In Pittsburgh, the visiting Philadelphia Flyers surrendered a two-goal lead in the third period and lost to the Penguins, 5-4, in extra time on Tuesday night.
Sidney Crosby scored his 500th NHL career goal in the win.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Crosby said. “I think just being able to be part of some great teams over the years, play with some great players. It’s a cool number. You look at the guys who have scored 500 goals, I think it’s just a privilege to be part of that company.”
Kris Letang scored with 31 seconds gone in the extra session to cap a three-goal rally.
“Of course, you want that game, that memory to be a win.” Letang said. “You don’t want to remember [Crosby’s] 500th goal in a loss, especially to a rival like this.”
With the Flyers ahead, 4-2, the Pens struck twice in an 18-second span.
Jake Guentzel and Chad Ruhwedel hit for the game-tying goals.
Casey DeSmith made 23 saves in the Pittsburgh win.
Claude Giroux and Scott Laughton had goals for the Flyers.
“I thought the leadership, our veteran guys, it’s easy to sit there and feel sorry for yourself,” Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. “I think they’re going out there and still fighting, still playing hard. Obviously, that’s a very good team we’re playing against tonight. I think we came out with the right attitude. We came out with the mindset that we want to take the fight to them.”
The Penguins improved to 31-11-8.
“It’s been an incredible journey for me, to be the coach of the Penguins and, in particular, to coach Sid,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I’ve had the privilege of seeing a fair amount of milestones over this time here, with respect to Sid. I thought tonight might be the most special.”
Dominik Simon also scored for the Pens.
The Flyers dropped to 15-24-9.
“At the end of the day, if you don’t win games, it doesn’t really matter about the points,” Laughton said. “We just have to figure out a way to find a way.”
Nick Seeler and Justin Braun scored for the Flyers after the game was tied tied 2-2.
“It’s obviously really nice to get that first one,” Seeler said. “I just saw [Travis Konecny] come up, a really nice pass by him. Just tried to find that soft area. Luckily, it went in.”
Carter Hart made 29 saves in the Philadelphia loss.
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