Flyers-Penguins: Pittsburgh avoids the sweep with 4-2 road win in Game 4

There’s a lesson here for the Flyers, if they care to learn it.

Their 4-2 loss Saturday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first-round series against the Penguins is not a cause for panic. Not yet. And it doesn’t have to be at all. They are still ahead three games to one. It will still take Sidney Crosby & Co. fashioning a minor moment of NHL history for the Penguins to win this series.

Again, calm is the appropriate word here.

The last time the Flyers swept a series was way back in 1995, when they won four straight to oust the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. They will have to wait at least another round to break that drought.

Despite another raucous crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Flyers were handed a 4-2 loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins, cutting into their lead in the best-of-seven series, which now stands at three games to one. Dating back to the regular season, it snapped a six-game winning streak for the hometown team.

Knowing their playoff lives were on the line, Pittsburgh came out and played a smart first period, shutting down the Flyers’ speed — except for Owen Tippett — and taking a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by none other than Sidney Crosby. 

With their playoff lives on the line, the Penguins played a much better opening frame than they have this series, getting four shots on goal to the Flyers’ one in the first seven minutes; the Flyers outshot them 9-5 at the end of 20 minutes.

Philly did start to pick up the pace, with Luke Glendening having a great chance in front that just missed at the end of the Flyers’ first power play of the period. And while they started to pick up the pace, they ended up shorthanded when Denver Barkey got his stick under the helmet of Penguins defenseman Samuel Girard. Five seconds later, Sidney Crosby found the back of the net for his first goal of the series.

Trevor Zegras thought he scored less than a minute later when Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot went off the stick of Crosby, hit the end boards, and the Flyers forward went between his legs for a shot along the goal line. Artūrs Šilovs, making his first appearance in the series, got it in the crux of his elbow, and while Zegras thought it was over the goal line, the review determined it did not cross the line.

Former NHLer turned media personality Paul Bissonnette is never one to hold his tongue, even when it is ripe for backlash.

Earlier this week, Bissonnette, who co-hosts the Spittin' Chiclets podcast and also works as an analyst on TNT, said the Flyers play "scumbag hockey" after the team's chaos-filled Game 3 win. The comment drew the ire of Flyers fans, even though Bissonnette was in a way crediting the Flyers for being tough to play against and for being able to get Pittsburgh off its game.

In a pregame interview with TNT on Saturday, Zegras turned Bissonnette's comments back on him with a clever quip. When asked by Bissonnette what went into the now infamous celebration in front of the penalty box, he responded with a chuckle by saying "well, we had five scumbags in the box."

Not that Rick Tocchet needed extra confirmation but Dan Vladař will indeed start Saturday night. The Flyers coach confirmed the Czech netminder would start earlier in the day at the team's s morning skate.

Vladař, who has a .947 save percentage and a shutout in the series, was a slight worry during the week after suffering an arm injury in the third period of Wednesday's Game 3 win.

The injury came after his arm was run into by Pittsburgh's Bryan Rust. Vladař's blocker came off in the play and he looked to be in noticeable pain before being tended to by team trainer Tommy Alva. The goaltender stayed in the game and finished with 27 saves on 29 shots. Vladař did not practice Thursday and the Flyers were off on Friday.

Shane Temple is 10 years old, a die-hard hockey fan, and sometimes, when the Philadelphia Flyers are on a tear, he takes his shirt off in celebration.

The young fan did just that on Wednesday, five minutes before the Flyers’ chaotic 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was Shane’s first postseason game and his favorite player, 25-year-old Trevor Zegras, had scored his first career playoff goal.

“Insane” is how Shane described the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

If the Flyers win Game 4 tonight and sweep the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philly will move on to face either the Carolina Hurricanes or Ottawa Senators in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

The Hurricanes currently lead the Senators, 3-0, with Game 4 set to begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Here's where the Eastern Conference playoffs stand heading into Saturday night ...

Goaltender Arturs Šilovs is expected to start for Pittsburgh in place of Stuart Skinner, who started each of the first three games.

“Decision isn't based on Stu's play, I thought Stu's played really well this series," Penguins head coach Dan Muse told reporters Saturday. "We lost three games, and so decided that we'd make some changes there in the lineup."

Šilovs, who played under Flyers coach Rick Tocchet in Vancouver, put up an .888 save percentage and a 3.07 goals-against average in 39 games played this season, 38 of them starts. Tocchet was the head coach of the Canucks when Šilovs made his NHL debut in February 2023.

Dan Vladař will start for the Flyers in Game 4, Rick Tocchet confirmed Saturday morning.

Despite worries after making contact with Bryan Rust in the net in the third period of Game 3, Tocchet said there was no real concern that Vladař would miss the potential clincher in Game 4.

“Not really,” Tocchet said. “The next day, talking to him and stuff, it was heading in the right direction.”

Flyers fans aren’t letting Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby live down his embellishment penalty in Wednesday’s playoff game. Drivers stuck in rush hour traffic on I-95 North will now have something to chuckle over after one local travel agency erected a billboard ribbing the future Hall of Famer for his “flop.”

The billboard features a photo of Crosby lying face-down on the ice after a high stick from Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway sent him to the ground. Hathaway was given a penalty for the high stick, but Crosby was also subsequently penalized for embellishing the hit, much to the delight of Flyers fans getting their first taste of home playoff hockey in eight years.

On the billboard, located on I-95 Northbound in South Philadelphia between Exit 17 for PA-611/Broad St. and Exit 19 for I-76/Walt Whitman Bridge, the Crosby flop image is framed by a dictionary-style definition of hockey’s embellishment penalty.

The Flyers-Penguins series jumps over to TBS Saturday night, where fans will once again hear a familiar voice on the broadcast.

Brian Boucher, the former Flyers goaltender turned NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst, will be in the booth for TNT tonight alongside Jody Shelley and play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert.

The game will also air on NBC Sports Philadelphia, with Scott Hartnell taking Boucher's place alongside Jim Jackson.