Porter Martone, the Flyers' 19-year-old rookie forward, scored the eventual winner with 2:37 to play, and Philadelphia outlasted the rival Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in the opener of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at PPG Paints Arena.
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 then fired the puck past "I think coming in here, I think the older guys have done a great job," Martone said after becoming the youngest Flyer to score in his postseason debut.
"Not just with me, but all the guys on the team, showing us the ropes."also scored for the Flyers, who hardly appeared intimidated by an electric crowd buzzing about Pittsburgh's first playoff appearance since 2022."We've been playing big games for the last month, month and a half, meaningful games, must-win games," Flyers forwardsaid. "We're put to the test and thought we did a good job of preparing ourselves and being ready."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."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., 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 forwardwas 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. Philadelphia created a handful of odd-man rushes that Skinner, who backstopped Edmonton to consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances before being acquired by Pittsburgh in December, turned aside before Drysdale's first career playoff goal just before 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 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 to tie it. "We got away from things that worked," first-year Penguins coach Dan Muse said. "Part of that is intensity. Everything is ramped up in the playoffs. They've been playing that way for a while."Fans line up on Record Store Day for Pierre Robert's music collection
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