The Flyers set the tone for Saturday’s win with their physicality, and their veterans led the way

PITTSBURGH ― It’s Flyers-Penguins. Of course it was going to get physical. In the first period alone, the Flyers were credited with 17 hits, five from captain Sean Couturier. They ended the game with 40 hits, seven from Couturier.

As one of the youngest teams in the playoffs, the Flyers had 10 players make their NHL playoff debuts on Saturday in Game 1 in Pittsburgh.

Coming into the game, Jamie Drysdale said that all of the team’s veterans, including Couturier, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Garnet Hathaway, and Nick Seeler, talked in the dressing room about just how physical the game was going to get. Even more importantly, they led by example.

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“We came in with real high intensity in that first period,” Drysdale said. “[Couturier] led the way there. Played a hell of a game, and I think everyone just built off that.”

Couturier, a former Selke Trophy winner, has always been strong on the defensive side of the puck, but has amped up his physicality since his transition to a bottom-six, penalty-killing role.

He’s an intelligent player, and coach Rick Tocchet praised him especially for picking his spots and helping to calm the bench and the crowd down.

“The Pens had two or three really good hits, and the crowd was going and [Couturier] went out that shift, and he got somebody, hit somebody really good,” Tocchet said. “I think it actually helped settle our bench down, even the young guys, when your captain does that. He answered the bell.”

The young Flyers didn’t look fazed on Saturday, as Drysdale, 24, and Porter Martone, 19, both scored their first playoff goals in their first playoff game, and 20-year-old Denver Barkey picked up an assist on Drysdale’s goal.

But that confidence didn’t necessarily come right away.

“There were a couple of them that were a little surprised to start the game, but I think just having been there before, understanding they’re going to come at you and be physical, so you need to obviously do it when you get the chance, take every opportunity to be physical,” Sanheim said.

Most importantly, the Flyers used their physicality to tilt the ice. Tocchet stressed that they wanted to finish checks when it made sense, and not to tire themselves out running around trying to throw excessive hits.

The Flyers kept the Penguins outside along the boards, forcing them to take lower-percentage shots, and stifled their zone entry attempts, except on the final goal by Bryan Rust. In the final minutes, Sanheim successfully goaded Sidney Crosby into taking matching minor penalties, keeping him off the ice as the Penguins tried to tie the game.

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Postgame, multiple Penguins remarked that they weren’t prepared for how physical the Flyers would be, and that they found themselves getting dragged into more scuffles than they wanted.

Now, if there was an element of surprise, it’s gone. Both teams will need to readjust for Monday’s Game 2, and the Flyers’ veterans showed Saturday how to dictate the game on their terms.

“They were physical too,” Tocchet said. “It’s going to be the same way. The team that can just continue to do it over and over again in the playoffs is usually the successful one.”