Dan Vladař, Flyers take commanding 2-0 series lead behind their first shutout of the season

PITTSBURGH ― Porter Martone said it best after the game: The Flyers are “really rolling” and he “hopped onto a moving train.”

Philly went into Western Pennsylvania and left with a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series thanks to a 3-0 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference’s first round.

Martone, Garnet Hathaway, and Luke Glendening tallied the goals, the Flyers delivered several big-time hits, including Rasmus Ristolainen on Sidney Crosby in the first period, and Dan Vladař shut the door in the final frame.

Philly did not have a shutout in the regular season, but saved it for the postseason with Vladař recording his fifth career shutout and first in the postseason — in his second career start.

They have now won five straight games dating back to the regular season.

» READ MORE: The inexperienced Flyers stole the Penguins’ will in their Game 2 victory. Now, the series shifts to Philly

“Been saying it for a bit. We have the belief in the room that we can play good hockey,” forward Travis Konecny said, “and we’re just trying to stay level-headed and continue to play the same style we’ve been playing that put us on the run to try to get into the playoffs, and we just keep sticking to our game and keep believing in the locker room.”

After a banger, pun intended, of a Game 1, both teams once again brought the boom with the Flyers laying 28 hits in the first period and finishing with 48. Pittsburgh tried to turn it up in the second but had a total of 32.

And like Saturday, Game 2 featured a first period without any goals as goalies Stuart Skinner for Pittsburgh and Vladař for the Flyers stopped a combined seven shots.

But in the second period, the Flyers pounced.

Philly got the puck into Pittsburgh’s end and went to work with Martone first on the Ryan Shea ring-around, and chipping it to Christian Dvorak down the boards. Martone got it back along the boards after Dvorak was hit by Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton, before dumping it back down to an open Dvorak.

The centerman carried the puck around the net, hitting the final member of the line, Konecny, for a quick shot that went off the stick of Shea right to Martone, gliding down toward the left post. A right-shot, he twisted to get the puck into the net on the backhand for his second playoff goal in as many career games.

“Probably not, hard to say,” Dvorak said when asked if he’s ever seen a 19-year-old come in and show no fear going into board battles. “But he fit in right away. Confident kid, and he’s been huge for us to show that confidence, straight from college, is very impressive. He’s in the right areas and just a really smart hockey player.”

» READ MORE: Porter Martone’s fast start with the Flyers was forged in Michigan State’s gym: ‘The best decision I ever made’

Later in the period, the Flyers doubled the lead with a “power kill.”

After limping across the regular-season finish line on the penalty kill, allowing eight goals across the 23 times they were shorthanded over the final nine games, they have not just shut down the Penguins’ seventh-ranked power play, but have outscored it.

As Pittsburgh’s fourth of five power plays on the night was winding down, Ristolainen cleared the puck, and the fleet-of-foot Owen Tippett raced down the ice, putting pressure on Skinner, who came out to play the puck. The goalie moved the puck around the boards, and with it looking like the Penguins were sleeping on the recovery, the Flyers winger was the first one there.

Then he improvised.

Facing some pressure, Tippett literally tipped it to himself as he pushed off Tommy Novak and then danced around three-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Letang. He fell to both knees in the process, got up — still in control of the puck — and pump faked before sliding it over to Garnet Hathaway for the tap-in goal.

“I knew I had everyone beat up ice. I was reading what way Skinner was going. I came in one side, and he continued to go backhand, and I just followed it,” said Tippett, who added Hathaway was yelling he had time.

“Wasn’t too worried about what was going on behind me, and as soon as I got the puck, I saw one guy was coming behind me, and I thought I was going to get hit.”

Hathaway had one goal in 66 games during the regular season and now has four playoff goals in 33 career games. And he was the one who beat out an icing approximately a minute before Martone opened the scoring.

» READ MORE: The Flyers’ much-maligned penalty kill has kept the Penguins’ potent power play in check through two games

“It’s awesome,” Dvorak said of seeing Hathaway score. “He’s always going to have the work boots on. He’s a great teammate, and it was a well-deserved goal and I think it put a smile on everyone’s face, that’s for sure.”

In the third period, it was the Vladař show.

Between Glendening getting stoned by Skinner on a two-on-none shorthanded chance — he scored an empty-netter to seal the deal — and Tippett shooting wide on a penalty shot, the Flyers’ goalie was once again masterful as the Penguins pushed hard in the final 20 minutes.

He made a toe save on a wide-open Samuel Girard, who picked up a ricochet of a Bryan Rust attempt off Travis Sanheim less than three minutes in after the Flyers started the period on a power play. Nick Seeler and Noah Juulsen gave him stick taps after that one.

Off a broken play, the Czech netminder then stopped a whipped backhand by Novak and a quick shot later by Egor Chinakov. There was a right-pad stop through traffic on Erik Karlsson and a shot by Sidney Crosby that went right off his arm. And during a Penguins power play, he kicked out a bouncer as the Flyers clung to a 2-0 lead.

» READ MORE: Don’t be surprised by Porter Martone’s spectacular start. The Flyers knew what they had all along.

“They were pressing us about three, four minutes, and we got to the timeout, and they were coming in waves at us, and he said, ‘We’re OK. Guys, don’t worry about it. Relax.’ He says that [and] he’s the goalie, he’s getting peppered a little bit, it means a lot,” said Tocchet of his goaltender.

Vladař finished with 13 saves in the third period and 27 overall.

Hathaway’s shorthanded goal was the first for the Flyers in the playoffs since Valtteri Filppula scored on April 20, 2018, against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. … Defenseman Emil Andrae is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Juulsen slotted in. He played in Game 82 but had been a healthy scratch for the previous five games and entered with two games of playoff experience, the last coming on May 14, 2024, when he was with the Vancouver Canucks. … Martone became just the fourth player, and first teenager, to score game-winning goals in his first two career playoff games. … The Flyers have never lost a series when they have led 2-0; they are a perfect 18-0 in that scenario.

The Flyers return home to host the first playoff game in front of fans since 2018 on Wednesday (7 p.m., NBCSP, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).