Flyers-Penguins news: Philly looks to take 2-0 lead; two youngsters recalled from Lehigh Valley

PITTSBURGH — There are certain stories that transcend sports, and the Buffalo Sabres’ return to the NHL playoffs — and their bond with their fans — should be one of those stories. It’s also one that is similar to the Flyers’.

The last time the Sabres had qualified for the postseason was in 2011, when they lost a first-round series to the Flyers in seven games. It had been nothing but agony for hockey fans in Western New York for the subsequent 15 years until the Sabres won the Atlantic Division this season. Their 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins Sunday night, in Game 1 of the teams’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, was a fit for their magical turnaround: They became the first team in NHL history to win a playoff game in regulation after trailing by at least two goals with less than eight minutes left.

When it comes to pro sports, Buffalo is practically diet Philadelphia. It has just two major franchises — the Sabres and the Bills — and its people adore and are loyal to both, despite suffering through generations of disappointment. The Bills have never won a Super Bowl (though they did reach four in a row, losing each time). The Sabres have never won a Stanley Cup.

The Flyers recalled defensemen Oliver Bonk and David Jiříček from Lehigh Valley Monday, the team announced.

With the Phantoms season done, both will join the Black Aces, a group of extra players there to practice and play, if needed.

With the Flyers’ starters resting, Bonk and Jiříček started last week’s regular season finale against the Montreal Canadiens. During the game, Bonk earned his first career point with an assist and scored his first NHL goal.

The Flyers enter tonight’s Game 2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins looking to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

If the Orange and Black manage to pull off the win, it certainly bodes well for their playoff chances, if history has anything to say.

The last time the Flyers took a 2-0 playoff series lead was in 2012 against the Penguins. Philly went on to win that series 4-2 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Back home in Peterborough, Ontario, Porter Martone spends days every summer and hours every day in his family’s yard, shooting pucks at a net that has a homemade goalie set in front of it. The goalie is actually a chair with a wooden plank, a goaltender’s mitt, and a goaltender’s blocker pad affixed to it, and Martone sets a smooth pad on the grass so he can fire away at the net’s upper and lower corners, testing himself against the Frankenstein’s monster that he himself created.

“Still do it to this day when I go back there,” he said Sunday, after the Flyers had practiced at PPG Paints Arena. “It’s had to be reconstructed over the years. It’s something I love to do.”

What was it that Branch Rickey is supposed to have said — that luck is the residue of design? Well, skill can be, too, and Martone’s winning goal in the Flyers’ 3-2 Game 1 victory over the Penguins, that right-circle wrist shot that he roofed with less than three minutes to go, was a perfect manifestation of the ability and diligence that he possesses — and that made the Flyers so comfortable with trusting him in the teeth of a playoff push.

Back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2020, the Flyers are hoping to celebrate some postseason victories with this season’s win song — “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean.

Owen Tippett took over as the Flyers’ designated DJ this year, and has put careful thought into the team’s music, but the inclusion of Dean’s track after a win came as a suggestion by fellow forward Trevor Zegras earlier this season.

“[Zegras] sits right beside me, and I just said, ‘Hey, what do you want to hear?’” Tippett said. “It was when it was popular, and he threw it up there, and I let it stick.”