NHL

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins

· National Hockey League
Final
4 - 3

Sean Couturier's shootout goal lifts Flyers past Penguins 4-3

Sean Couturier hits flashy shootout winner against Penguins

Samuel Ersson stopped Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust in the shootout to give the Flyers the extra point, after Guentzel forced overtime with 21 seconds left. Tristan Jarry stopped Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny.

Foerster scored his fourth of the year in regulation and also continued a three-game point streak with an assist. Owen Tippett scored his eighth and Scott Laughton scored a short-handed goal.

Ersson made 29 saves for the Flyers, who ended a two-game losing streak. Philadelphia has won two of its last six games following a five-game win streak.

“(Pittsburgh) is a talented group,” Laughton said. “They found a way and we didn’t really break. We continue to roll like this, it’s a good sign for our group. Patience was definitely key in this game.”

Guentzel scored twice in regulation and Kris Letang added his second for the Penguins, who extended a four-game point streak but have lost four of six games overall.

Jarry stopped 31 shots. He became the 14th goaltender in NHL history — and first in franchise history — to score a goal Thursday at Tampa Bay.

“We just weren’t good enough,” Guentzel said. “It started from the beginning. We have to be a lot better.”

Last season, Pittsburgh swept the season series against Philadelphia for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Philadelphia has five wins in its last 14 games against the Penguins.

The two teams meet again on Monday in Philadelphia.

“(Pittsburgh) comes to our building, and they’ll be ready to go,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “They have a really good team. We have to be ready to go.”

Guentzel scored with 20.6 seconds left in the third period to force overtime. Rust redirected an Evgeni Malkin pass to Guentzel, who put his ninth of the season behind Ersson near the post.

Guentzel, who tied Martin Straka for 11th most points in franchise history with 442, has points in 16 of his last 18 games total, including five straight. He has 41 points in 33 career games against Philadelphia.

Foerster initially gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 13:52 of the third period. Pittsburgh was on an earlier power play and Konecny drew an interference penalty on Erik Karlsson that led to Foerster’s goal with the man advantage.

Pittsburgh went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, including two chances in the third period and a 4-on-3 power play in overtime. Pittsburgh hasn’t scored a power-play goal since Nov. 11 against Buffalo. The Penguins haven’t scored in their last 26 power play opportunities.

“Everybody cares about what’s going on there,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “The players on it are proud guys, and so obviously the fact that we haven’t gotten some traction with it is a little disappointing for all of us. But we can’t let that get in the way of our motivation to get (the power play) going forward.”

UP NEXT

The Penguins and Flyers continue their home-and-home series on Monday at Philadelphia.

Regular Season Series

PHI leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 2nd Period 14:31 Kris Letang Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: none
Goal 2nd Period 16:47 Owen Tippett Goal (8) Backhand, assists: Tyson Foerster (5)
Goal 3rd Period 1:50 Jake Guentzel Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: Erik Karlsson (13), Bryan Rust (8)
Goal 3rd Period 7:01 Scott Laughton Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Nick Seeler (6)
Goal 3rd Period 13:52 Tyson Foerster Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: Cam York (6), Sean Couturier (11)
Goal 3rd Period 19:39 Jake Guentzel Goal (9) Backhand, assists: Bryan Rust (9), Evgeni Malkin (11)
Goal 5 0:00 Sean Couturier Goal Wrist Shot

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/phi.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPHI https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/pit.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPIT
26 Blocked Shots 11
39 Hits 24
11 Takeaways 12
33 Shots 31
1 Power Play Goals 0
4 Power Play Opportunities 5
25.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
1 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
26 Faceoffs Won 42
38.2 Faceoff Win Percent 61.8
4 Giveaways 16
5 Total Penalties 4
10 Penalty Minutes 8
Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Harrison Brunicke, D Out Dec 9
Blake Lizotte, C Injured Reserve Dec 9
Evgeni Malkin, C Injured Reserve Dec 9
Peyton Kettles, D Out Nov 24
Caleb Jones, D Injured Reserve Oct 25
Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia Flyers Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Travis Sanheim, D Day-To-Day Dec 23
Denver Barkey, C Day-To-Day Dec 23
Tyson Foerster, RW Injured Reserve Dec 17

Game Information

PPG Paints Arena

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Attendance: 18,303 | Capacity:

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 22 11 47 3
Philadelphia 19 10 45 7
NY Islanders 20 13 44 4
Washington 19 13 43 5
NY Rangers 19 16 42 4
New Jersey 20 16 41 1
Pittsburgh 15 12 39 9
Columbus 15 15 36 6
Full Standings