The Pittsburgh Penguins and visiting Philadelphia Flyers both are coming off a loss going into their matchup on Sunday evening, but one setback was more significant than the other.
Pittsburgh (37-29-10, 84 points) is scrapping to get into the playoffs but fell out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference on Saturday. The Penguins lost 4-3 at home to the Boston Bruins, and the Florida Panthers breezed to a 7-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, allowing the Panthers to leapfrog Pittsburgh.
What’s more, the New York Islanders lost to Tampa Bay, meaning the Penguins missed a chance to move to within a point of New York in a chase for the first wild-card spot.
With six games remaining, Pittsburgh can’t afford to feel bad for too long about the loss to the Bruins.
“We have to find a way to get over it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That (game) stings, especially when the games have so much meaning like they do at this time of year.”
Pittsburgh rallied to tie Saturday’s game three times before David Pastrnak capped a hat trick with the game-winning goal. The Penguins didn’t help themselves by going 0-for-6 on the power play.
“We played hard. We had a chance to win,” Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin said, “but the power play didn’t work.
“We need to forget that game, (have a) good recovery, (come) back (Sunday) and fight again. Every game is huge. We understand that. Tough loss, for sure. But heads up and keep going.”
The Penguins also yielded two power-play goals.
“It just boils down to decision-making, details and execution,” Sullivan said.
The Flyers (29-33-13, 71 points) aren’t concerned about the playoffs anymore. They were eliminated from contention Saturday, which was not much more than a formality.
Still, they recorded a season-best seven-game point streak (5-0-2) before dropping a 6-3 decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The Sabres moved to within three points of Pittsburgh in the wild-card race.
Philadelphia got an asset back. Winger Travis Konecny returned from an upper-body injury after being out since Feb. 20. He scored against Buffalo and, despite the missed time, still leads the team in goals (28) and points (55).
“I felt pretty good,” Konecny said. “Our staff does a great job getting you into the best game-day shape as possible.”
The Flyers and Penguins have a long, often snarly rivalry that can influence meetings between them regardless of the teams’ circumstances.
With no playoff implications, Flyers coach John Tortorella opted to watch from upstairs and let his assistants take over the past two games. Brad Shaw ran things Saturday. It’s unclear whether Tortorella will be back behind the bench against Pittsburgh.
“(Shaw) is maybe a touch less intense than (Tortorella),” said forward Morgan Frost, who had the Flyers’ other two goals Saturday. “In general, the message is the same.”
It’s also unclear who still start in goal for Philadelphia on Sunday. Felix Sandstrom gave up six goals on 29 shots against Buffalo and was backed up by Sam Errson, who is on an emergency recall because Carter Hart is out day-to-day because of a lower-body injury.
Pittsburgh likely will go with backup Casey DeSmith in net after Tristan Jarry played Saturday.
–Field Level Media
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