The Philadelphia Flyers came out victorious on the road to take a 1-0 series lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins off the back of a 3-2 win.
Jamie Drysdale opened the scoring, Travis Sanheim re-took the lead in the third period, before Porter Martone scored the eventual game-winner with 2:37 remaining in regulation.
The Penguins tied things up at 1 near the end of the second period off the stick of Evgeni Malkin, and they came close in the final minute of the game after Bryan Rust cut the deficit back to 1, but Dan Vladař and the Flyers held on.
Vladař wasn’t tested all that much as he faced just 17 shots but he made a massive save in the closing seconds on Anthony Mantha to preserve the lead and record his first career postseason win.
FIRST PERIOD
In their first playoff game since 2020, the Flyers looked to have scored the game’s opening goal at the 8:19 mark, however it was immediately disallowed due to Christian Dvorak making contact with the goaltender.
With 18 seconds left in their first power play, Dvorak went hard to the net after his pass was initially blocked and ended up pushing it past Stuart Skinner, but the referees were quick to wave it off, keeping the game tied.
A brisk moving first period came to a close with both teams tied at 0-0, but the Flyers holding a 9-5 edge in shots. It was a physical first 20 minutes as both sides combined for 31 hits – 20 for the Flyers – with 5 coming from Sean Couturier, including one early on against Egor Chinakhov.
SECOND PERIOD
With the Flyers pressuring in the Penguins’ zone, Jamie Drysdale wired a shot through Skinner’s five-hole from the face-off dot with a ton of traffic in front at the 9:19 mark of the second period.
Drysdale received a pass from below the goal-line from Trevor Zegras, and the former Anaheim Ducks defenseman made a heads up read to notice the mass of hysteria in front of Skinner, and it worked to the tune of his first career post-season goal. Denver Barkey received the secondary assist.
The Penguins repaid the favour with a strong offensive shift of their own that led to the tying goal from Evgeni Malkin. The Flyers’ third line was stuck on the ice for well over a minute, and while Dan Vladař stopped the first shot from Rickard Rakell, the rebound was deposited by an oncoming Malkin at the 15:51 mark.
The middle frame came to a close with both teams tied at 1-apiece and the Flyers holding a 16-10 edge in shots. Things opened up. little more and the Flyers had several odd man rushes but Skinner was up to the task, stopping Zegras, Owen Tippett, and Noah Cates early in the period.
THIRD PERIOD
At the exact mid-point of a tentative third period, the Flyers re-took the lead after Travis Sanheim walked into the slot before firing a shot low-glove past Skinner. The Olympian made a nice move at the point against Anthony Mantha, which allowed him to take advantage of the open ice and give the Flyers a late lead.
With only 2:37 remaining in regulation, Porter Martone made a great move on Kris Letang, spun back around, and then wired a hard bullet shot over the shoulder of Skinner to give the Flyers a massive insurance marker.
With the net empty and just 61 seconds remaining in regulation, Bryan Rust fired a shot from the slot past Vladař to cut the deficit back to 1. Malkin’s shot was initially blocked and the rebound went right to Rust in the middle of the ice.
Things got dicey in the final seconds of the game, but Vladař shut the door on Mantha and the Flyers held on for a 3-2 win to take Game 1 of their best of 7 series. Game 2 will be scheduled for Monday night.
