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Greg Wyshynski
Multiple Authors
PHILADELPHIA — Sidney Crosby called the second period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Game 3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers “a circus.” Teammate Bryan Rust likened it to a “WWE match,” claiming an opponent tried to kick him. Their coach Dan Muse said the melee changed the game and criticized how the officials handled it.
In the end, the momentum generated by a scrum that saw all 10 skaters in their respective penalty boxes helped the Flyers to a 5-2 victory on Wednesday night at home, giving them a commanding 3-0 lead against the Penguins in their opening-round series.
“The game turned into a bit of a WWE match in the second period,” Rust said. “They fed off that and they were able to capitalize.”
With 15:27 left in the second period and the Penguins leading 1-0, the Battle of Pennsylvania finally lived up to its billing. Flyers forward Travis Konecny elbowed Rust near the Penguins’ goal cage. Rust took him to the ice and began mushing Konecny’s head into it.
“I got elbowed, so I just kind of locked him, took him to the ground,” Rust said. “He tried to kick me. We threw a couple punches back and forth. Not sure why I got an extra two [minutes].”
Konecny said after the game that he didn’t remember attempting to kick Rust.
“I just remember I was on the bottom there,” he said. “There’s a ref on top of me and him. I’ll have to look back, but I don’t remember anything too specific.”
After getting off the ice, Konecny took off his gloves after the two were separated, looking for a fight, but the linesmen wouldn’t grant it. All 10 skaters on the ice got involved in the rough stuff. All of them ended up in their respective penalty boxes.
“I didn’t do anything,” said Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who received a roughing minor. “They just decided to take everybody who was on the ice, which I’ve never seen in my 17 years [in the NHL]. It’s unfortunate. It benefited them more than it benefited us. I don’t fully understand what just happened.”
After a lengthy delay to sort out the calls, the officials handed out 22 penalty minutes, with Rust getting an additional roughing penalty that put the Flyers on the power play.
“It kind of turned into a bit of a circus there,” Crosby said. “I’m not sure why they decided to put five guys in the box on each side. I felt like that kind of changed a lot of the momentum. It took a long time. Obviously, we didn’t get the kill. Felt like they fed off that.”
If there’s one image that explained the Flyers’ victory over the Penguins in Game 3, it was when five Flyers players celebrated teammate Trevor Zegras’ game-tying power-play goal while jammed together in the penalty box like a clown car.
“I think you’ll be seeing that meme of the guys cellying in the box together for a long time,” Philadelphia center Garnet Hathaway said.
Zegras said he planned a penalty box flyby if he scored.
“There was a lot of them in there and I figured they were going to be jumping around,” said Zegras, who scored his first career playoff goal in the win. “So I thought if I scored, I was going right to them, for sure.”
Muse, a first-year coach, said that moment changed the game.
“There’s a scrum there and we get the extra penalty where that changed everything,” he said. “And then it took a long time to get it all sorted out. … Listen, I’m not going to be here making excuses. There’s plenty that we can do better, but that definitely factored into the feel of that period and the game.
Just 3:48 later, the Flyers took the lead on a goal by defensive defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen — who had never appeared in a playoff game in his 13-year NHL career until this series — and then extended it to 3-1 on a goal by defenseman Nick Seeler just 2:12 after that.
Muse was also upset with a sequence that occurred near the end of the first period that involved Crosby and Hathaway. Before a faceoff in the Philadelphia zone, Hathaway casually reached back with his stick and connected with Crosby’s face. The Penguins captain whipped his head back and dramatically dropped to the ice. The officials whistled Hathaway for a high stick and Crosby for embellishment, unleashing more fury from the crowd.
Hathaway declined to comment when asked about the sequence after the game.
It was the first penalty for embellishment in Crosby’s career in either the regular season or playoffs, something Muse emphasized in his postgame comments.
“We don’t have a single embellishment all year,” he said. “Sidney Crosby doesn’t have an embellishment in 21 seasons. So stick’s in his face. They take both of them. So I disagree on that strongly. Not one. Not one for our team. All season. We didn’t come into this series to start now. Our guys have done a good job with that, and Sid doesn’t embellish.”
The Flyers made some undisciplined mistakes in the third period that nearly cost them. Forward Matvei Michkov took a roughing penalty against Pittsburgh’s Connor Dewar, whom he tangled with during that second-period melee, and Karlsson scored on the power play to cut the Penguins’ deficit to 3-2.
Then it was Pittsburgh’s turn to make the mistake. Forward Anthony Mantha sent the puck into the stands from his own defensive zone. Flyers forward Noah Cates, who missed on a breakaway earlier in the power play, converted at 12:30 of the third period to reestablish their 2-goal lead. Owen Tippett added an empty netter.
It was eight years to the day of the Flyers’ last home playoff game, and the orange-clad crowd met the moment. Game 3 saw the fans unleash vulgar chants directed at Pittsburgh and Crosby. At one point, Flyers mascot Gritty assaulted a Penguins “mascot” before throwing a dummy version of it off a balcony into the lower bowl, where Flyers fans roughed it up themselves before ushers took it away.
“You could have hit the glass and the crowd’s cheering for us, right?” Hathaway said. “It’s great to play in front of them. You feel the passion, you feel the excitement.”
Coach Rick Tocchet played 11 seasons with the Flyers, including seven trips to the playoffs. He said it was thrilling to see that level of excitement in the building again.
“Listen, we’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “I mean, the hardest one is the one that next one. So I don’t want to get too nostalgic with the crowd. The crowd was great, don’t get me wrong, and I’m happy for the guys. But like I said, back to business tomorrow.”
For the Penguins, there’s no margin for error.
“We’re playing a team that right now is firing on all the cylinders and doing all the right things and they’re getting all the chances and luck that they deserve,” Karlsson said. “We’ve got to find a way to make that happen for us. So far, we haven’t done that. Now we’re going to see what we’re really made of. Now, it’s do or die.”
