Rough night in Philly — after having to trade Gauthier, Flyers lose to Penguins originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

On this night, a Flyers-Penguins game was merely a subplot.

A couple of hours after the organization was forced to trade top prospect Cutter Gauthier, the Flyers lost to their rival, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Not a banner night Monday in Philadelphia.

The Flyers (20-14-6) are 1-1-1 on their four-game homestand. John Tortorella’s club has lost seven of its last nine games overall (2-4-3).

“I thought we fought. We’re just struggling to score,” the Flyers’ head coach said. “We just don’t have enough people going offensively. They were the better team.”

News of the stunning Gauthier trade broke during the first period, taking general manager Danny Briere out of the club’s management suite at intermission to explain that the 2022 fifth overall draft pick didn’t want to play in Philly.

More: Tortorella, Flyers react to Gauthier passing on Philly, addition of Drysdale

The Flyers dropped to 2-1-0 against the Penguins (20-15-4) this season. In early December, Sean Couturier won the first two matchups, both after regulation.

• Pittsburgh raced out to a 1-0 lead only 45 seconds into Monday night’s game after Couturier was whistled for a tripping penalty.

The Penguins added to the advantage a little under six minutes later and were then in control.

Owen Tippett drew the Flyers to within 2-1 before first intermission, but Chad Ruhwedel cushioned Pittsburgh’s lead back to two in the second period.

Evgeni Malkin added salt to the wound with a third-period goal. Things became testy between the two clubs later in the period.

The start to the game really cost the Flyers.

“I think giving one up early on the power play allowed their skill guys to get feeling it a little bit, you could just sense that they were making plays,” Travis Sanheim said. “But we’ve still got to stay in there, battle back. Obviously a lot of penalties in the first and wish we would have gotten one there in the second and maybe made it a little bit closer.”

• Making consecutive starts for the first time since Dec. 7-9, Carter Hart faced 39 shots and stopped 35 of them.

The 39 shots were the most the Flyers have allowed in a game this season.

“Hartsy was unbelievable,” Sanheim said. “It could have gotten out of hand there.”

The Flyers committed seven penalties.

Penguins netminder Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 36 of the Flyers’ 37 shots.

• Noah Cates continued his on-ice rehab Monday before the team’s morning skate. The 24-year-old forward is working his way back from a broken foot.

On Tuesday, Cates will be six weeks into his recovery timeline of six to eight weeks.

• The homestand wraps up Wednesday when the Flyers host Canadiens (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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