Pittsburgh Penguins Win Game 6 and Advance

Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate winning game 6 and advancing in playoffs

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have started out a little messy last night, but the end result saw them winning the battle of Pennsylvania beating the Philadelphia Flyers 8-5.

There were many points that could have turned the game in the Flyers favour. A week goal let in by Matt Murry, and a two goal lead by the Flyers and the Penguins letting Sean Couturier earn five points, Carl Hagelin went out with an injury mid-game and out of the lineup was Evgeni Malkin – all could have been defining factors that the Flyers failed to capitalise on.

The list of reasons for Pittsburgh to lose last night were plenty, yet Jake Guentzel stepped up his game and scored four and earned an assist to help take the Pittsburgh to an 8-5 win. The win gave them their 9th back-to-back NHL playoff series wins.

Head coach of the Penguins, Mike Sullivan said Jake Guentzel rose to the challenge at a time when the stakes were high, just as the team did in Game 1 of the series.

During the post-game presses conference, Sullivan said,

“We have a team that does that. They embrace adversity. They embrace the struggle. Our team doesn’t get rattled. They embrace the challenge.”

The reality is the Pittsburgh Penguins have a successful playoff track recording having won the thirty-six playoff games in the last two seasons.

They are a fast and skilled team, but what really separated them from the Flyers is their understanding of what is needed to win, and that is play as a village and win as a team.

Sportsnet

Pittsburgh finds ways to win even when not at their best. Last night was far from Pittsburgh’s best moment, and it will mostly be remembered for the four goals that Guentzel scored, and it is that reason the Penguins advanced, and Philadelphia is clearing out its locker room.

The Flyers managed to take a 4-2 lead after a goal by Scott Laughlin and Matt Murry had some big saves last night when it counted. However, the third period saw the Penguins taking ownership and focusing on getting the job done hoping to avoid Game 7. Faced with a power play in the third after Brian Dumoulin got a penalty for game delay, the Penguins killed it off with total efficiency.

For the Flyers, they are still in the learning process of winning playoff games, and for a team like the Penguins who knew how to take advantage of that, the result saw Pittsburgh countering and finding ways to make Philadelphia pay. The third period saw Philadelphia only managed 7 shots on goal and to win games; you need to do a lot better than that.

It is unknown the status of Evgeni Malkin or how many games he will miss due to his injury, but one thing is clear, Pittsburgh knows how to overcome when one of their team is out, and that is everyone steps up their game – and that is how you win!

Author Noah is our American writer who likes to give his own spin on everything Golf & the NHL he covers mainly the US side of the game as Doug covers the Canada. In his time off he can usually be taking to the greens or on the ice playing some hockey