In the first Battle of Pennsylvania of this NHL season, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to extend their win streak after defeating the New York Islanders on Saturday, October 25 in a shootout. The Flyers faced the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time this season on Tuesday, October 28, during the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy (in which all 32 teams played a game).
The Penguins were able to control the early stages of the first period. After a bit too long of a shift for many Penguins, Noah Juulsen found a breakout, passing up to Matvei Michkov, earning a strong shot. Despite some good looks, the Flyers were unable to maintain forward pressure throughout the first half of the period, eventually resulting in Justin Brazeau dragging the puck through the Flyers’ zone and past Samuel Ersson.
Shortly after giving up the first goal, Garnet Hathaway took the first penalty of a heavily penalized game. Thankfully for the home team, the Penguins were unable to score on the power play.
Towards the end of the first frame, the Flyers were able to generate some chances, with Trevor Zegras drawing an interference penalty against Mathew Dumba. After regaining the zone, Noah Cates tried a stuff-in attempt on Arturs Silovs, with Bobby Brink finding the rebound off the right pad, tying the game.
In the second period, Brink took an early hooking penalty, which the Flyers were able to kill. Not only were they able to kill the penalty, but they earned a fantastic chance in the Penguins’ zone at the end of the advantage. Just after the penalty expired, a fantastic neutral zone read by Brink allowed Sean Couturier to find Travis Konecny. The forward sniped the shot straight to the back of the net, giving the Flyers the lead.
The Flyers were able to manage a more consistent second period, earning 14 shots on goal to the Penguins’ five. Two more penalties were assessed in the second: Cam York earned himself a two-minute minor for high-sticking Sidney Crosby at 10:24 and Dumba was sent off for high-sticking Brink at 19:24. Neither team was able to convert.
With a one goal lead heading into the final period in regulation, the Flyers were unable to score on their carry-over man advantage. The Flyers were able to defend against two minutes of consistent zone time for the Penguins before escaping the zone.
Just after the halfway mark of the third, a pass from Filip Hallander found Crosby. As the captain attempted to find Hallander in front of the net, the puck ricochetted off Nick Seeler and into the net.
The Flyers found themselves with a power play opportunity with a tied game when Evgeni Malkin tripped Owen Tippett. The team was unable to convert and the game would head to overtime.
The Penguins took early control of the five-minute overtime period. Zegras took an unfortunate two-minute minor early in the extra time frame. The delayed penalty drew Silovs out of the net and Malkin ran out onto the ice, who scored, but the goal was disallowed because he was out on the ice too early.
Just as the Zegras penalty was expiring, Malkin hooked Cates, sending the Flyers to a power play. With under thirty seconds remaining, Tyson Foerster netted the puck past Silovs. But wait, there’s more. The play was ruled offside however—which Foerster knew immediately—resuming play.
At the buzzer, a scrum erupted between the teams. Foerster took a bump from Parker Wotherspoon, who then escalated the tiff to a full fight after being slashed by Foerster. In one of the most entertaining fights of the season so far, Zegras swatted at Noel Acciari, batting his helmet off, restarting the fight. In the midst of the scrum, Crosby left the bench, leaving him with a ten-minute misconduct. In total, Crosby, Ryan Shea, Wotherspoon, Zegras, Acciari, Foerster, Tippett, and Drysdale were all handed misconduct penalties and were prohibited from participating in the shootout. Both teams were understandably upset to lose their shootout stars, Crosby and Zegras. The teams amassed 84 penalty minutes in the five minute overtime period.
The ending to Flyers-Penguins was WILD 🤯
▪️Malkin scores in OT but it’s waved off because he substituted too early on a delayed penalty
▪️Foerster scores in OT but it’s called back for offside
▪️Huge scrum at the end of OT sees Zegras get a misconduct
▪️Crosby received a… pic.twitter.com/cCMZkoZbsN— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 29, 2025
Both goaltenders had won their shootouts on Saturday. Konecny shot first for the Flyers, which as stopped by Silovs. Bryan Rust was stopped by Ersson. Michkov managed to lift the puck just above Silovs’ left pad. Malkin also scored after a bit of a bark from the Flyers’ bench. Brink then took a shot, netting it past Silovs with a fakeout. Ville Koivunen’s shot was saved by Ersson, giving the Flyers the win.
😮💨😮💨😮💨 pic.twitter.com/thua9u49dY
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 29, 2025
In their second straight shootout win, the Flyers looked a bit chaotic, but are looking better as the season progresses. It is probably safe to say the Battle of Pennsylvania is back in full force.
The Flyers will play again on Thursday, October 30 at home again, taking on the Nashville Predators at 7 p.m.
