Penguins pull series back to 3-2 with second-straight win over Flyers

PITTSBURGH — Things are starting to get a little tight.

Up three games to none in this best-of-seven series, the Flyers’ lead has now been cut to just one after the Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 5 by a score of 3-2.

The Penguins have forced a Game 6 when trailing 3-0 in a series for the second time in franchise history. The other time was also against the Flyers in the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, when they won Game 5 in Pittsburgh by the same score. The Flyers would go on to win Game 6 at home.

“Just move on. Get ready for a good game at home. … We just need to dig a little deeper,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said as this first-round series shifts back to Philly for Game 6. “A little bit more desperation, play a little bit harder. But I believe in this group, and we’ll look for a response back home.”

» READ MORE: Flat Flyers ripe for more lineup changes in Game 6 as ‘reverse sweep’ pressure mounts

Although the Flyers came out with some oomph, they found themselves in a 1-0 hole for the third straight game. This time, it was Elmer Söderblom sending the puck past the glove of Dan Vladař on the Penguins’ first shot of the game, less than three minutes in.

The play started with Anthony Mantha outmuscling Rasmus Ristolainen for the puck behind the Flyers’ net after a Parker Wotherspoon dump-in. Mantha sent it in front quickly, and the puck hopped over the stick of Ben Kindel right to Söderblom above the slot for the strike.

Both Kindel and Söderblom were open on the play as Sean Couturier and Sanheim were along the boards as if they were expecting Ristolainen to come up with the puck, while Travis Konecny and Porter Martone had been on the ice for just seven and four seconds, respectively, on a bad line change.

“Playoffs is a mental thing. Things change from game to game. But what shouldn’t change is your focus on line changes,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “You have to be really good on that stuff. You have to understand, knowing where the pressure’s coming [from and] has to be hard play or a good wall battle to get it out. So I think we’re just a little bit behind the eight ball when it comes to that.”

The Flyers finished the first period strong, but early in the second period, they got pinned in their end for 37 seconds, and it ended with a Connor Dewar goal to make it 2-0.

Twice, Owen Tippett had a chance to at least clear the blue line, but he couldn’t get it out. The first time he couldn’t get enough on the puck to chip it past Wotherspoon at the blue line, and the defenseman got the puck to Mantha, who was stopped on a wrap-around attempt.

Vladař then stopped a Wotherspoon point shot with four bodies in front of him, and the puck went into the left corner where Tippett picked it up. He had time and space, but his backhand lift, intended for Trevor Zegras in the neutral zone, was knocked down by Sidney Crosby. The Penguins captain fed Dewar as he skated down the left side for the goal that took a few seconds to register.

But just 12 seconds later, Alex Bump got the Flyers on the board to halve the deficit. Bump, who took the place of Matvei Michkov in the lineup, did not look like a guy playing in his first career playoff game as he received a pass from Ristolainen midstride in center ice, cut across, and headed down the right wing. He made a hesitation move to stall Wotherspoon’s turn and was able to get in a good position for a shot that snuck through Penguins goalie Artūrs Šilovs.

Bump had the first Flyers shot of the game and put four shots on goal among his nine shot attempts in the same building where he scored his first career goal in his NHL debut on March 7.

His line, alongside Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster, went to work later in the period before Sanheim tied things up with under five minutes to go in the middle frame.

Off a Bump play to get the puck into the zone, the trio retrieved the puck with strong wall work, and the Flyers maintained control for over a minute in the Penguins’ zone. Cam York made a nice play to keep the puck in at the right point, and at the left point, Ristolainen jumped on Dewar to keep the puck in as the Christian Dvorak line started to control play.

» READ MORE: Alex Bump’s inner circle and inner belief have fueled his fast rise with the Flyers

Eventually, Ristolainen and Sanheim played catch inside the blue line, before Sanheim walked down and sent the puck off Erik Karlsson and between the post and Šilovs’ blocker. Sanheim now has two goals and three points this postseason.

But just over two minutes later, the Penguins retook the lead on a goal by Kris Letang. His innocent shot from the point ricocheted off the end boards and between the legs of Vladař. The Flyers’ goalie ended up carrying it across the goal line as he went back to the middle of the net.

“It’s an unfortunate bounce, to be honest with you,” Vladař said. “You can always do something better on every single goal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bounce off the boards or a one-on-one breakaway. We can always do something a bit better, but I just got a bad bounce.”

Crosby got an assist on the goal despite missing a short amount of time after taking a teammate’s shot off his left leg between the shin guard and pants.

Early in the third period, Vladař made a spectacular leg save on Bryan Rust to keep it a one-goal game.

After the Flyers won a faceoff, Ristolainen tried to lift in over the crowd, but it was caught and put on the ice by Crosby. He passed the puck to Rust, who dipped around Sanheim, cut across the ice, and was only stopped by the left pad of Vladař. It was one of several Grade A chances the Czech netminder had to thwart as the Flyers got pinned or allowed the Penguins to attack off the rush several times throughout the game.

Philly had its own chances to tie things up, but struggled to hit the net, including Bump and then an open Konecny in the third period. In the last two minutes of the game, Ristolainen was stopped on a point shot, Bump made a great play to prevent an empty-netter, Crosby missed an empty-net goal, and a shot by Martone, on a partial breakaway, was kicked out by Šilovs.

The Flyers’ power play went 0-for-2, as did the Penguins. … Defenseman Emil Andrae reentered the lineup after missing Games 2-4 with an upper-body injury and played with Nick Seeler. Noah Juulsen was a healthy scratch. … Michkov was a healthy scratch the first time since he was benched for two games in Florida in November of his rookie season. … Dewar and Bump’s goals were the second-fastest two consecutive playoff goals between the teams in the “Battle of Pennsylvania”. The fastest was in Game 2 of the 2012 conference quarterfinals when Claude Giroux and Chris Kunitz scored six seconds apart.

Game 6 is Wednesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, and HBO Max). The game will also air locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia.