PHILADELPHIA – The Pittsburgh Penguins still need a miracle, but for Game 4, they’ll take a bit of solace in a 4-2 win over the Flyers to force their first rounds series back home to Pittsburgh.
Arturs Silovs #37 of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell had a goal and two points each in the win.
“It’s only one, but I think it gives us some life,” Crosby said. “That looked more like our game. It’s probably taken us three games to look like ourselves a bit. I think that’s something that we can definitely build on. Obviously going home, it doesn’t get any easier. With every game in the series, it’s more difficult. But we’ve got some life, and we got to take advantage the opportunity of going back home now.”
Arturs Silovs made 28 saves in the win.
“Exciting opportunity,” Silovs said. “I think playing playoffs is most fun you can ever have. I’ve been waiting for a whole season to get to this point and I think I’m enjoying every minute.”
Crosby hit for a goal later in the first period, and Rakell scored in the second for a 2-0 lead to the Pens.
“We know we’re not going to score many pretty goals,” Rakell said. “We’re going to have to score some goals on second efforts, rebounds, all those kind of ugly goals that you have to score in the playoffs. That’s just going to have to keep coming.”
The Flyers got one back late in the middle frame on a strike by Denver Barkey to make it 2-1.
Kris Letang replied for the Penguins early in the third period for a 3-1 lead.
“It’s all those little details sometimes,” Letang said of Crosby’s plays on the goal. “It’s not the crazy play or the pass finding a guy back post. Sometimes it’s little details, like picking the guy, give me a lot of time to pick my shot. It was an amazing play. Just shows you how much IQ he has on the ice, and he knows what to do at every moment in every situation.”
Travis Konecny scored off a long shot to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“I thought we didn’t hold onto pucks, we were throwing pucks away too much,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “The second half, we started coming to our game. I don’t think it’s a ton of adjustments. More of, I think we got to dig a little bit more. I didn’t see much digging early from some guys, and we got to make sure that right from the beginning, we got to dig off the bat.”
Connor Dewar hit an empty net for the 4-2 with 57 seconds left on the game clock.
Dan Vladar made 17 saves in the loss.
“If somebody told you guys before the series we were going to be up 3-1 after four games, you guys wouldn’t believe us,” Vladar said. “So we are good. Nothing’s changing for us. Still being positive in here. … They are a really good team. It’s not easy to win four in a row against a team like that. We’re fine here.”
Luke Glendening #41 of the Philadelphia Flyers battles Ben Kindel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the puck.
Travis Konecny #11 of the Philadelphia Flyers receives congratulations for his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins take a face-off.
Kris Letang #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins receives congratulations for his goal against the Philadelphia Flyers
Erik Karlsson #65 of the Pittsburgh Penguins battles Owen Tippett #74 of the Philadelphia Flyers for control of the loose puck.
