Penguins aim to spark offense against rival Flyers

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 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 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After collecting three assists, Owen Tippett scored 3:30 into overtime for the Flyers, completing his first four-point performance of his career.

“He flies everywhere,” teammate Tyson Foerster said of Tippett. “It’s great to watch and everyone on the bench thinks the same thing so it’s pretty cool.”

Foerster’s goal tied the game with 1:44 left in regulation, with goaltender Samuel Ersson replacing the extra attacker.

The win ended Philadelphia’s three-game losing streak.

“It just shows the group we have here,” Tippett said. “We knew from the second intermission that we were no slouch. We just felt the confidence and we were happy we got the job done.”

Morgan Frost added two goals and Foerster and Noah Cates each had a goal and an assist. Travis Konecny ​​had three assists and Ersson made 21 saves.

Cates has scored goals in three straight games.

The Flyers were without center Sean Couturier for personal reasons.

After winning their previous two games, the Penguins managed just 12 shots to get shut out by the Devils.

Pittsburgh trailed just 1-0 when New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped Phillip Tomasino with a left pad save 6:40 into the third period. Devils captain Nico Hischier made it 2-0 with a goal 1:07 later.

Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 25 saves for the Penguins.

“I thought after they scored the second goal, we opened up a little bit, and that’s when they made a bunch of shots,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “They defend well. I thought for two and a half periods we competed hard and we were there.

“We had two first-half chances in the second half and we didn’t score on any of them.”

Pittsburgh also lost rookie defenseman Owen Pickering for the remainder of the game when he suffered an upper-body injury following a hit by Paul Cotter with 5:49 remaining 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 recently played as part of the top defensive duo with Kris Letang.

Pickering was replaced alongside Letang after the injury by Pierre-Oliver Joseph, who was making his debut upon his return to the Penguins via a trade from the St. Louis Blues on December 18. Joseph played with Pittsburgh from 2020-21 until last season. .

If Pickering can’t play against Philadelphia, he will likely be replaced by Ryan Graves in the lineup.