Flyers outlast Penguins, clinch series in hard-fought Game 6

Two weeks ago, on the eve of this hard-fought, white-knuckle, rollercoaster series, Sidney Crosby sat in his stall at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ practice facility in Cranberry Township, Penn., and made clear the margins.

Stepping into a first-round bout against a Philadelphia Flyers team that had fought tooth and nail to get there, had climbed steadily from the basement to the spotlight, there would be no easy path ahead for his Penguins. They would have to be perfect.

“There are so many details,” Crosby had said then, trying to distill the fog of post-season chaos into a few minutes’ summary. “You can’t rest on the fact that you’ve done something over the course of the season. You’ve got to go out there and do it every night. And those things that are important tend to be a little bit harder — it’s physical play, finishing hits, blocking shots, wall plays, battles. All those things add up. That’s why you preach them during the season. So they become habits. 

“All those things will be important. Those things will be the difference between winning and losing.”

Eighteen periods of hockey later, the Penguins and Flyers found themselves locked in a nail-biter Wednesday night in Philadelphia, an all-or-nothing overtime that would either send this series back to Pittsburgh for Game 7 — humbling the young Flyers after they’d struck gold with a 3-0 lead through the first half of this series — or send the Penguins home empty-handed.

In the end, it came down to the details. One iced puck, one lost faceoff, and Cam York left standing at the point with just enough space to wire a wrister through traffic, past a screened Arturs Silovs, and into the back of the Penguins’ cage.

Game, series, season.

“It’s unfortunate,” Crosby told the gathered media in Philadelphia in the wake of the 1-0 Flyers win. “We were a shot away from going back to Pittsburgh for Game 7. It just comes down to bounces sometimes. Putting yourself in that position is tough, but I think we all had a lot of belief that we could dig ourselves out of it. And I think our game showed that. It’s just unfortunate that we got behind early in the series.”

The Penguins dominated the Flyers for much of the night, outshooting the eventual winners 23-11 through the third period and overtime. They had a number of dangerous chances on Dan Vladar, prime opportunities to end this one themselves. But the Czech puck-stopper, who’s been the Flyers’ MVP all campaign, held the fort and earned his second shutout of the series to send Philly on to Round 2.

“We played probably our best game of the series,” veteran Erik Karlsson told the media post-game. “They bent but they didn’t break, and that’s why they’re moving on to the second round. … We got everyone playing up to their full potential all year. Then, come this time of the year, you’re going to need a little bit more, and we just couldn’t reach that level unfortunately. 

“We just couldn’t find that extra gear that’s needed this time of year. Philly did. So, all credit to them."

For the Flyers, Wednesday’s win seems a fitting step for a group that’s been proving doubters wrong for the better part of two months, a group that looked finished coming out of the Olympic break, only to bulldoze their way up the standings and back into the dance.

They haven’t looked back since.

“It’s been a long time. I know there’s been a lot of frustration. I’m happy for the guys,” head coach Rick Tocchet said from the podium Wednesday. “The Penguins — hell of a series. They played great tonight. They weren’t going to die, and I thought that we hung in there. But winning this, it’s huge for the young guys. To play — 19, 20 years old — in this kind of pace, playing against Sidney Crosby, this atmosphere, overtime. … This is huge development for these young guys. To taste it.

“There were some stretches we were kind of rope-a-doping out there. I’m 61, so I used to watch Muhammad Ali. But we hang in there. That’s what I love about the team, they hung in there. They’re resilient.”

There’s no overstating how pivotal this step is for a young Flyers team that was expected to finish in the basement once again this season. Instead, the underdog Broad Street squad is headed to Round 2, where they’ll face the Eastern Conference's best, the Carolina Hurricanes.

But first comes a moment to soak in what was achieved here — the franchise’s first series win in half a decade, claimed against a club stocked with Hall of Famers and Cup winners, claimed after withstanding an onslaught, these Pens going from down 3-0 to a goal away from Game 7.

“They’ve had their fair share of beating me over the years,” said Philly’s Travis Konecny, a 10-year veteran of this Battle of Pennsylvania. “So, against Pittsburgh, it felt extra good.”

Vladar, Silovs give everything in wild, back-and-forth Game 6

It was a sterling night for both netminders. 

Vladar has waded through a difficult stretch since his dominant start in the early games of this series, the 28-year-old allowing a couple particularly regrettable goals in Games 4 and 5. But the Flyers stalwart found his best again when his club needed it most, turning aside all 42 shots the Penguins threw at him Wednesday.

“They pressed the entire game. Through overtime, three periods. The amount of grade-A’s, point-blank saves he made, was just crazy,” Jamie Drysdale said of his netminder post-game. “Incredible. Big-time player. He was unbelievable tonight.”

