Travis Sanheim scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and Porter Martone, the Flyers’ 19-year-old rookie forward, scored the eventual winner with 2:37 to play as Philadelphia outlasted the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in the opener of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
The Flyers announced their return to the playoffs in front of a stunned crowd at PPG Paints Arena, as the score was tied at 1-1 after two periods. Sanheim split a pair of Penguins at the top of the zone, glided down the slot and fired the puck past Stuart Skinner. And then Martone sealed it.
“I think coming in here, I think the older guys have done a great job,” Martone said after becoming the youngest Flyers player to score in his postseason debut. “Not just with me, but all the guys on the team, showing us the ropes.”
Jamie Drysdale also scored for the Flyers, who hardly appeared intimidated by an electric crowd buzzing about Pittsburgh’s first playoff appearance since 2022. Dan Vladar stopped 15 shots to pick up the first postseason win of his six-year career.
“We’ve been playing big games for the last month, month and a half, meaningful games, must-win games,” Flyers forward Sean Couturier said. “We’re put to the test and thought we did a good job of preparing ourselves and being ready.”
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
Evgeni Malkin scored his 68th career playoff goal for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins, the NHL’s third-highest scoring team during the regular season, had trouble sustaining pressure against the Flyers. Bryan Rust pounded home a rebound with 1:01 remaining to get Pittsburgh within a goal, but Vladar stoned Anthony Mantha’s shot in the final seconds as Philadelphia held on.
“We won one game. This is going to be a long series,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “Those kids, they were hooting and hollering a little bit, but they were pretty even-keel.”
The eighth all-time playoff meeting between the cross-state rivals might also be the most surprising. The Penguins’ retooling under general manager Kyle Dubas unexpectedly picked up speed under first-year coach Dan Muse. The Flyers, who arrived at PPG Paints Arena for their morning skate wearing T-shirts with sleeves that had “3.8 percent” printed on them as a nod to their slim postseason chances a couple of months ago, used a scorching final stretch to reach the postseason for the first time since 2020.
Yet with so many new faces on both sides — only a handful of players remain from the 2018 teams that met in the first round — the series began with something that felt more like curiosity than animosity.
It did not take long, however, for familiar feelings to emerge as things quickly grew testy. Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen, making his playoff debut after 820 regular-season games, drew a roughing call less than two minutes into the game for taking down 6-foot-8 Penguins forward Elmer Soderblom. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was hit with a roughing minor after getting tangled up with Drysdale, who was called for interference during the same sequence.
The Flyers asserted command in the second period. Philadelphia created a handful of odd-man rushes that Skinner, who backstopped the Edmonton Oilers to consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances before being acquired by the Penguins in December, turned aside before Drysdale’s first career playoff goal near the game’s midway point.
The defenseman skated into the right circle and flipped a puck toward the net that got past Skinner, who had trouble locating it thanks to a terrific screen by Flyers forward Denver Barkey.
Pittsburgh evened it just over six minutes later when Malkin swooped into the right circle and blistered a shot from the faceoff dot that split Vladar’s legs.
“We got away from things that worked,” Muse said. “Part of that is intensity. Everything is ramped up in the playoffs. They’ve been playing that way for a while.”
Game 2 is in Pittsburgh on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
