Trying to revive his team’s moribund offense, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault scrambled all four lines Thursday and inserted rookie right winger Wade Allison into the lineup as he searched for a spark.
Allison was impressive in his NHL debut, and the new-look attack — shut down in the first two periods — did enough good things to rally past the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout, 2-1, at PPG Paints Arena.
Sean Couturier scored the winner in the shootout, and Carter Hart stopped 30 of 31 shots as the Flyers won for just the second time in their last six games and snapped the Penguins three-game winning streak.
Hart snapped a personal seven-game losing streak.
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The Flyers killed Travis Konecny’s holding penalty, which was called with 2:52 left in regulation. The Pens returned the favor, killing Sidney Crosby’s tripping penalty with 1:57 left in overtime.
Hart kept the game tied at 1-1 when he stopped Evan Rodrigues as he tried to finish a two-on-one -- the Penguins; fifth odd-man rush of the night -- with 7:16 remaining.
Jake Voracek scored from the high slot with 18:36 left in regulation, putting a shot through goalie Tristan Jarry’s legs to knot the score at 1-1.
A little less than two minutes later, Flyers defenseman Phil Myers whipped a shot that appeared to hit the side of teammate’s Nolan Patrick’s head. Patrick, who missed all of last season with a migraine disorder, went to the locker room for repairs.
Vigneault had to scramble his lines again after Patrick left the game and didn’t return.
Earlier, former Flyer Jeff Carter, acquired Monday and playing in his first game for the Penguins, burst around defenseman Justin Braun and went in alone but was stopped by Carter Hart with 19:07 left in the second period.
About three minutes later, on an odd-man rush, Carter fired wide from the left circle on a good scoring chance.
The Penguins had nine shots in the first 4:56 of the second period -- after managing just three shots in the opening period.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead as Sidney Crosby raced up ice, grabbed a stick from the bench -- he had given his stick to defenseman Brian Dumoulin down the other end -- and scored after Hart’s failed clear with 15:04 remaining in the second. It gave the Penguins’ star 111 points, including 46 goals, in 75 career games against the Flyers.
With 9:18 to go in the second, Hart made a great glove save on Jake Guentzel from the doorstep, keeping the deficit at 1-0.
Allison, looking like the Flyers’ hungriest player, was denied by Jarry who made a sliding save on the big right winger while the Flyers were on a power play with 7:34 left in the second. (Later in the period, Allison was again stopped from in close.)
Hart made a blocker save as Crosby, on a two-on-on, fired from the right circle with 2:49 to go in the second.
Pittsburgh was playing its first game since Sunday, and the Penguins looked rusty in a sleepy first period in which the teams combined for eight shots, including five by the Flyers.
In fact, the Penguins didn’t get their first shot until 5:27 remained in the period, and had just one high-quality scoring chance, but Crosby fired wide after getting ahead of the pack.
While Pittsburgh was on a power play, Hart stopped Jared McCann’s redirection with 3:54 to go in the opening period.
Likewise, the Flyers had few scoring opportunities. Allison, making his NHL debut, set up Oskar Lindblom for a close-range shot with a little over 14 minutes left in the first, but Tristan Jarry turned it aside.
The bitter state rivals have been trending in different directions. They were tied with 27 points apiece the previous time they met.
But the Penguins had opened a 12-point lead over the Flyers heading into the night. Pittsburgh entered Thursday on a 15-4-1 run, while the Flyers had lost eight of their last 24 (8-13-3).
The Flyers, who began the game six points out of a playoff spot, will play host to Washington (Saturday) and the Islanders (Sunday). Washington whipped the Flyers, 6-1, on Tuesday.