“You saw it in overtime — it was just so back and forth, grade-A chances both ways,” added OT hero Cam York. “It just felt like nothing was going to get past Vladdy. I think we all felt that. We knew that we just needed one decent look.”

On the other side of the sheet, Arturs Silovs turned in his third straight standout game for Pittsburgh, stopping 31 of 32, including some particularly dangerous late flurries, before being beaten on York’s shot from distance.

“He was awesome,” head coach Dan Muse told the media post-game. “I mean, just massive saves. Both guys played great tonight. You know, it’s not easy going back and forth every other game [in the regular season] and then you go for a long stretch, you’re not playing. For him to come into this series the way he did, I can’t say enough about him. He’s such a competitor.”

“I don’t think you can ask for more,” Karlsson added. “Arty did everything to give us a chance to win by scoring only one goal, and we couldn’t find a way to beat their guy.”

As Pens’ season comes to a close, questions about Big Three’s future loom

Simmering beneath the surface for this Penguins team all series, all season, was the question of what life after 2025-26 looks like for Pittsburgh’s veteran core — particularly for Evgeni Malkin.

The franchise legend, who played a central role in hanging three Stanley Cup banners in Pittsburgh, was playing out the final season of the four-year deal he signed back in 2022. Reports earlier this season suggested the Penguins would not be offering Malkin a new deal. A sterling season, and strong post-season may have changed that. 

But the future for Malkin, Crosby and Kris Letang — who’ve played a record two decades together in black and gold — remains murky.

“It’s probably hard to put into words, honestly. It’s something that we’ve just gotten used to,” Crosby said of being part of the trio. “They’re like family. That’s the best way to describe it. You know, we’ve had some great wins, some tough losses like this — ultimately though, that’s a long time that we’ve played together, and I’m just so appreciative of the opportunity to be able to play with them as long as we have. Hopefully we can keep going.”

Muse got his first chance to work with the three future Hall of Famers this season. He heaped praise on them Wednesday night, as the dust settled on Pittsburgh’s season-ending loss.

“You know, you see it from afar, you hear how people talk about all three of these guys, prior to being here. Then you get to see it first-hand and it’s just, it’s special,” Muse said. “To be doing what they’ve been doing for this long, at such a high level, just continuing being able to elevate their games — especially when things get hard, when it’s late in the season, whether it’s fighting to clinch a playoff spot, or when you’re team needs to dig out of a hole during the regular season, or in the playoffs — they just continue to elevate, find different levels. 

“I honestly don’t think the three of them get enough credit for the fact that they’ve been doing it together for this long. I mean, it hasn’t happened before in sports in North America. And there’s a reason for it. Because it’s ridiculously hard, and it’s so uncommon. And it takes special people to be able to do it.”

For his part, Malkin has reiterated time and time again that he hopes to remain in black and gold.

“I hope it’s not over,” he said last week, ahead of Game 4, the first potential end to this series. “I want to be here. I want to be part of the team next year too. I want to retire in Pittsburgh. But it’s not my choice.”

Flyers’ youth, blue-line scoring pivotal to series-ending Game 6 win

Much was made heading into this series of Philadelphia’s inexperience, of the question marks surrounding the club’s young core, how they might navigate the tumult of the post-season. For a spell there, it seemed the moment had gotten to them, the veteran Pens pushing back, staving off elimination twice, showing their steady hand as they climbed off the cliff’s edge. 

But Wednesday night, with it all on the line, it was the Flyers’ youth that clinched it for the club.

It was Porter Martone building momentum, tilting the ice back in Philly’s favour, with a dangerous chance that nearly ended the game minutes before the actual winner. It was Matvei Michkov — scratched for Game 5, back in the lineup for Game 6 — setting up the eventual clincher. And it was Cam York ending it all with one game-winning shot, sending his club on to Round 2.

“It’s the craziest thing ever,” Drysdale said of York, his blue-line partner. “Yorkie’s the man. Vladdy’s the man. Everyone killed it, stuck together. It’s crazy.”

“It’s special,” York said of his winner. “I can’t say enough about my teammates. The coaching staff has been unbelievable with me, just reassuring confidence. Guys are just giving it everything they’ve got this time of year. Last year didn’t go my way obviously, but I wanted to have a bounce-back year. I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

Offence from the blue line wound up a crucial game-changer for Philly in Round 1. The club saw five different defencemen collect goals in the series, with Travis Sanheim potting two and Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler, Drysdale and York each tallying one.

Though one of those goals no doubt reigns above the rest.

“Yorkie was due,” Drysdale told the media Wednesday night. “He’s a stud. He’s been playing unreal all series. It was his time to shine, and boy, did he ever shine.”