The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins again, taking both road games in the series and putting themselves one home win from ending it. The next two playoff games are in Philadelphia, and the Flyers can eliminate Pittsburgh there.
It has not happened by accident. Pittsburgh’s older core has looked slow against a Flyers team that is skating fast and forcing mistakes, and Sidney Crosby has been quiet through two games with no points. The Penguins captain, 38, has led them for 20 seasons, but this series has belonged to the Flyers’ pressure and pace.
Erik Karlsson has turned pucks over and missed passes, and those errors have fed the Flyers’ breakaways and odd-man rushes. Trevor Zegras has blocked shots and absorbed hard hits to keep the edge with Philadelphia, while Porter Martone has kept scoring. Drafted sixth overall last summer, Martone played nine NHL games at the end of the regular season, finishing with four goals and six assists, and he has scored in both playoff games. His first playoff goal was impressive.
The Flyers were expected to be the younger team learning how to play in the postseason, while Pittsburgh came in as the preseason favorite and perhaps a veteran club taking one last run with this core. Instead, Philadelphia has the more energized lineup, and it is doing this after five playoff-less seasons. One fan summed up the surprise with a simple line: “Eihän sen näin pitänyt mennä.” Another called the display “Världens bästa,” while a third joked that Crosby looked like he had “tupakki huulessa.”
The series now shifts to Philadelphia with the Penguins carrying all the pressure. If Crosby and the rest of Pittsburgh’s veterans do not find a way to clean up the puck and match the Flyers’ speed, this run could end before the home crowd gets through its second game.