”
Philadelphia took a 3-2 lead at 13:52 on a strike by Tyson Foerster.
A rematch is set for Monday night in Philadelphia.
The Flyers and Penguins will play again at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
“They’ll come to our building and they’ll be ready to go,” Tortorella said. “They have a really good team. We have to be ready to go. … We play Monday. It happens to be [Pittsburgh] again. There won’t be much talk as far as some of the things from the game today, what to expect from them. I think we saw that.
“It’s another game. You just get ready to play that game. Try to play as well as we can.”
Tristan Jarry made 31 saves in the loss.
“Obviously, they had a good game. They were putting a lot of pucks on net,” Jarry said. “They were getting a lot of traffic and I think they had a lot of pressure throughout the game.”
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