The Pittsburgh Penguins finally earned a win in their first-round series with the Philadelphia Flyers, but they don’t have much time to celebrate.
The Penguins’ season is on the line again Monday when they host the Flyers in Game 5.
Philadelphia already has won in Pittsburgh twice in this series, posting 3-2 and 3-0 victories in the first two games. The Flyers followed that up with a 5-2 home win in Game 3, putting the Penguins up against the wall heading into Game 4.
However, superstar captain Sidney Crosby and the Penguins responded with their best performance of the series in Saturday’s 4-2 triumph. Crosby and Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist each, and defenseman Kris Letang scored a key third-period goal for Pittsburgh.
“It’s only one, but I think it gives us some life,” Crosby said. “I think that looked more like our game. It’s probably taken us three games to look like ourselves a bit, so I think that’s something that we can definitely build on.”
Arturs Silovs made 28 saves in his first appearance of the series, highlighted by a pad save on Tyson Foerster on a semi-breakaway in the second period.
“Exciting opportunity,” Silovs said. “I think playing in the playoffs is the most fun you can ever have. I’ve been waiting for a whole season to get to this point and I think I’m enjoying every minute.”
Silovs validated the decision by coach Dan Muse, who opted to replace Stuart Skinner in net after a shaky Game 3 effort by the veteran netminder.
“He played great,” Muse said of Silovs. “Big saves. I’m really happy for him.”
On the other end of the ice, Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar may not be 100 percent after injuring his right arm in a collision in Game 3. Vladar had a chance to stop Pittsburgh’s first goal of Game 4 — Crosby’s one-timer — and later committed a turnover behind the net that led directly to Rakell’s tally.
Vladar took responsibility for those goals following the contest, but he still remained optimistic about the Flyers’ outlook for the series.
“If somebody told you guys before the series we were going to be up 3-1 after four games, you guys wouldn’t believe us,” Vladar said. “So, we are good. Nothing’s changing for us. Still being positive in here. … They are a really good team. It’s not easy to win four in a row against a team like that. We’re fine here.”
Coach Rick Tocchet also doesn’t see any reason to panic. He indicated that there might be some lineup changes for Game 5, but he mostly wants to see a bit more fight from his team with a series victory on the line.
“I don’t think it’s a ton of adjustments,” Tocchet said. “More of, I think we got to dig a little bit more. I didn’t see much digging early from some guys, and we got to make sure that right from the beginning, we got to dig off the bat.”
The Flyers are looking to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2020. If they defeat the Penguins once more, they’ll move on to a matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
“I don’t think anyone expected us to be up 3-0 in the series,” said Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim. “A 3-1 series lead, we’ll take it and move on and get ready for Monday.”
