Flyers lose Game 5 and now Pittsburgh believes they have a pulse
So much for closing it out on the road. The Flyers lost 3-2 to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Monday night and the series lead is down to 3-2.
Two straight losses after jumping out to a commanding 3-0 lead. The building in Pittsburgh had energy for the first time all series and the Flyers didn’t match it.
Let me be very clear about something before anyone starts panicking. The Flyers are still up 3-2. They’re going home for Game 6. Only four teams in the entire history of the NHL have ever come back from 3-0 to win a series.
The Penguins would have to do something that has only happened four times ever just to survive. The odds are overwhelmingly in the Flyers’ favor but the momentum has shifted and if the Flyers don’t close this out Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, things are going to get very uncomfortable very fast.
The Game Was Decided by a Fluky Bounce
The Flyers trailed 2-0 early after Elmer Soderblom scored from the slot just 2:45 into the game. They battled back in the second period with goals from Alex Bump and Travis Sanheim to tie it at 2-2. The comeback was exactly what you want to see from a team facing elimination-level desperation from their opponent.
Alex Bump and Travis Sanheim bring the Flyers back
Then Kris Letang happened. He fired a high shot that Vladar tried to glove. The puck ricocheted off the boards, then off Vladar’s leg, and ended up in the net. Tocchet called it fluky. Vladar called it an unfortunate bounce. It was both. Sometimes that’s how playoff hockey works.
The Penguins got the bounce (again) and the Flyers didn’t. That was the difference in a one-goal game.
Vladar was solid otherwise with 18 saves on 21 shots and gave the Flyers a really strong third period. But the Flyers couldn’t generate enough offense to rally. Arturs Silovs, making his second straight start for Pittsburgh after replacing Skinner, stopped 18 of 20 shots and denied Porter Martone with under a minute left.
Crosby Is Waking Up at the Worst Time
After recording just one assist through the first three games, Crosby now has back-to-back multi-point efforts in Games 4 and 5. He assisted on Letang’s go-ahead goal Monday after taking a shot off his left leg earlier in the period and briefly leaving the game.
The man came back from getting drilled in the leg and immediately set up the game-winning goal. That’s why Crosby is Crosby and why Tocchet warned everyone that Pittsburgh wasn’t going away.
The Flyers held Crosby in check for three games and it wasn’t enough to finish the series. Now he’s found his game and the Flyers need to figure out how to put the clamps back on him before he drags this thing to a Game 7 by sheer force of will.
Bump Was a Bright Spot
Alex Bump replaced Matvei Michkov as a healthy scratch and looked like he belonged from his very first shift. He fired a shot, threw a hit, and then scored a goal 12 seconds after Connor Dewar had given Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
The kid quieted the building immediately and played with the kind of energy and physicality that Tocchet has been looking for from his forward group.
Bump said the crowd doesn’t intimidate him and he played like it. Both his first regular season goal and first playoff goal came at PPG Paints Arena. For a 22-year-old making his postseason debut, he did exactly what the Flyers needed.
The Power Play Is a Disaster
The Flyers went 0-for-2 Monday night and are now 2-for-15 on the power play in this series. The league’s worst power play during the regular season has somehow gotten worse in the playoffs.
At some point this is going to cost them a game they can’t afford to lose. If the Flyers generate power play opportunities Wednesday and convert even one of them, this series is over. But going 2-for-15 against any team, let alone the Penguins, is leaving points on the table that a team with a 3-2 lead should not be wasting.
Wednesday Night. Finish This. No Excuses.
Game 6 is Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSP. The Flyers are coming home with a 3-2 series lead and a building that is going to be absolutely desperate to see this team close it out.
The fans have waited six years for playoff hockey in Philadelphia. They are not going to sit quietly while the Penguins try to claw their way back into this series.
Tocchet said the Flyers need more creativity on offense. More deception, more faking shots, more willingness to make plays instead of just throwing pucks at shin pads.
Sanheim said the team needs to dig deeper and play with more desperation. They’re both right. The Flyers have been the better team for the vast majority of this series but the last two games have been sloppy and unfocused and Pittsburgh has taken advantage.
No more sloppy hockey. No more fluky bounces deciding games. No more letting Crosby find his groove. Go out Wednesday night, play the best 60 minutes of the season, and send Pittsburgh home for the summer.
I still believe in this team. Flyers in 6. Always has been.
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