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It wasn’t easy and required staving off a late game charge, but the Philadelphia Flyers were able to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.
The win gave the Flyers a one game to none series lead in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series.
Philadelphia rode a strong performance from defenseman Travis Sanheim, who scored a critical third period goal to give the Flyers a one goal lead. Rookie Porter Martone scored his first postseason goal on a nasty shot to spread the Flyers lead to two goals.
However the Penguins made things dicey for them in the final minutes as Bryan Rust scored to cut the Flyers lead to 3-2. Evgeni Malkin (1G, 2pts) fired a shot that deflected off of defenseman Cam York and went right to Rust.
In the final seconds, goalie Dan Vladar (14 saves) made a critical pad stop on Anthony Mantha to preserve the win. The Penguins’ regular season-leading goal scorer powered in from the right circle and went backhand. However, the Flyers goalie closed up his pads just in time.
Even with the late game surge against his team, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet was happy with his team’s performance.
“I like the way they approached the game,” Tocchet said to reporters. “They did a nice job of just staying with it. This is going to be a long series. But they were even keel.”
Setting The Tone
It was evident from the drop of the puck that the Flyers knew a physical game was going to be required to set the tone. They did just that, starting with big hits from Rasmus Ristolainen on Rust and captain Sean Couturier on Egor Chinakov. It caused the Penguins to look disjointed in their play, especially as the first period wore on.
Philadelphia also adhered to disrupting the Penguins in the neutral zone, making them earn every zone entry. Once the puck did get into the Flyers end, they were able to keep Pittsburgh out of the scoring areas. And they were able to get an early shot advantage because they were strong on pucks in the offensive zone.
Consequently, it seemed like it was a matter of time before they would be rewarded. And they finally were when defenseman Jamie Drysdale was able to slip a shot past goalie Stuart Skinner with traffic in front.
On the goal, Zegras was able to find him out of the corner with a clean pass. Wingers Owen Tippett and Denver Barkey provided a layer screen that allowed the puck to slip past.
However, the Penguins were able to tie the game at 1-1 when right wing Evgeni Malkin scored at 15:51. Noah Cates’ line was caught in the defensive zone for over a minute and couldn’t get the puck cleared. Malkin was able to jump onto the ice, used Cates as a screen, and beat Vladar.
But as the game went into the third period, the Flyers did what they’ve done all season: save their best for the final 20 minutes of play. In doing so, they accomplished their goal of getting a win in Pittsburgh and have a chance to expand their series lead on Monday night.
The Good
- Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen were the backbone of the Flyers defensive performance in Game One. They were physical, nasty, and looked every bit the reliable shut-down pairing. Their work on Sanheim’s goal was a thing of beauty. Ristolainen was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone, then found his partner. Sanheim eluded 6’8 Elmer Soderblom, went to his left to draw out Kris Letang, and fired a wrist shot to beat Skinner.
- It was an especially gratifying postseason debut for Ristolainen, playing his first ever playoff game after 820 regular season games.
- The Flyers dominated neutral zone play for long stretches, limited high danger chances, and won the turnover battle. In the third period, Philadelphia was a 60 percent Corsi-For Pittsburgh struggled to get things going and had 15 giveaways (including eight in the first period).
- Dvorak picked up the assist on Martone’s goal. More importantly, he had a strong effect on the game in all zones (see his Game Score Impact below).
- Both Couturier and Sanheim had a fantastic game against Sidney Crosby, who took two minor penalties. If the game plan was about getting under the Penguins captain’s skin and keeping him off the score-sheet: mission accomplished.
- Martone continued his torrid start to his NHL career by scoring a brilliant goal. As Dvorak went deep, the rookie hit the brakes, pivoted on his edges, and fired a nasty wrist shot that beat Skinner on his short-side. Per OptaStats, he is the only NHL teenager this century with a game winning goal in his playoff debut.
- Barkey (1A) was particularly relentless in his NHL playoff debut. Remarkably, he was able to pin up the much larger Soderblom during one forechecking sequence. He also got a break-in on Skinner in addition to his assist on Drysdale’s goal.
The Bad
- The Flyers struggled at the face-off dot, with the Penguins winning 59 percent of their draws. That issue especially reared it’s head late in the game when the normally reliable Couturier lost the defensive zone draw that led to the Penguins second goal.
- It wasn’t a perfect night for Martone, as a neutral zone giveaway led to a two on one rush opportunity for Rust and Chinakov. But it was a minor blemish on a good overall game.
- Pittsburgh seemed to gain some jump following Malkin’s goal in the final minutes of the second period. Fortunately for the Flyers, Mantha took a needless cross-checking penalty on Ristolainen at 18:48 that took away the Penguins momentum.
- While Vladar made the critical stop on Mantha to win the game, the Flyers showed some late game jitters and just barely closed the game out. Obviously Pittsburgh had more ice to work with at four on four. But for Mantha to walk in on Vladar, that’s something that Tocchet and his staff should look at before Game Two on Monday.
The Ugly
- The Flyers power-play remains firmly on the struggle bus, going 0 for 3 on the night. Other than getting a couple of chances on their first and third chances, Philadelphia’s league worst man-advantage units were harried by the Penguins penalty killers. Late in the season, the power-play was showing signs of life, but it wilted under heavy pressure on Monday. Expect this will remain a major area of focus in this series.
Home › Forums › Flyers Edge Penguins In Game 1: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
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