Flyers’ skid reaches five games as penalty kill falters, Sam Ersson pulled in 6-3 loss to the Penguins

The Flyers are free fallin’. And not in a fun Tom Petty way, although they may want to leave this world for a while.

Skating on the second night of a back-to-back, the Flyers were handed a 6-3 loss by their Keystone State rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is the Flyers’ fifth straight loss, in which they have been outscored 25-9. They lost 5-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday in Western New York.

Yikes.

A lot of the blame falls at the feet of special teams. The power play went 0-for-4 and had 12 shot attempts, with five shots on goal. But it’s the penalty kill that has struggled — and add some extra emphasis when you say struggled.

» READ MORE: Flyers recall goalie Aleksei Kolosov from Lehigh Valley and move Bobby Brink to injured reserve

Between Wednesday and Dec. 31, when they allowed two goals on three chances to the Calgary Flames, the Flyers’ penalty kill was brutal at 59.1%. It ranked second-worst, with nine goals allowed in 22 opportunities across seven games. In the 38 games before that, the Flyers ranked sixth-best (83.1%).

So you’d think when facing the third-best power play in the NHL (27.9%), they’d be more disciplined. Instead, by the 13-minute mark of the game, the Flyers had already taken three penalties and were trailing 2-0 via power-play goals.

The first tally came off the stick of Pittsburgh’s Justin Brazeau after Cam York was called for hooking Rickard Rakell on the hands right after he walked in front and got a shot on goal. Before Brazeau scored, the Flyers actually had two shots on goal during the Penguins’ power play; however, with seven seconds left of their man advantage, Brazeau was left alone in front to tap in the puck past Sam Ersson.

Philly then killed off a high-sticking penalty to Travis Sanheim, taken 3 minutes, 53 seconds into the game, but 12:11 into the first period, Garnet Hathaway was called for tripping Kris Letang behind the play. Hathaway didn’t sit long in the box, as nine seconds in, Bryan Rust scored to make it 2-0.

Sean Couturier won the faceoff, but the Penguins recovered the puck, and Rust eventually got it in the left circle. He curled at the top before sending the puck past Ersson’s glove. It looked like York may have been used as a screen on the goal.

Early in the second period, after Jamie Drysdale got a shot on goal, the Penguins got the puck, and Thomas Novak sent a stretch pass up to Evgeni Malkin at the Flyers’ blue line. The future Hockey Hall of Famer sent a pass over to Egor Chinakhov, who got past the defense and scored short-side past Ersson to make it 3-0.

According to Natural Stat Trick, although they were outscored 2-1 in the second period, the Flyers dominated in shot attempts 34-19. Sixty-one seconds after Chinakov’s goal, Rodrigo Ābols scored his third of the year. After Carl Grundström got the puck along the boards, he sent it to an open York, and Ābols tipped in the point shot as he cut across the crease to make it 3-1.

It is Ābols’ third goal of the season and eighth point (two goals, six assists) in the past 13 games. The Flyers had one goal on 17 shots in the middle frame.

Then came an interesting move: coach Rick Tocchet decided to pull Ersson after the Flyers scored. Aleksei Kolosov, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Thursday after Dan Vladař was injured on Wednesday, entered the game after Ersson allowed three goals on 14 shots.

Kolosov allowed three goals on 16 shots in his first NHL appearance since he started in a 2-1 loss to the Flames on Nov. 2.

He did make two big saves, one on Brazeu from 12 feet out and another on Anthony Mantha’s quick shot from the right circle, to keep it close. But with less than two minutes to go in the second period, Pittsburgh’s Blake Lizotte stole the puck from Travis Konecny deep in the Flyers’ end. Noel Acciari got it and crashed the net, putting two whacks on the puck. It popped up, and Lizotte knocked in the floating puck past Kolosov to make it 4-1 Pittsburgh.

In the third period, Sidney Crosby added yet another power-play goal for the Penguins to extend their lead to 5-1. He was sitting all alone on the right side and got a cross-crease pass from Malkin for his 60th goal and 138th point in 93 games against the Flyers.

Connor Dewar made it a touchdown after getting a cross-crease saucer pass from Novak 77 seconds later.

» READ MORE: Jamie Drysdale returns but Flyers lose Rasmus Ristolainen before Sabres game to an upper-body injury

The Flyers did get two more goals in the final frame.

Nick Seeler made it 6-2 with his second goal of the year and his second in the past seven games. Denver Barkey, who was a healthy scratch on Wednesday for the first time in his short NHL career, responded with a pair of assists, beginning with the setup to Seeler.

Barkey took a touch pass off the skate from Noah Cates and fed the Flyers defenseman above the left circle. Seeler skated in and sent a sharp wrister past the glove of Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner.

Later in the period, Barkey set up Matvei Michkov for his 10th goal of the season. Couturier started the play when he got the puck along the boards and attracted two Penguins. It allowed the Flyers to have some space in the neutral zone, and the captain sent a backhand pass to Barkey, who skated into the Penguins’ end with Michkov and just Parker Wotherspoon back. Barkey sent a perfect pass over to the 21-year-old, and Michkov shot the puck off the pass for his first goal past a goalie since Nov. 30. He had an empty-netter against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 22.

Michkov dropped the gloves in the second period when he went after Lizotte for a hard, high hit on Barkey. He earned an extra for roughing on the play, and Crosby scored his goal on the ensuing power play. Michkov also had four shots on goal, with three coming in short succession atop the crease in the second period. … Owen Tippett had a game-high five shots on goal and nine shot attempts. He also had two hits. … Grundström had a team-high seven hits. His season-high of eight was set on Jan. 8 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Forward Nic Deslauriers was a healthy scratch with Barkey back in the lineup.

The good news for the Flyers is that they face a New York Rangers team spiraling on Saturday (1 p.m., NBCSP). New York has also lost five straight, getting outscored 27-10 in the last four since No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin went down with a lower-body injury.