Matt Murray and his 50 saves led the way for a Penguins victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. It was an ugly win for Pittsburgh. They were outplayed for much of the game. The Flyers set a team record with 28 shots in the second period. The weirdly put together lines from last night fell flat.

The biggest fallout from last night’s game is Evgeni Malkin’s stick swing that gave him a well-earned match penalty. The five minute major was the appropriate call. I would say that there should been a minor penalty called for the punch to the back of Malkin’s head. It should have been 4v4 for the first two minutes of the major. Malkin deserves whatever punishment he gets, but knowing this league it won’t be that severe. He has a hearing today.

One of the few positives was the Bjugstad-Malkin-Kessel line. They seemed to generate together. The only problem is that using Bjugstad on the wing leaves the bottom six potency lower than what it needs to be moving forward. Bjugstad scored his first goal with the Penguins on a nice drop pass exchange with Malkin.

Another game and another blah performance from Tanner Pearson. He started on the third line, but was demoted to the fourth line by the end of the game. I would look to move that contract if possible. You can’t be in that ~4M range for a meh player.

Olli Maatta was engaged in a puck chase early in the game and left with what appears to be a shoulder injury. I’m not the biggest Olli Maatta advocate, but this isn’t a next man up situation. The Penguins don’t have depth at the position and if he is out for an extended period of time it is only going to give worse players more ice time.

Sidney Crosby welcomed Carter Hart to the rivalry much like how he has treated all the other Philadelphia Flyers goaltenders, with a goal.

Much like how the Flyers set a record for most shots in a period Matt Murray set the Penguins record for most saves in a period with 28. He stopped every shot he faced in period two. On most nights 28 saves is a night’s worth of work. The game should have been a blowout for Philadelphia.

There’s an argument Matt Murray just turned in the best performance by a Penguins goalie in at least 30 years pic.twitter.com/oYldAteAQi

— Andy Smith (@thatandysmith) February 12, 2019

With his empty net goal Kris Letang now has 109 for his career. A new Penguins record.

Next up is a home game versus Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.

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