PITTSBURGH _ Facing the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins, in Pittsburgh, is not the best scenario for a team looking to end a seven-game losing streak.
Just ask the Flyers.
Sidney Crosby scored on a tip-in with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in overtime Monday, giving the Penguins a 5-4 victory over the shell-shocked Flyers at PPG Paints Arena.
They have lost eight straight, their longest skid since 2008. Their last three losses were in overtime.
Michael Raffl skated around Phil Kessel with a power move and scored on a backhander with 3:41 left, snapping a 3-3 tie.
But with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, the Penguins' Jake Guentzel scored on a deflection in front of the net to tie the game at 4-4 with 64 seconds remaining. The play started when Crosby won a faceoff from Claude Giroux.
The Flyers have been outscored, 14-2, after the second period in the last eight games. Think about that.
The Penguins had a 19-7 shots domination in the third period, and they had a 50-32 advantage after regulation.
Patric Hornqvist (power-play rebound) and Bryan Rust scored 39 seconds apart early in the third period, enabling the Penguins to forge a 3-3 tie.
Rust tied it with 18:14 left in regulation. After blocking Shayne Gostisbehere's shot, and getting ahead of the pack, he used a series of moves on goalie Brian Elliott and knocked his own rebound out of midair and into the net.
It marked the fourth time in the last six games the Flyers had blown a two-goal lead.
Pittsburgh dominated the third period and nearly took the lead, but Elliott made a diving save to stop Conor Sheary's right-circle drive with 4:09 left in regulation, keeping the game tied at 3-all.
Second-period goals by Gostisbehere, Travis Konecny, and Sean Couturier propelled the Flyers to a 3-1 lead. They appeared to be closing in on their first win since Nov. 9, a 3-1 victory over Chicago.
In addition to their three second-period goals, the Flyers also hit the post or crossbar four times in the session, preventing Robert Hagg, Nolan Patrick, Ivan Provorov, and Danick Martel from scoring.
With the Flyers holding a 2-1 lead, Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray had to be helped off the ice as he was injured in a collision with Jake Voracek with 4:21 left in the second.
Couturier made it 3-1 with 31.5 seconds left in the second by scoring his 14th goal, one shy from equaling his career high.
And it's still November.
Provorov kicked the puck to Couturier, who beat backup goalie Tristan Jarry with a one-timer from the right circle.
Konecny had given the Flyers a 2-1 lead with 4:55 to go in the second as Brandon Maning's point drive deflected off him as he battled defenseman Brian Dumoulin in front of Murray.
It was Konency's first goal in 14 games and it was scored with his father, Rob, at the game as part of the team's father-son trip.
Raffl and Manning had assists on the goal.
"Raffy's been going his thing for about the last five games," Konecny said. "Just give him the puck and he can't be stopped around the goal."
Earlier, Gostisbehere scored on a five-on-three power play to tie the game at 1 with 16:20 remaining in the second period. Taking a pass from Claude Giroux, Gostisbehere fired a shot from the top of the left circle that caromed off the post and into the net. Wayne Simmonds set a screen on the goal.
It was the Flyers' first five-on-three goal this season, and it was scored just 10 seconds after Olli Maatta went to the penalty box for hooking.
Guentzel's fourth goal in the last four games, a well-placed right-circle wrist shot that beat Elliott to the far side, gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with 3:57 left in the first period.
But Elliott was brilliant in the first 40 minutes, stopping 30 of 31 shots. In the second period, he made point-blank saves on Hornqvist and Guentzel, and denied Tom Kuhnhackl on his ticketed left-circle blast.
Murray was at his best when he stopped an early first-period flurry by Simmonds, Patrick, and Martel.
Coach Dave Hakstol juggled the fourth line _ veterans Dale Weise and Jori Lehtera replaced young wingers Taylor Leier and Jordan Weal _ and inserted Andrew MacDonald on defense.
MacDonald had missed 15 games with a leg injury, and he went back to the first pairing alongside Provorov. Hagg, who had been on the top pairing, went back with Gostisbehere.
The Flyers won just three of 15 games (3-6-6) without MacDonald.
