The Penguins exploded for seven goals against the Flyers — mainly by capitalizing on poor defensive awareness

Last night at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins got an early jump on the Flyers, and never looked back. After four goals in the first twenty minutes of the game, Pittsburgh would stretch their lead to 6-0 before finishing the game with a 7-1 final score.

Many of the Penguins goals came as a result of the Flyers being poor in their tracking of Pittsburgh’s players entering the zone or occupying the space in front of the net.

The opening goal of the game was more of a fluke than anything. Justin Schultz fired a seeing-eye puck from the boards through traffic and it made it’s way over Brian Elliott’s right shoulder before he realized what was happening.

Jared McCann added a goal to the scoreboard and this one is not pretty for Philadelphia. With the Penguins and Flyers both having two players below the red line, McCann is able to work into space and be wide open with a shot on goal.

Sidney Crosby occupying multiple defenders is just what he does. He then finds Dominik Simon open in the slot for a great chance — and he capitalized.

As the third period was winding down, Sidney Crosby entered the zone and made his way towards the right face-off circle lining himself up for a shot. The puck came to him and he finished it beautifully. Three Flyers in the defensive zone, two of whom aren’t really doing anything seems suboptimal.

Seems like allowing a goal-scorer like Jake Guentzel time to sit in front of the net on one knee might bode well for your chances defensively.

Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Kahun would finish the last two goals for the Penguins on a tipped point shot and a goal with time nearly expiring, respectively.

It’s never a bad thing to pot 7 goals in a night (again), even if they are coming as a result of poor play from the opposition.