In Pittsburgh, a 4-4 tie between the Penguins and visiting Philadelphia Flyers after 40 minutes of play was merely an amuse-bouche to the third period on Sunday.
The two teams traded goals for 40 minutes, and then broke out with a five-goal third before the Pens took a 7-6 decision.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and four points in the win.
“Obviously, it’s a huge rivalry,” Crosby said. “It’s been that way long before I started playing here. But I think just the way they play, they’re a gritty team. They’re physical, especially this group. They keep coming, give them credit.
“It would have been easy to step back a little bit, and they didn’t. They just kept coming and I thought it was a great response a few different times from us.”
Tristan Jarry made 15 saves in the win
The Penguins moved to 26-21-8.
The third period opened with a goal from Drew O’Connor at 6:41 to restore Pens lead, 5-4, they let get away in the middle frame.
Rickard Rakell added a marker at 8:38 to give the Pens a 6-4 lead.
“For me, the most encouraging part was just the resilience of the group going out in the third period and just having the ability to put [late in the second period] behind them and being forward thinking and just competing in that third period,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “To me, that’s just a real encouraging aspect of tonight’s win.”
The Flyers got one back on a strike by Cam York midway through the third for a 6-5 score to the Pens.
Kris Letang scored what would end up being the winner at 15:13 for a 7-5 advantage.
“You want to start building something solid because it’s just going to get harder and harder,” Letang said. “If you [get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs], it’s going to be even harder. So, you have to create a solid identity for your team, and right now is the time to do it.”
Pittsburgh needed that goal because Tyson Foerster hit off the power play with his second of the game at 17:57 to trm the deficit to the final 7-6 count on the scoreboard.
The Flyers dropped to 30-22-7 off their second straight loss.
“They played free, they played hard,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “To come back like that as many times as we did, we weren’t playing safe. We were playing. I give our team a lot of credit for their resiliency to keep on coming back.”
The Flyers had taken a 1-0 lead in the game on a goal by Scott Laughton, his first of a double, at 2:21 of the opening stanza.
Crosby picked up his goal midway through the first for a 1-1 tie.
Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust scored at 17:15 to give the Pens a 2-1 lead headed to the middle frame.
Foerster potted his first of two at 55 seconds gone into the second period for a 2-2 tie.
Rust collected his double at 11:15 to reclaim the lead for the Pens at 3-2.
Emil Bemstrom struck at 13:38 for a 4-2 lead to the Penguins that did not last long.
Travis Sanheim trimmed the deficit to 4-3 at 16:33, hitting off a face off win..
“It’s a tough one,” Sanheim said. “Score six, you hope you win most nights. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. They’re a good team. They capitalized on their chances and made us pay.”
Laughton collected his double with a shorthanded marker at 17:36 to send the game to third period tied, 4-4.
“You’re chasing it. You’re trying to get back,” Laughton said. “We were close. Played until the last minute there, but it’s not good enough at this time of year. Guys know it. We have to be better.”
Cal Petersen made 25 saves in the loss.
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