PITTSBURGH _ Despite some last-minute heroics to send the game into overtime, the Flyers fell to their bitter rivals Sunday afternoon at the PPG Paints Arena.
And it was their biggest tormentor who helped send them to a 5-4 overtime defeat.
Bryan Rust redirected Sidney Crosby's shot/pass into the net with 2:35 left in OT, beating spinning goalie Petr Mrazek to give Pittsburgh the win.
Crosby, a certified Flyers killer, had scored 17 seconds into the third period to give the Penguins a 4-3 lead.
With 42.6 seconds left in regulation and their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Sean Couturier tied the score at 4-4 on a rebound of a shot taken by Shayne Gostisbehere.
The Penguins, who scored in the first minute of the second and third periods to take away the momentum built by the Flyers, won all four games in the series this season. They swept the Flyers for the first time since 2006-07, when they went 8-0 against Philadelphia.
Early in the third period, Crosby made a power move to get past Couturier and, from the left circle, beat a moving Mrazek _ who relieved Alex Lyon early in the second period _ to the far side to put the Penguins ahead, 4-3.
The Flyers had dominated the latter stages of the second period, getting a late goal and the last nine shots of the stanza.
And then Crosby undid all hard their work by scoring his 38th career goal against the Flyers, the most he has tallied against any NHL team.
He has 93 points in 64 career games against the Flyers.
The Flyers lost despite outshooting the Penguins, 45-32. It was a season high in shots.
The Penguins made the Flyers pay for Jake Voracek's cross-checking penalty late in the first period.
The penalty carried into the second, and just 37 seconds into that stanza, Patric Hornqvist, left alone in front, beat Lyon with a shot that caromed off the right post and into the net. That tied the game at 2-2.
Just two minutes later, with the Penguins having an extra attacker because of a delayed penalty, Evgeni Malkin's shot appeared to graze off defenseman Andrew MacDonald and through Lyons' legs to give Pittsburgh its first lead at 3-2.
Exit Lyon, who allowed three goals on 11 shots. Enter the struggling Mrazek.
With 2:50 to go in the period, Jordan Weal scored on a rebound while the Flyers were on a power play, knotting the score at 3-all. It was Weal's first goal in 18 games and it gave him three points in a game for the first time in his career.
Entering the third period, the Flyers had a 32-20 shots advantage.
The Flyers' defense got offensive in a first period dominated by the visitors.
Defensemen Travis Sanhem (wrist shot from the high slot) and Brandon Manning (slap shot from above the right circle) scored first-period goals, both set up by perfect drop passes from a patient Weal, to steer the Flyers to a 2-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
It gave Flyers defensemen 46 goals this season, the most for that franchise's blue-line group since 1992-93, when Garry Galley (13 goals) and the defenders scored 52 goals.
Sandwiched between the goals was a breakaway tally by Derick(CQ) Brassard, who took a slick flip pass from Conor Sheary and went in alone after a Wayne Simmonds turnover.
The Flyers had a 14-6 shots domination and won 59 percent of the faceoffs in their razor-sharp first period, but a late cross-checking penalty on Voracek had them shorthanded for the first 1:48 of the second.
The Flyers led after the first period for just the 15th time in 76 games this season. They were 9-1-4 in their previous 14 games when they held an advantage heading into the second period.
