"There's no excuse for it. We were not sharp tonight, we got beat in most areas, " Flyer's coach Peter Laviolette said after the Flyers lost another overtime game Thursday night.
Penguin Chris Kunitz's shootout goal lifted Pittsburgh to a 2-1 win over the Flyers in South Philly.
Pittsburgh's Alex Kovalev scored the first shootout goal. He was matched by the Flyers Danny Briere. Kunitz got the final shootout attempt through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky for the winner.
Flyers Mike Richards and Penguins Tyler Kennedy scored goals in regulation.
The Flyers played in their fourth-straight shootout and reached overtime for the fifth time in six games. They have won only one of those games and are losing their grip on the Eastern Conference lead.
The Penguins are now just four points out of the lead in the East and the Flyers hold a two-point lead over idle Washington.
The worn-down Flyers looked tired in overtime. The Penguins simply dominated and had possession for nearly the entire 5-minute period and attacked a battered Bobrovsky who stopped 30 shots on the night.
"Bob" clearly redeemed himself with a stellar outing in the loss.
The young Russian had a rough game Tuesday and was yanked after allowing three goals on nine shots. Flyers fans chanted "Booooosh" as backup Brian Boucher skated onto the ice. Laviolette hasn't committed to a playoff starter, but returning to Bobrovsky a game after a clunker could be a sign he's leaning toward the rookie.
"If it weren't for our goaltender, we wouldn't have gotten any points tonight," Laviolette said.
"Bob" made a stellar save early in the first period when he got low and staved off Kennedy with his left pad. Bobrovsky, who beat the Penguins on opening night, wouldn't get lucky against him a second time.
Kennedy took the cross-ice pass from Kunitz and snapped a wrister from the circle and beat Bobrovsky glove side on the power play for his 18th goal of the season that tied the game at 1.
The Flyers scored first when Richards scored a tricky goal that needed a review late in the first for a 1-0 lead. The puck hit skate-stick-net and took a fluky bounce over Marc-Andre Fleury's shoulder for the early lead.
The Flyers took only 20 shots and couldn't sustain a consistent attack even on the power play.
