Postgame 5: Flyers Flay Penguins, 6-1

The Philadelphia Flyers opened a home-and-home set against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 6-1 blowout win at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. Bobby Brink recorded a career-best four points in the game with a goal and three assists.

Philadelphia got off to a fast start, taking a 2-0 lead and an 11-7 shot on goal advantage to the first intermission. The Flyers also blocked seven Pittsburgh shot attempts.

The Flyers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 3:56 on their first shot of the game. From the left circle, Rasmus Ristolainen (4th goal of the season) fired a shot between the legs of goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. The assists went to Egor Zamula and Matvei Michkov.

A few shifts later, Ristolainen prevented a near goal by Evgeni Malkin. The Flyers went to the game's first power play at 6:48 as Anthony Beauvillier was sent off on a high-sticking minor.

Noah Cates (11th goal of the season) snapped an 11-game point drought with a rising wrist shot from the top of the left circle over the blocker to the short side at 12:19. The assists went to Brink and Jakob Pelletier (1st point as a Flyer).

Thirty-seven seconds into the second period, Kris Letang cross-checked Tyson Foerster in the back from just below the goal line in the Pittsburgh zone. Philly went to their second power play.

Pittsburgh cut the gap to 2-1 at 6:09 of the middle frame with a Philip Tomasino goal (8th) off the rush. The assists went to Michael Bunting and Letang. Tomasino shifted to the backhand and beat Samuel Ersson.

Garnet Hathaway was called for interference at 8:05. The Flyers killed off the penalty. At 11:55, the Flyers retook a two-goal lead as Tyson Foerster (16th) finished off a feed from Jamie Drysdale. The other assist went to Bobby Brink (second helper of the game).

Two goals by the Cates line -- at 18:55 and 19:05 of the second period -- turned a 3-1 lead into a four-goal cushion for the Flyers.

First, Cates collected the loose change near the net and scored over the pad for his second goal of the game and 12th tally of the season. The assists went to Brink (third assist of the match) and Foerster with 2:05 remaining in the frame.

Ten seconds later, the trio struck again. Brink (8th) went to the net, got his stick on the puck and the puck went in off P.O. Joseph. The assists went to Cates and Foerster.

Second period shots on goal were 14-10 Flyers (29-16 Flyers) through 40 minutes.

Sixteen seconds into the third period, Bryan Rust took a defensive zone holding penalty. The Flyes went to their third power play. They were unable to add another goal. At 3:47, Nick Seeler was sent off for a hooking minor.

A Pittsburgh turnover in their own zone proved costly shortly thereafter as a tic-tac-toe puck movement sequence ended with an Owen Tippett slam dunk at 8:06. The assists went to Sean Couturier and Michkov.

The Flyers shut down the rest of the game to skate off with a convincing win. Third period shots on goal were 9-7 Flyers (38-23 Flyers overall).

Ersson had plenty of goal support on this night but came up big at a couple of junctures when the Penguins were threatening to score when the game was 2-1. He finished with 22 saves on 33 shots. Nedeljkovic stopped 32 of 38 shots.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett - 14 Sean Couturier - 39 Matvei Michkov

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink

96 Andrei Kuzmenko - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny

22 Jaob Pelletier - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

33 Samuel Ersson

[82 Ivan Fedotov]

Scratches: 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy).

PP1: Ristolainen, Konecny, Laughton, Kuzmenko, Michkov

PP2: Drysdale, Foerster, Cates, Brink, Sanheim

TURNING POINT

Foerster's goal halted any momentum the Penguins generated when they drew within 2-1. Later, the quick two-goal outburst by his line blew the game wide open before the end of the second period.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 THINGS" REVISITED)

1. Tippett-Couturier-Michkov line: The trio had a dominant game against the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. On this night, the trio was on the ice for a pair of Flyers goals and combined for the Tippett marker that closed out the scoring. Above all, though, the night belonged to the Cates line.

2. Special teams scoring vs. 5-on-5 output: The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Special teams were a wash. At 5-on-5, however, the Flyers dominated in all three zones and it added up to 6-1 edge at even strength. Keeping the puck out of their net at 5-on-5 has been a weakness for Pittsburgh all saeson.

3. Transition game: The Penguins had puck management and defensive coverage issues for much of the game. As a result, the Flyers had plenty of counterattacking chances and operating room once they gained possession.

4. Faceoff comparison: The Flyers went 25-for-55 overall on faceoffs. Overall, though, draws did not play much of a role in this game's outcome. The Flyers could have fared a bit better on power play faceoffs, but it was a minor issue.

5. Behind enemy lines -- The Sidney Crosby factor: Entering the game, the veteran Penguins captain had 133 career regular season points -- 56 goals, 77 assists --- in 88 games against the Flyers. On Tuesday, however, Crosby and his line had a rough game. The Cates line in particular got the better of the play.