Flyers rip off two road wins to open playoffs, put Penguins on their heels originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
PITTSBURGH — Rick Tocchet talked about the importance of the Flyers not feeling too comfortable with a series lead.
The head coach had liked his team’s businesslike approach after its Game 1 win. That sure seemed to pay off Monday night.
The Flyers blanked the Penguins, 3-0, at PPG Paints Arena to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round matchup. Tocchet’s club stunned a lot of people by winning the first two games on the road.
“Coming in here, in a building like this and taking the first two games, it’s huge,” Owen Tippett said. “We’re really excited to get home, but we’re staying even-keeled.”
Dan Vladar was terrific again, providing his first shutout with the Flyers.
Porter Martone delivered another goal, giving him two in two career playoff games. He’s just 19 years old and not even a month out of college.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Travis Konecny said. “There are not a lot of guys that can come in and make the impact that he has. Especially in the games leading up to making the playoffs, how important those were, and for him to be able to jump in, I think it just speaks to not his hockey ability, but how he wants to learn.”
After Martone handed the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the second period, Garnet Hathaway struck a little over four minutes later at shorthanded. Tippett made a determined and skillful play to find Hathaway for the 2-0 lead.
The Flyers fended off Pittsburgh in the third period. Luke Glendening’s empty-net goal sent fans to the exits.
Tocchet’s club now comes home to what should be a raucous Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Flyers won the opening two games of a playoff series for the first time since 2012. Ironically, they did it against the Penguins then, too. The Flyers won that first-round series in six games.
Going back to Feb. 26 of the regular season and including the start to these playoffs, the Flyers have won 20 of their last 27 games. In that span, they’ve allowed just 2.26 goals per game.
“It’s a series and it’s a war,” Noah Cates said before the game. “A little crack can go a long way, whether you see it on a team or kind of your body language and stuff like that. So you’ve just got to be strong mentally and physically, do all the right things and do it over and over to break them down little by little.”
• Vladar denied all 27 shots he faced.
The 28-year-old really closed the door in the third period when Pittsburgh made a concerted push. Vladar had a message for his team during a break in the period.
“They were coming in waves at us and he said, ‘We’re OK, guys don’t worry about it, relax,'” Tocchet said. “He says that, he’s the goalie, he’s getting peppered a little bit, it means a lot.”
With under seven and a half minutes to go, Vladar stopped a redirection by Evgeni Malkin when the Flyers lost the winger backdoor.
He had a massive save on Samuel Girard early in the third period.
“He has been like that all year for us,” Tocchet said. “Guys enjoy playing for him. He comes by the bench, he’s talking to the players. A lot of guys aren’t used to goalies talking that much, but that’s the way Vladdy is; I love his personality. He’s a fun guy to coach, I’ll tell you that.”
The Flyers played with fire a bit in the first period when they put the Penguins on the power play three times. They weren’t hurt, though, keeping the game scoreless going into intermission.
Travis Sanheim did a nice job to negate one of the power plays when he put pressure on Pittsburgh up ice and drew a tripping penalty on Erik Karlsson.
The Flyers’ penalty kill went a perfect 5 for 5.
“It was a goofy game for us, there were a lot of penalties, they had three or four power plays early, guys get out of the game,” Tocchet said. “Sometimes in the playoffs, you’ve got to win those ugly games. It was an ugly game for us.”
Penguins netminder Stuart Skinner stopped 20 of 22 shots.
He denied Tippett on a penalty shot in the third period, but the Flyers got their insurance with Glendening’s empty-netter.
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• Martone just continues to open eyes.
“He fit in right away, he’s a confident kid,” Christian Dvorak said. “He has been huge for us. To show that confidence straight from college is very impressive.”
For Martone to be making this much of an impact already is super promising for the Flyers. Konecny and Dvorak made strong plays to assist his game-opening goal.
Tippett and Hathaway then took the air totally out of the building when they connected.
Hathaway’s style of play is built for the playoffs. The veteran winger finished with two points.
“We talk about it a lot as a group — how can you bring it each shift to help this team,” Hathaway said. “I love it. If you’re not jacked up out there, you’ve got to check your pulse or something.”
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• After holding Sidney Crosby scoreless in Game 1, the Flyers pulled it off again.
They’ve quieted No. 87 so far.
Crosby, of course, has been the ultimate Flyers killer. He owns 139 points (60 goals, 79 assists) in 93 career regular-season games against the Flyers. In the playoffs, he has put up 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 25 career meetings with the Flyers.
• Noah Juulsen entered the lineup for Emil Andrae, who missed the game because of an upper-body.
Andrae didn’t practice Sunday. He has been considered day to day.
• The series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
It’ll mark the Flyers’ first playoff action on home ice since 2018; the 2020 postseason was forced into the bubble because of the coronavirus pandemic.
