Penguins Secure 2nd Straight Victory Against Flyers

 

After dropping the first three games to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins are officially making things interesting. The Penguins secured their second straight victory in Game 5 on Monday at PPG Paints Arena, defeating the Flyers in a nail-biting 3-2 win to keep their season alive. Sidney Crosby fueled the comeback with a pair of assists, while Elmer Soderblom, Connor Dewar, and Kris Letang each found the back of the net. Following a 4-2 win in Game 4, Pittsburgh has now cut the series lead to 3-2 and will look to force a decisive Game 7 when they travel back to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Flyers Lineup:

Barkey - Zegras - Tippett

Konecny - Dvorak - Martone

Foerster - Cates - Bump

Glendening - Couturier - Hathaway

Sanheim - Ristolainen

York - Drysdale

Seeler - Andrae

Vladar

Ersson

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Rakell - Crosby - Rust

Chinakhov - Novak - Malkin

Soderblom - Kindel - Mantha

Dewar - Lizotte - Acciari

Wotherspoon - Karlsson

Girard - Letang

Shea - Solovyov

Silovs

Skinner

Elmer Soderblom got things started early in the opening frame at 17:15 after Parker Wotherspoon sent the puck along the wall, where Anthony Mantha raced Rasmus Ristolainen for the puck behind the Flyers' net. After receiving a backhanded pass from Mantha from below the goal line, Soderblom fired on a wrist shot from the slot to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. With 49 seconds to go, Trevor Zegras had the chance to tie it on a partial breakaway, but his backhand attempt rolled off his stick, going wide right. He then missed wide left on a shot from between his legs, not long after his first chance.

At 16:43 of the second period, Connor Dewar scored his second of the playoffs to extend it to 2-0 when he took a pass from Sidney Crosby, and skated into the left face-off circle to roof a snap shot that hit off the back bar. Blake Lizotte picked up the secondary assist. Just seconds later, Alex Bump cut it to 2-1 off a pass from Ristolainen, who got the puck from Noah Cates before handing it off to Bump, who drove past Wotherspoon to slip a shot through Arturs Sliovs' five-hole. Later in the middle frame, with 4:54 on the clock, Travis Sanheim knotted it up 2-2 after getting the puck from Ristolainen with a wrister from outside the left circle that ended up deflecting in off Erik Karlsson, getting past Silovs on the short side. Kris Letang responded with a point shot that hit off Bump and bounced off the end boards before hitting both of Vladar's legs, sliding over the goal line for the 3-2 win at 2:48. Crosby and Ryan Shea picked up the assists.

Kris Letang on his goal, the way the team is playing, and keeping focus: "After all the looks I got in the second, I can't believe that one goes in, but I just tried to put it there. Obviously, it made a crazy bounce. Sometimes, you create your own luck. ...I think we're getting to our game a lot more. Our pace is a lot higher, the way we hold onto the puck offensively... We're not one and done on the rush. We're sustaining zone time, and it's hard to defend. So, we have to keep doing that." - "Every single play matters, whether it's a little puck battle or a block shot or whatever it is - all those plays are important, and you have to focus shift by shift, making sure you win."

Arturs Silovs on what's going right, the play in front of him in Game 5, and mindset/pressure: "I think it's about effort, you know. I think today was probably our best game in the series, and there's a lot to build from. I think we played really well. ...I think everyone bought in. Everyone had the hunger to battle in this game, and we got rewarded." - "There's nothing to lose anymore. You just have to play hard, play the right direction. I think things are going, right now, our way."

Notes:

- Arturs Silovs made a total of 18 saves for Pittsburgh.

- For the second straight game, Kris Letang has scored the game-winning goal for the Penguins. In their 4-2 victory on Saturday, Letang gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead. In Game 5, he broke the tie to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Letang has 25 career goals, which is the most among active defensemen.

- Since 2016, the Penguins are the sixth team to force a Game 6 after being behind 3-0 in a playoff series.

- This was Sidney Crosby's 33rd multi-assist game in the postseason, the fourth-most in NHL history. He sits behind Wayne Gretzky (72), Mark Messier (40), and Connor McDavid (34). It was his sixth career multipoint game when facing potential elimination, and he trails only Brad Marchand (eight), Patrick Kane (seven), and McDavid (seven) among active players. ...This was Crosby's 100th postseason win, and he is the fourth active player to hit this milestone.

- Dan Vladar made a total of 18 saves for Philadelphia.

- Rasmus Ristolainen collected a pair of assists.

- Alex Bump became the third player in Flyers history to score a goal in both of his first career regular-season game and playoff game. He joins Todd Bergen (1984-85) and Dave Poulin (1982-83).