Malkin Leads Penguins’ Comeback From 3-0 Deficit Against Flyers

The Pittsburgh Penguins might not have a prayer in the playoff race, but they still have a pulse.

They rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Philadelphia, 5-4, in overtime at PPG Paints Arena Thursday.

Eveni Malkin capped a two-goal, two-assist performance by scoring the game-winner from inside the left circle at 1:03 of the extra period.

The victory snapped a four-game losing streak and raised their record to 24-28-9.

The Penguins trailed, 4-3, at the second intermission, but pulled even at 2:30 of the third, when Malkin took a drop pass from Anthony Beauvillier beat Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson from above the left dot.

The second assist on that goal, Malkin’s 11th, went to defenseman Ryan Graves. It was his first point of the season.

The Penguins played without second-line left winger Michael Bunting, who is out indefinitely after having his appendix removed Wednesday.

The Penguins held Philadelphia without a shot for the first two minutes of the game which, not coincidentally, was how long it took the Flyers to open the scoring.

Center Noah Cates beat Alex Nedeljkovic with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle, the 11th time this season a Penguins opponent scored on its first shot of the game.

The Penguins were not credited with a shot on goal until 12:32 of the first period, and that was taken away by the off-ice officials a minute or so later because the puck actually was going wide of the net. Letang finally got one on Ersson that counted at 14:40.

Flyers defenseman Cam York was assessed the only penalty of the period at 15:28, when he high-sticked Penguins right winger Bryan Rust. The Penguins had two shots on goal during that man-advantage, including a quality chance for Kevin Hayes from near the right post.

Philadelphia doubled its lead at 1:44 of the second period, when left winger Owen Tippett’s shot from the right point, which was going well wide of the net, caromed off Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea and past Nedeljkovic.

The Flyers appeared to get a third goal at 6:13, as winger Andrei Kuzmenko deflected a shot out of the air and past Nedeljkovic, but the immediate ruling on the ice was that Kuzmenko had used a high stick, which a video review confirmed.

It didn’t matter much, though, because Flyers winger Matvei Michkov scored just 71 seconds later to put Philadelphia up, 3-0. He collected a carom off the boards behind the Penguins’ net and pulled the puck back across the goal line before tossing it into the net.

Coach Mike Sullivan replaced Nedeljkovic with Joel Blomqvist at that point. Nedeljkovic destroyed his stick before leaving the ice, then slammed the bench door once he got there.

“I had no problem with (Nedeljkovic’s) reaction,” Sullivan said, adding that he changed goalies to try to alter the course of the game, not because he was unhappy with Nedeljkovic’s performance.

Coincidentally or otherwise, the Penguins woke up almost immediately and scored twice in 20 seconds.

Philip Tomasino made it 3-1 at 9:05, flipping a backhander by Ersson from close range for his ninth of the season. Malkin and Danton Heinen received assists.

The goal still hadn’t been announced when Erik Karlsson put a shot through traffic and into the Philadelphia net from the right point for his seventh. The lone assist went to Sidney Crosby.

The game took another turn at 10:15, when Penguins winger Boko Imama dropped Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway with a hard hit at center ice. Imama initally was assessed a major penalty but it was reduced to a minor.

Replays appeared to show that Imama made shoulder-to-shoulder contact, not shoulder-to-head, as seemed to be the case at first.

Regardless, Hathaway, who had felled Penguins forward Noel Acciari a few seconds before Imama laid him out, was on the ice for several minutes and then needed to be helped to the Flyers’ locker room.

Michkov padded Philadelphia’s lead while Imama was serving his interference penalty, getting a shot past Blomqvist from near the top of the left circle.

Karlsson got that one back at 18:18, as he snapped a wrist shot by Ersson from above the right dot. Matt Grzelcyk and Malkin picked up assists.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a scheduled day off Friday before home games against Boston Saturday and Toronto Sunday.