The Philadelphia Flyers battled back from a pair of one-goal deficits to force overtime before losing. 3-2, to a severely undermanned Pittsburgh Penguins team at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night. Kris Letang (1st goal of the season) scored the game winner on an overtime wraparound at 1:57 in his first game back after a battle with coronavirus. The puck crossed the goal line by the narrowest of margins after an initial pad save.

The game was a sporadic overall effort from the Flyers. They didn't show up on time in either the first or second period, and paid with an early goal against in the first period and being forced to over-rely on big saves in the second.

For long stretches of the game, they got outworked and outcompeted by the Penguins before making a push of their own. Overall, while the Flyers made some good plays and had pushes of their own -- especially in the latter part of the first period -- they gave up too much time and space to a Penguins team that was missing half its regular blueline along with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust.

A deflection tally by Brock McGinn (3rd goal of the season) on the game's opening shift gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead they held for the remainder of the first period. A nice shot in close quarters by Travis Konecny (power play, 4th) briefly tied the game in the second period but Jake Guentzel (2nd) restored the lead for Pittsburgh. With just under three minutes left in the third period, Scott Laughton (3rd) converted a Pittsburgh turnover into a goal that tied the game at 2-2.

Carter Hart more or less stole the Flyers a point in regulation. He finished with 33 saves on 36 shots. Tristan Jarry was equally strong in net for Pittsburgh, earning the win with 36 saves on 38 shots.

The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. Pitttsburgh was 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

For more on this game, see the Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website. The Flyers' next game will be on Saturday in DC against the Washington Capitals.

Join the Discussion: » 140 Comments » Post New Comment

» Lightning Strike Takes Down Jets

» Practice Day, Ersson, Jay Greenberg, A Personal Note

» Flyers Gameday: Game 12 vs. BOS

» Wrap: Brink Lifts Flyers over Blues, 2-1

» Game 11 Preview: Flyers vs. STL