The Pittsburgh Penguins were shut out in their most recent game while the Philadelphia Flyers scored four goals in one period in their last outing.
The host Penguins will look to locate their offense on Monday when the Keystone State rivals meet for the first time this season.
While Pittsburgh dropped a 3-0 decision to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Philadelphia erased a two-goal deficit in a 5-4 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
After notching three assists, Owen Tippett scored 3:30 into overtime for the Flyers to cap his first four-point performance of his career.
“He flies around,” teammate Tyson Foerster said of Tippett. “It’s great to watch and everybody on the bench is thinking the same thing so it’s pretty cool.”
Foerster’s goal tied the game with 1:44 left in regulation with goalie Samuel Ersson pulled for the extra attacker.
The win snapped Philadelphia’s three-game losing streak.
“Just goes to show the group we have in here,” Tippett said. “We knew in the second intermission we weren’t out of it. Just feeling the confidence and glad we got the job done.”
Morgan Frost added two goals and Foerster and Noah Cates each collected a goal and an assist. Travis Konecny had three assists and Ersson made 21 saves.
Cates has goals in three consecutive games.
The Flyers were without center Sean Couturier because of personal reasons.
After winning their previous two games, the Penguins could only manage 12 shots in getting shut out by the Devils.
Pittsburgh only trailed 1-0 when New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped Phillip Tomasino with a left pad save 6:40 into the third period. Devils captain Nico Hischier stretched the lead to 2-0 with a goal 1:07 later.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 25 saves for the Penguins.
“I thought after they got the second goal, we opened up a little, and that’s where they got a bunch of their shots,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “They defend well. I thought for two-and-a-half periods we competed hard and were right there.
“We had two Grade A opportunities in the second period and didn’t score on either of them.”
Pittsburgh also lost rookie defenseman Owen Pickering for the remainder of the game when he sustained an upper-body injury on a hit by Paul Cotter with 5:49 left in the second period. There was no update on Pickering after the game.
Pickering, who has a goal and an assist and is minus-3 in 14 games, has been playing on the top defensive pairing with Kris Letang recently.
Pickering was replaced alongside Letang after the injury by Pierre-Oliver Joseph, who was making his debut in his return to the Penguins via a trade from the St. Louis Blues on Dec, 18. Joseph played with Pittsburgh from 2020-21 until last season.
If Pickering can’t play against Philadelphia, he likely will be replaced by Ryan Graves in the lineup.
–Field Level Media
