Pregame
The Penguins get both Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte back from injury, forcing Justin Brazeau out of the lineup. Stuart Skinner gets the call to get the first start.
First period
The Flyers make the first mistake when Rasmus Ristolainen hits Elmer Soderblom way after a whistle stops play. Philadelphia to the penalty box 1:53 in. The first power play comes up empty, despite a few Egor Chinakhov shot attempts.
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Kris Letang gets the Penguins into trouble hacking at a Flyer after getting hurried. Late in the power play Christian Dvorak barges into Skinner, kicks the puck and lands on the goalie. The puck goes in but the referees immediately wave off the goal as being no good. No goal.
More penalties come when Sidney Crosby pulls the helmet off Jamie Drysdale. Drysdale doesn’t leave the play immediately so he goes for what’s called interference, Crosby for roughing to bring on 4v4 play.
Intense period, no goals that count. Philadelphia takes a 9-5 edge in shots through 20 minutes.
Second period
Skinner stays sharp making a big stop on Trevor Zegras and then another on Noah Cates in the early going of the second.
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Dewar gets hobbled by a hit from Tippett and is hunched over, leaving the game temporarily but didn’t miss a shift.
Tippett gets sprung for another breakaway and gets denied by Skinner. The shift continues as the Flyers isolate on the Sam Girard – Letang pair and the fourth line. Zegras gets the puck low to high for Drysdale who walks up to the circle and uses the traffic in front to sneak a low wrister past Skinner. 1-0 Flyers get the first goal 9:19 into the second period.
Looking for a response, the Pens step up their pressure a little and Crosby draws a penalty driving to the net and forcing Travis Sanheim to take him down. Pittsburgh is as disconnected as ever, the first group failed to get a zone entry without going offsides.
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Back at 5v5, the Penguins get their best shift of the game and convert it to a goal. A long shift wears down the Flyers, who get trapped as Pittsburgh changes lines with the benches being near the offensive zone. Rickard Rakell shoots a puck that Dan Vladar kicks out, right to Evgeni Malkin. Malkin charges in and beats Vladar with a low shot. 1-1 game as the Pens get on the board.
The Flyers are the next to the power play when Anthony Mantha gets busted for cross checking. The period ends while they’re on it.
Shots in the second are 7-5 Philadelphia. The Penguins aren’t playing very well, but they found a way to get an answer and somehow aren’t trailing after 40 minutes despite their poor play.
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Third period
Philadelphia doesn’t score on their carryover power play and the Pens’ PK improves to 3/3 on the night.
The Pens look good at the start, Soderblom drove to the net and got a good shot away, momentum derailed when Mantha took his second offensive zone penalty of the game by high-sticking Porter Martone. The Flyers get some zone time but no goal.
The Flyers find that goal with 10:00 left. Sanheim dances around Soderblom then shoots back across his body to catch Skinner deep in the crease. 2-1 PHI.
The Pens are pushing to try and find a tie goal and then the rookie Martone extends the lead. He did well to hold the puck and let Noel Acciari skate away from him, then pick the top corner on Skinner. 3-1 with only 2:37 to go.
Pittsburgh pulled the goalie to try and attack more. Away from the play Crosby and Sanheim start jousting with dueling cross-checks. Both get sent off on matching penalties. The Pens pull Skinner again to make it a 5v4 situation. Bryan Rust scores, finding a bounce off a Malkin shot attempt and then throwing it in past Vladar.
But they run out of time. Mantha gets a chance going through the crease, Vladar keeps it out. The clock runs out.
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Some thoughts
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It wasn’t a pretty start for the Penguins in the first period which set the tone for the game. The Flyers had them hemmed up a lot of times, stopping breakouts and using a lot of speed and pressure to turn the game into a tough battle. Philadelphia was great with their counter-attacks once they gained possession and very physical shown by a 16-8 edge in hits in the first period. It was about as close to a dream scenario they could dream up for a start for a road game, sans not being able to score on Skinner.
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The coaching chess moves are always an interesting wrinkle to track in a playoff series. Rick Tocchet was starting his checking line with Sean Couturier in the middle for the opening faceoff of the periods. The Penguins didn’t avoid the matchup at the beginning of the game, starting the Crosby line for the first. Then the Pens adjusted and started the second period with their Ben Kindel line (with the third defensive pair), freeing Crosby up for the second shift of the period away from Couturier.
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The Penguins were shockingly disconnected, their passes were all over the place, they were on their heels and unable to get much of anything going. What should have been a weakness, in goal, was actually the best part of the team. What was supposed to be the strength, like power play and their forwards, played very poorly.
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The Bob Grove stat of the day points out the Pens were in 2017 territory (which isn’t a compliment in this reference) by only generating 10 shots on goal through 40 minutes. The only two times they had that low of a shot output in franchise history both happened in the 2017 run.
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Blake Lizotte came back and the penalty kill that was leaky without him tightened right back up immediately with a perfect night tonight. The Flyers’ power play wasn’t very good in the regular season but it was a good night to have a good night while shorthanded since the Pens power play wasn’t performing well.
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In the end it was too little, too late for the Pens. They didn’t play particularly well, yet still had a last gasp chance to force OT. That’s a positive outlook, on the other side it’s concerning to come out and lay an egg at home for the playoff opener.
Well, the Pens have a lot to think about and adjust before heading into Game 2 on Monday after playing a very poor game to start the playoffs. They’re going to need to regroup and try again.
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