Home HOCKEY NHL Philly Takes Commanding Lead, Chases Penguins With Five-Goal Outburst

Philly Takes Commanding Lead, Chases Penguins With Five-Goal Outburst

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Pittsburgh Penguins Vs Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers push Penguins to brink with Win

Flyers take a 3-0 series lead with 5-2 Game 3 win over Penguins. Porter Martone records a point in his third straight playoff game while Philly’s defense leads all teams with four goals this postseason.

 
Flyers beat Penguins 5-2, one win from first-round sweep...

 
The Philadelphia Flyers took a commanding 3-0 series lead Wednesday night with a 5-2 Game 3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.


It was Philly’s first home playoff victory since April 2016 against the Washington Capitals. Historically, teams that open on the road and go up 3-0 in a first-round series advance 98% of the time.


Teams in that spot are 57-1 all-time. The only exception: the 2014 San Jose Sharks, who blew a 3-0 lead to the Los Angeles Kings.


Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar shook off an injury scare during the game and finished with 28 saves to secure the win.


Flyers vs Penguins Game 3

Both teams registered 11 shots in the first period. The Flyers controlled play late in the frame and gave up just one shot over the final 10 minutes, but Pittsburgh struck first.

 
After a Sean Couturier tripping minor, Evgeni Malkin converted on the power play to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.




It was Malkin’s second goal of the postseason. Sidney Crosby added an assist on the play, his 202nd career playoff point, moving him into fifth all-time.


Crosby was called for embellishment late in the period, giving the Flyers a power play that carried over into the second with 47 seconds left. Philly couldn’t convert.


Philadelphia outhit Pittsburgh 25-11 in the opening frame and won 10 of 16 faceoffs through 20 minutes.


Less than five minutes into the second, a line brawl sent 11 total players to the box. Pittsburgh had six men penalized, leaving the Flyers with a power play.




The officials took so long sorting out the penalties that players from both sides went back on the ice to skate and stay loose.


Philly wasted no time, tying it 1-1 just 30 seconds into the man advantage on Trevor Zegras’ first career playoff goal.


Porter Martone, the Flyers’ 19-year-old playoff standout, became only the fourth teenager in the last 25 years to record a point in each of his first three playoff games.


He joins Sidney Crosby in 2007, Patrik Laine in 2018, and Kirby Dach in 2020.





Pittsburgh got a power play of its own but came up empty. The Flyers then kept the pressure on.


Like Zegras, Rasmus Ristolainen netted his first career playoff goal. The pair scored four minutes apart to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.


It’s Ristolainen’s first playoff series after 820 regular-season games.


The Flyers struck again a minute later and broke the game open.  


Nick Seeler scored his first goal of the playoffs just two minutes after Ristolainen, pushing the lead to 3-1.  


That was the fourth goal by a Flyers defenseman this postseason, most in the NHL.


Vladar hurt his arm during a scramble in front of the net but stayed in the game. The Penguins tested his blocker side and cut the deficit to 3-2.


Erik Karlsson scored on the power play to make it 3-2. It was his first goal of the playoffs and Pittsburgh’s second PPG in four tries.


The goal was the ninth of Karlsson’s playoff career.




Less than two minutes after Karlsson scored, Anthony Mantha took a delay-of-game penalty. The Flyers went to their third power play of the night and made it count.

 
Noah Cates joined the first-goal club, netting his first career playoff goal to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead with 7:30 left.




Just 28 seconds later, the Penguins went back to the power play for the fifth time after Sean Couturier took his second penalty of the game.

 
Couturier’s first penalty led to Malkin’s 1-0 goal, but Pittsburgh couldn’t cash in this time.


Pittsburgh pulled the goalie with just under three minutes left. It backfired when Owen Tippett buried the empty-netter to seal a 5-2 Flyers win.


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