Joel Farabee had one goal and two assists and Shayne Gostisbehere, Wade Allison and Robert Hagg also scored for the Flyers, who had a three-game skid and won only for the sixth time in 16.

“I think it happens to all teams that sometimes you just don’t have the legs, and I think we were just faster and fresher than them,” said Jakub Voracek, who got three assists. decisive.

Sidney Crosby and Jason Zucker scored for the Penguins, who are tied for top of the East Division with Washington. Each has 71 points, but the Capitals have four games to go while Pittsburgh has three.

Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup for Pittsburgh after missing 23 games with a lower body injury. The Penguins haven’t missed a beat without the four-time All-Star, winning 16 contests during his absence. Malkin got an assist on the count from Crosby.

Alex Lyon made 35 saves for his first win in his fourth start.

“He really gave us a chance,” said Flyers coach Alain Vigneault.

The Flyers were thought to be a Stanley Cup contender at the start of the season, and that didn’t change after the start of the season with a convincing two-game home sweep against the Penguins. But Philadelphia (23-22-7, 53 points) has been in freefall since the end of February, was knocked out of the playoffs last Thursday, and is just trying to stay at around 0.500 with four games to go.

The Flyers would likely wish they had more games against the Penguins, however. Philadelphia improved to 5-2 against Pittsburgh with one of its best performances of the season.

Asked about his club’s performance against the Penguins compared to the rest of the East, Vigneault replied, “You don’t want to spoil my victory, do you? Kind of happy right now. Let’s celebrate the victory and we’ll talk about it. later.”

The Flyers took a 3-0 first-period lead for the first time this season.

Hayes’ score at 5:58 in the game to give Philadelphia a rare early advantage. The goal was not whistled on the ice as it looked like Casey DeSmith had made a remarkable glove save on Hayes’ wraparound shot, but reruns showed DeSmith’s glove was in fact over the line goal and was awarded after an officials’ review.

It was the first time in 11 games and just the second time in the last 22 games that Philadelphia had scored first.

“I thought we played with the puck for most of the night and weren’t continuing the game,” said Scott Laughton of Philadelphia, who got an assist.

Gostisbehere’s slapped shot of the point by traffic on the power play brought the score to 2-0 with just under 5:52 to go in the period. And Giroux took 15th place 1:04 later. Sean Couturier sent the puck behind the net, Konecny ​​tilted it in the lunge and Giroux sent it back past DeSmith’s glove.

Crosby scored his 21st of the season and 47th in 76 career games against the Flyers at 2.30am of day three as he flipped Kris Letang’s pass over Lyon’s left shoulder from the side of the net. Zucker shot Pittsburgh at 4-2 with 11:36 left when he tipped John Marino’s shot past Lyon for another power-play goal, but Farabee dashed any hope of returning to Pittsburgh with his 17th header. team with 8:23 to go.

“I just don’t think we were on our game,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I don’t think we are skating, I don’t think we are playing the game here that has brought us success.”

ALEX INCREDIBLE

Lyon made a remarkable save with 10 minutes left in the first half to keep the Penguins off the field. Lyon stopped Kasperi Kapanen’s long shot, but he dropped the stick from Lyon’s hand. The puck sank behind Lyon and towards the goal, but he stretched out and used his hand under his blocker to stop the puck just before it crossed the goal line.

“Kind of like one of those you turn around in desperation and just made disappear,” Lyon said.

TRAINERS ‘ROOM

Penguins: DeSmith came out after the second period with a lower body injury and will be evaluated further on Tuesday, Sullivan said. He was replaced by Tristan Jarry. … D Mike Matheson is listed as week after week after taking a puck to the face in the second period of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Washington. … F Evan Rodrigues (lower body) missed his second game in a row. Rodrigues did not skate on Monday. … Brandon Tanev (upper body) was out of the roster for the 13th straight game. His return seems near, however, as he skated with full contact on Monday.

FOLLOWING

The teams close their series of the season with the second straight game Tuesday night in Philadelphia.