Penguins 5 – Flyers 1

Not many could have predicted a 5-goal outburst from the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night that would have three of the five goals coming from Ryan Reaves, Tom Kunhackl and Jamie Oleksiak.

Well that’s exactly what played out for the Penguins in a convincing 5-1 win over the Flyers to avoid falling to the cellar of the Metropolitan Division.

The Penguins victory was fueled by scoring 4 goals on eight shots in the second period, en route to the win.

As the power play often does, it got things rolling for the Penguins as Phil Kessel sniped his 17th goal of the season from the right circle.

Ryan Reaves, Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl would add goals in the period as Pittsburgh took control of the game quickly from the Flyers in period two and never let their foot off the gas.

What the Penguins did tonight was put on a work-man like performance in scoring three even strength markers.

The Reaves goal to put the Penguins ahead 2-1 was Pittsburgh just outworking the Flyers for pucks. Reaves gets in on the forecheck, keeps a play alive in the offensive zone and then outmuscles a defender in front for the goal.

It was a big moment for him in scoring his first goal in 38 games and then moments later Conor Sheary out-skates Andrew McDonald for a loose puck in center ice and buries his 11th of the season on a breakaway.

Pittsburgh kept coming and the 4th line (Kuhnhackl-Sheahan-Reaves) would strike again with a similar goal as the Reaves one later in the period.

On the Tom Kuhnhackl goal, the line got in hard on the forecheck and Kuhnhackl gets great positioning in the slot and fires one past Elliott.

Reaves and Kuhnhackl each had a goal, assist in the win. Riley Sheahan had 2 primary assists. Carter Rowney was injured during the game that saw Sheahan flourish with Kunhackl and Reaves below the dots.

What you saw from the Penguins tonight as a whole was play with a sense of urgency. They were fast on loose pucks and there was more attention to details in playing the right way in all three zones.

Tristan Jarry left the game in the second period after taking a shot to his right hand. Matt Murray came in and stopped all 11 shots in relief (25:26).

Who knows but maybe the work Murray got tonight that wasn’t planned leads to him start going on a bit of a run here.