PITTSBURGH — Rookie Alex Goligoski scored on his first career shootout attempt after Sidney Crosby tied it late in the third period with his second goal, and the Penguins rallied to beat the Flyers 5-4 after blowing a three-goal lead Thursday night.
Simon Gagne scored twice short-handed during a four-goal second period that put the Flyers up 4-3, but the Penguins came back to win two nights after they rallied from three goals down in the third period to beat Detroit 7-6 in overtime.
“That was a tough game to play emotionally because of the game in Detroit,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “We found a way to get a three-goal lead, but our power play was not very good (1-for-7) and it gave them an opportunity to get back into the game.”
Goligoski, the sixth and final Pittsburgh shooter, shifted the puck from backhand to forehand before sliding it along the goal line and into the net behind goalie Martin Biron, who made 27 saves but couldn’t preserve the 4-3 lead.
“It’s a move I’ve done before,” said Goligoski, a defenseman who has scored three goals. “If something was open to shoot I would have shot, but, yeah, I kind of knew what I was doing.”
Biron stopped the more-accomplished Petr Sykora, Kris Letang, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Miroslav Satan before Goligoski scored.
“The kid’s pretty good at shootouts in practice,” Therrien said.
Backup goalie Dany Sabourin, who replaced Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third, stopped 11 shots before turning aside Gagne, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Kimmo Timonen, Joffrey Lupul and Scott Hartnell in the shootout.
“It’s something I practiced during the summer,” said Sabourin, who has allowed only one shooter to score in three shootouts this season. “It’s something I added to my game.”
Crosby tied it with 2:33 remaining in the third, cutting toward the net from the left circle and scoring when Malkin got the puck out from behind the net.
