Noah Cates and the Flyers’ youth lead team to a 4-1 win over rival Pittsburgh Penguins

Do you believe in miracles?

On Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers upset the Metropolitan Division’s No. 3 team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, thanks to a goal from center Morgan Frost, two from winger Noah Cates, and an empty-netter from Travis Konecny.

“You’re looking through their lineup at the start of the game, and their No. 1 centerman [Crosby] has three Stanley Cups, their No. 2 centerman [Evgeni Malkin] has three Stanley Cups,” interim coach Mike Yeo said. “Their No. 3 centerman [Jeff Carter] has a couple himself.

“So knew we were going to be challenged all the way throughout the lineup, and I thought that our guys responded well.”

But the Flyers’ win over their cross-state rival didn’t come with a stroke of luck. With a lineup filled with relatively inexperienced under-24-year-olds and AHL regulars, the Flyers outplayed the Penguins for the majority of the game. Star center Sidney Crosby scored with 3 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third period with an extra attacker on the ice, but the Penguins’ late push wasn’t enough to overcome the Flyers’ lead.

Thus, the Flyers earned their second consecutive win for the first time since March 5 and 8, against the Chicago Blackhawks and the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Flyers’ third line of Frost (one goal, one assist), Cates (two goals, one assist), and Owen Tippett (one assist) dazzled as a unit, combining for all of the Flyers’ even-strength scoring and generating additional chances. One of those goals from Cates came on the man advantage, marking the Flyers’ first power-play goal since April 12, which came against the Washington Capitals.

Going into the game, Yeo opted to keep together the youthful third line of 22-year-old Frost, 23-year-old Noah Cates, and 23-year-old Tippett, noting that there can be an “intimidation” factor when skating with older players. The trio looked awfully comfortable in the first period, especially in the offensive zone.

Roughly 16 minutes into the period, the line and the top defensive pairing of Ivan Provorov and Ronnie Attard did a good job of putting pressure on goalie Louis Domingue. He couldn’t get a glove on Attard’s shot from the blue line, which led to two more shots from Frost and Tippett. Ultimately, Frost cleaned up the rebound to put the Flyers up, 1-0.

“They’re both really great players and we’re all kind of in the same boat,” Frost said. “We’re all a little younger and trying to make a mark in the league. I think that adds hunger and I really like playing with them.”

The third line didn’t slow down in the second period, which has been one of the Flyers’ weakest frames all season long — going into Sunday, they were outscored, 100-70. The trio continued to generate scoring chances and were rewarded nearly seven minutes into the period.

The play started behind the Penguins’ net when Frost made a strong effort to get a pass off to defenseman Keith Yandle at the blue line. Although he was pushed to the ice by defenseman Brian Dumolin, Frost battled and utilized the boards to pass the puck back up top. Cates tipped Yandle’s one-timer at the front of the net past Domingue to push the Flyers ahead, 2-0. Cates scored a similar goal in the third period when he tipped a shot from the point on the power play to make it 3-0. In his last 10 games, Cates now has five goals and four assists for nine points.

“You’ve got to be really detailed in your game and your routes and just different things, stick details,” Cates said of his transition to the NHL. “So I’m just trying my best every night to pick up on little things that guys do that make it hard for the other team and help us.”

Goalie Martin Jones earned his third straight start on Sunday. He’s put up a strong performance of late. After the win over the Penguins, Jones has 17 games with a save percentage over .900, with seven of them coming over the last two months.

Jones wasn’t tested too much in the first period, but in the second, the Penguins dialed up the pressure on their power play. Winger Rickard Rakell had a point-blank slapshot on Jones on the right edge of the left faceoff circle, but Jones came up with the save. Early in the third period, the Penguins’ attack ramped up again after a failed Flyers power play, but Jones stood tall save for Crosby’s goal at six-on-five. In total, Jones made 37 saves on 38 shots (.974 save percentage), nearly paving the way to his third career shutout against the Penguins.

The Flyers finish out their final back-to-back of the season on Monday when they take on the Blackhawks in Chicago at 7 p.m.