Flyers’ comeback falls short as Penguins win 4-2 to push series back to Pittsburgh

The last time the Flyers swept a series was way back in 1995, when they won four straight to oust the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. They will have to wait at least another round to break that drought.

Despite a raucous crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Flyers were handed a 4-2 loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins, cutting into their lead in the best-of-seven series, which now stands at three games to one. Dating back to the regular season, it snapped a six-game winning streak for the hometown team.

“Well, if somebody told you guys before the series we were going to be up 3-1 after four games, you guys wouldn’t believe us,” goalie Dan Vladař said. “So we are good. I mean, nothing’s changing for us, still being positive in here. They are a really good team — it’s not easy to win four in a row against a team like that — so we are fine here.”

Knowing their playoff lives were on the line, Pittsburgh came out and played a smart first period, shutting down the Flyers’ speed — except for Owen Tippett — and taking a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by none other than Sidney Crosby.

» READ MORE: Flyers-Penguins: Pittsburgh avoids the sweep with 4-2 road win in Game 4

Five seconds after Denver Barkey was called for high-sticking, when his blade got under the helmet of Samuel Girard, Crosby won the faceoff back to Erik Karlsson and found space before sweeping a shot on goal. The shot popped off the glove of Vladař, who did not practice on Thursday and was off along with the rest of the team on Friday after it appeared he suffered an injury to his blocker hand late in Game 3.

The Flyers did pick up the pace, notably after Crosby’s goal, with Trevor Zegras thinking he had scored on a between-the-legs move after a shot by Rasmus Ristolainen deflected off the stick of Crosby and the end boards. The NHL’s situation room initiated the review after Artūrs Šilovs, making his first appearance in the series in place of Stuart Skinner, caught it in the crux of his elbow; the call on the ice that it wasn’t a goal stood.

Not to be outdone, Vladař made an unreal sliding pad save on Crosby as he got behind the defense and tapped a Bryan Rust leading pass on goal. By the end of 20 minutes, the Flyers trailed 1-0, but had outshot Pittsburgh 9-5 and laid 16 hits in a less physical period than normal for this series.

“You knew they were going to come hard, their season’s on the line, so we expected that,” Travis Sanheim said. “We’d like to push a little bit earlier, but they get one on the power play on a quick play, and then after that, I thought we kind of gifted him a couple. Started to play after that, got some energy, but, yeah, I mean, their seasons on the line, you knew they were going to push and play hard, couldn’t get it done at the end.”

Just 63 seconds into the second period, Rickard Rakell made it 2-0 Pittsburgh when Vladař came out to play a ring-around by Rust. Rakell cut through Cam York and the net and put pressure on the Czech netminder, causing him to turn the puck over. It popped out toward the front of the net, and Rakell, while diving, knocked the puck into the open net ahead of the sprawling Vladař.

“I was ready to go and, obviously, first two weren’t great from my end, but hopefully, I’ll be better on Monday,” the goalie said postgame about his health and his game.

Less than a minute later, a shot by Crosby bounced around the crease, and Christian Dvorak saved a sure goal by Anthony Mantha with his skate on the goal line to keep the game close. It became a critical moment because later in the period, the Flyers finally broke through on Šilovs to make it a one-goal game.

Tippett dumped the puck in, and Zegras, just off the bench, swooped in to get the puck behind the net after Šilovs went out to play it, turning away from Penguins blueliner Parker Wotherspoon in the process. The Flyers worked the puck around the perimeter before Zegras got it in the right circle, and with a lot of time and space, he walked in on goal before sending it to Barkey in front for the tap-in.

The goal was Barkey’s first career postseason goal, and York, who had passed the puck to Zegras, got his first career playoff point.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool, obviously, to hear the crowd, and just see how much passion they have here for the game of hockey,” Barkey said about the moment he scored. “Their support’s been great. So, unfortunately, couldn’t get it done tonight, so hopefully, we’ll get it done next game.”

» READ MORE: The Flyers have to pass an unfamiliar test after losing Game 4 to the Penguins.

The tally got the crowd back into it as the Flyers kept pressing, and with 46 seconds left in the middle frame, Sanheim rang the puck off the crossbar after he got behind the defense after a three-on-two developed into a two-on-one with him and Travis Konecny.

Things looked to be turning in the Flyers’ favor, but less than five minutes into the third period, Kris Letang walked the line before ripping a slap shot past Vladař from the high slot. The goal was scored during four-on-four action after Garnet Hathaway was called for elbowing Karlsson, who got some punches in after the fact and was awarded a minor for roughing.

But, as they’ve shown all season long, the Flyers don’t quit, and less than three minutes later, they had again made it a one-goal game.

The Flyers got the puck deep with Porter Martone getting it up to Ristolainen at the right point. He settled the bouncing puck and sent it to his partner, Sanheim, as he was skating towards him. The blueliner got the puck and almost lost it as he split between two Penguins before chipping it low to Dvorak along the end boards. Dvorak quickly fired the puck to Konecny, who one-timed a perfect shot over the shoulder of Šilovs.

The goal was Konecny’s first goal of the playoffs and second of his career, while Sanheim now has 10 points in 24 career playoff games.

But the Flyers couldn’t net the equalizer — they did have 11 shot attempts in the final six minutes — and Connor Dewar added an empty-netter with just under a minute to go to seal the series going back to Pittsburgh.

“I thought we finished strong,” said Konecny. “I thought we played hard all the way to the end. I loved our press at the end to try to tie it up, but it just didn’t happen.”

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet was the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks when Šilovs made his NHL debut in February 2023, and when the Latvian netminder started 10 games in the 2024 postseason for the team. ... Crosby’s goal was his 16th in the playoffs against the Flyers, passing Wayne Gretzky and Evgeni Malkin for the most against the franchise. He also had an assist for his 68th multi-point game in the Stanley Cup playoffs, ranking him third in NHL history behind Gretzky (108) and Mark Messier (77). ... Barkey, 20, and Porter Martone, 19, who scored in the first two games, became the fourth set of players 20 or younger to score in a playoff year in Flyers history. They join Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn in 2012, Murray Craven, Derrick Smith, and Peter Zezel in 1985, and Ken Linseman and Behn Wilson in 1979.

Game 5 is Monday in Pittsburgh (7 p.m., ESPN, NBCSP).