The Pittsburgh Penguins played a disjointed opening game against the Flyers and ended up falling 3-2 to their instate rivals to kick off their 2026 playoff series.
Where’d it all go wrong (aside from just about everything in the first 20-55 minutes?) Let’s take a look.
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They weren’t alone in it, but the Sam Girard – Kris Letang pair had an absolutely brutal night
Sam Girard and Kris Letang had a tough night at the office last night. Letang was on the ice for all three goals the Flyers scored in Game 1, he also had to take a penalty after letting an opponent take the puck away from him. Girard wasn’t able to help and struggled just as much.
Per Moneypuck, Girard’s xGF% was 6.31%, to Letang’s 7.63. The Penguins aren’t going for anywhere but an early exit if their second pair defense is in the single digits of expected goal percentage. Girard and Letang were hardly alone at having bad nights: the vaunted fourth line had an XGF% in the 14-19% range, Karlsson didn’t score well on Game Score or xGF% either, Tommy Novak and Ben Kindel had difficult times getting their heads above water too, and on and on), yet they stand out as a glaring area to watch try and rebound in Game 2. One thing about Letang is he is not a very subtle player, it’s not going to be a secret to tell if he can pull the nose up or continues to struggle with the speed and pressure that Philadelphia is going to press upon him.
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Failing to take advantage of a quick start
The beginnings of games should be toward Pittsburgh’s advantage, as we detailed here. They were one of the best first period teams this season, the Flyers were not. The Pens got handed a power play 1:53 into the game, the hot crowd was ready to explode and start the party. It did not work out that way and the tone for the rest of the game was set. The Pens couldn’t fight the momentum and Philadelphia poured it on them early to the tune of a 9-5 edge in shots for the first period.
Playing at home in the playoffs for the first time in four years, against a team with 10 players making their playoff debuts should have been a positive for the Penguins. It did not play out that way at all.
The line configurations didn’t work
The xGF% and shots for/against for the main lines went like this:
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Chinakhov-Crosby-Rust: 47.3%, 4-2 shots, 0-0 goals
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Novak-Rakell-Malkin: 23.0%, 2-4 shots, 1-0 goals
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Soderblom-Kindel-Mantha: 12.3%, 2-3 shots, 0-1 goals
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Dewar-Lizotte-Acciari: 20.8%, 2-2 shots, 0-1 goals
(The Flyers scored their eventual game-winner in the midst of a change while a ‘regular’ line wasn’t on the ice together in the course of play)
All those lines didn’t work. Chinakhov with Crosby still seems more like a new experiment than a fully-functioning combination in top form. Similarly, Rakell with Novak and Malkin is still in the finding their way stage. The third line might be the most disappointing at all on the stats (which is surprising since Soderblom had an impactful and positive game), but Kindel got buried and looked the way many hoped and expected that the Flyer young players would get pushed in the deep end. The decision to not play Justin Brazeau in the future will have to get reassessed. Even the fourth line that has been such a positive factor all year long was fighting and losing an uphill battle.
In short, it was a night nothing worked out well. The Flyers did their jobs, the Penguins looked lost and confused to where a lot of the people playing together weren’t connected enough. One game is one chapter of a series, now the Pens can take the chance to look at what they might need to change and try again the next time in Game 2 tomorrow.
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