Even playing without top defenseman Kris Letang (knee) and key forward James Neal (lower-body), four different players lit the lamp, including Sidney Crosby, who increased his season-commencing point streak to seven games -- which is also a new career best.
Chris Kunitz and Jussi Jokinen also tallied for the Penguins, the Metropolitan Division leaders who improved to 6-1-0 on the year. Pascal Dupuis added a pair of assists to back a 24-save effort from Marc-Andre Fleury.
"The start of the season is always an adjustment. You really just focus on your work ethic and making sure you're committed to doing what you need to do every night," said Crosby. "Sometimes, it doesn't work out that way, especially early on, but we found a way to win games for different reasons. It's nice to get rewarded early on, and to build some confidence and momentum."
Stat which might mean something: The Flyers had an astounding 38 shot attempts that didn’t reach the net (23 were blocked, 15 missed), as the Pittsburgh defense, unlike in years past, performed more like the Rangers under John Tortorella than the high-octane transitional backline in years past.
"We were not even close. I think we were all right in the first. Second period was awful. We never really recovered from that," Simmonds said when asked if an uptick in intensity meant a 60-minute effort. "We weren’t executing work, getting pucks deep, weren’t turning over pucks in neutral zone. They are a good transition team. We couldn’t break the puck out of our own zone and they took advantage of that."
Fleury robbed Simmonds in close during the Flyers' first advantage in the third period, and though the ice was tilted in the Philadelphia end for the majority of the final stanza, it remained only a one-goal edge for the visitors.
Things are so bad for the Orange and Black, that Brayden Schenn looked at a wide open net when Fleury was pulled to the right post, that the young winger shot the puck wide and behind the out-of-position netminder.
“I haven’t seen the replay. Obviously you would like to have that one back with an open net. It could have changed the hockey game, but I guess nothing you can do about it now," said Schenn, who nonetheless leads the club in scoring with five points.
The Pens assumed a 3-1 margin with 2:32 left in regulation. An attempted clear from Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn from behind his net redirected off the side of the cage right to Dupuis in the slot, and he flipped the puck in front for an easy tap-in from Crosby.
“Our first two periods weren't great. In
the third period, that’s
the way we need to play. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize
on some chances and before you knew it, the game’s over," mused Mason.
Mason was summoned to the bench for an extra skater shortly after and Malkin connected into the empty net with 12.3 ticks left.
In a scoreless opening period, the Penguins failed to click on two-plus power-play chances and the Flyers came up short on their opportunity.
Fact which may mean nothing: Per the Post-Gazette, visiting head coach Dan Bylsma said his club might have been cheated out of a significant chunk of their carry-over power play from the end of the first period after the game clock ran during an intermission promotion.
“My understanding is that there was a 20 second promotion in between periods that the clock ran for and it ran down for that 20 seconds," Bylsma explained. "When we left I wrote down on my card 1:02 and came out and didn’t look at the end zone to see and I realized it when the guy came out after 43 seconds, that he came out prematurely.”
The hosts were held without a shot for 14 minutes by the time the visitors claimed the game's first goal. Malkin grabbed an attempted clear in the neutral zone, moved over the Philadelphia blue line and fed ahead to Jokinen for a high wrister from the right circle just before the midway point of regulation.
Kunitz made it 2-0 with 12:13 played in the second, when he swooped in on the right side and slammed home a Dupuis rebound which deflected off the shin pad of Coburn and stopped just outside Mason's crease.
Fleury was whistled for interference inside of a minute on the clock, and Simmonds halved the Flyers' deficit by hitting the net on a deflection of a Claude Giroux chance with two seconds to play. It snapped the club's 0-for-18 slide up a man.
Notes: Pittsburgh has won three in a row and five of the last seven games in Philadelphia ... Mason fell to 2-2-1 against the Penguins, with Thursday his first start against the Steel City club since making 32 saves in a 4-1 win with Columbus on Feb. 8, 2011 ... Crosby upped his point total in Philly to 35
points (14G, 21A) in 22 career regular-season games ... Malkin has 30 points (13G, 17A) over 22 games in eastern Pennsylvania ... Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen left the game in the second period and did not return with a lower-body injury ... After going scoreless in the first five games, Giroux has recorded an assist in each of the last three ... Garth Snow was the last Penguins goalie to blank the Flyers in Philadelphia, making 36 saves in a 1-0 decision on November 24, 2000.
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