Penguins show shockingly little life as Flyers blow them out, hand them fourth straight loss

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Feb 25, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — Before the puck dropped at Wells Fargo Center for this must-have matchup, the host Philadelphia Flyers orchestrated a little on-ice skit in which their googly-eyed, orange mascot pummeled a fake Penguins player in a boxing match.

The imposter in black and gold wanted no part of the fight, bobbed and weaved for a bit then got laid out by one last haymaker. Gritty gyrated and the crowd roared.

Turned out to be a pretty accurate portrayal of what happened in Tuesday’s hockey game, a 6-1 loss in which the Penguins meekly bowed all the way out of the playoff race. Shockingly, they had little life as the rival Flyers dominated from start to finish.

It was the fourth straight defeat for the Penguins and the fifth loss in six games. All of them came against Metropolitan Division teams that they trail in the standings.

The Penguins fell behind 2-0 less than 13 minutes into the game. The Flyers scored on their first shot on goal — the 10th time this season a Penguins goalie let in the first shot he faced. Alex Nedeljkovic allowed another shaky goal later in the first on an odd-man rush. Noah Cates whipped a short-side shot past him from 36 feet out.

Philip Tomasino provided the Penguins with a goal — and a needed jolt — when he and Michael Bunting teamed up for a beautiful tally in the second period. Bunting flipped the puck behind the Flyers and it landed perfectly within Tomasino’s stride. Tomasino did the rest, faking a shot then coolly tucking the puck past Sam Ersson.

But the Flyers answered back, making it 3-1 with another goal scored off the rush. Tyson Foerster got it. The Flyers, one of the NHL’s best teams at generating offense off the rush, picked apart the Penguins and their troublesome transition defense.

The Flyers then blew the game wide open with a pair of goals 10 seconds apart.

When Owen Tippett pushed the lead to 6-1 in the third period, frothy Flyers fans chanted “We want seven! We want seven!” But that would be it for the scoring.

Ice chips

— Bryan Rust returned after missing both games over the weekend due to an illness. With a laugh, he said the illness, well, “sucked,” and he felt much better Tuesday.

— Matt Grzelcyk was cleared to play Tuesday, two days after he was knocked out of Sunday’s loss to the New York Rangers by an illegal hit from forward Matt Rempe.

— Cody Glass opened the game on the fourth line. But after the second line was on the ice for the first two Philadelphia goals, Glass traded places with Danton Heinen. Heinen had a rough night that included the giveaway that led to Philly’s sixth goal.

— Mike Sullivan shuffled his defensive pairs after the first period. Sullivan reunited Grzelcyk with Kris Letang and instead put Pierre-Olivier Joseph with Erik Karlsson.

— Forward Boko Imama participated in the morning skate. It was the first time that he practiced in a team setting since he was injured Feb. 7. He remains day to day.

— Ryan Graves, Vladislav Kolyachonok and Matt Nieto were the healthy scratches.

Coming up

The Penguins will get another shot at the Flyers on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.