Penguins Sleepwalk Through Second Period, Still Beat Flyers, 7-3

Twenty minutes into the game, all of the numbers figured to add up to two points for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The most important was the score. since they had a 4-1 lead over Philadelphia.

Then there were the precedents. Like how the Penguins were 6-0-2 in their previous eight games against the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena, and 5-0-2 in their previous seven overall versus Philadelphia.

And it was hard to overlook goalie Tristan Jarry’s recent history against the Flyers, since he’d gone 6-0-2 in his previous eight starts when facing them.

But the game nearly got away from the Penguins when they were virtual no-shows for much of the second period, as Philadelphia got back to within a goal before the Penguins secured a 7-3 victory Monday evening to raise their record to 16-15-5.

They are above .500 for the second time in a week, but have never been more than one game over this season.

Sidney Crosby, who earlier had set up three goals to tie Mario Lemieux’s franchise record of 1,033 assists, sealed the outcome with an empty-net goal at 17:08 of the third. Blake Lizotte rubbed it in by scoring with 11.2 seconds remaining.

The Penguins played without their top two left-handed defensemen because of injuries. Marcus Pettersson, who generally is paired with Erik Karlsson, has an unspecified lower-body injury and rookie Owen Pickering is on injured-reserve after sustaining a concussion last Thursday in Nashville.

The Penguins, who have surrendered early goals with regularity this season, scored one of their own, as Bryan Rust beat Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson with a slap shot from the top of the right circle at 1:29 of the opening period.

Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell assisted on the goal, which came on the Penguins’ first shot of the game and was Rust’s 13th of the season.

The Flyers did not need long to counter, because defenseman Egor Zamula wristed a shot past Jarry from near the top of the left circle at 6:12. His goal came on Philadelphia’s third shot of the game.

Rakell appeared to put the Penguins back in front at 7:14, when he took a feed from Crosby and beat Ersson from the slot, but the Flyers challenged that the play had been offside and a video review confirmed it had been, so the goal was disallowed.

Rakell struck again at 11:53, and this time, it counted.

He took a feed from Rust and buried a shot from below the left hash for his 16th. Karlsson got the other assist.

The Penguins got two power plays as the first period was winding down, and took full advantage of both to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.

Michael Bunting staked out a spot at the left side of the crease and put in a cross-ice feed from Evgeni Malkin at 16:15 for his eighth to put the Penguins up, 3-1.

Just 28 seconds after Bunting scored, Flyers defenseman Cam York was sent off for holding.

The Penguins needed all of 61 seconds with the extra man that time to push their lead to 4-1.

Phil Tomasino got that one from the front lip of the crease, shoveling a Crosby feed by Ersson for his fourth of the season.

The scoring sequence began with a glove save by Jarry on Philadelphia winger Scott Laughton during a 3-on-1 break, after which Jarry sent play in the other direction with a long lead pass.

The Flyers seemed to regroup between periods, and Noah Cates sliced the Penguins’ advantage to 4-2 with a shot from near the right hash at 4:29.

The Penguins’ offense, so efficient during the first 20 minutes, was non-existent for most of the second, and while Jarry made several good stops to kept them in front by two, he leaked in a stoppable shot by Flyers center Sean Couturier from inside the left circle at 13:06.

Bunting restored a bit of breathing room for the Penguins at 18:48, driving a slap shot by Ersson from above the left hash for his ninth to put them up, 5-3. Assists went to Malkin and Karlsson.

Bunting scored on the Penguins’ fourth — and final — shot of the second period.

Ersson allowed five goals on 13 shots during the first two periods, and was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov for the third.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have entered the NHL’s three-day holiday break. They are off until a practice scheduled for Friday at noon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.