PHILADELPHIA — It took three tries, but the Philadelphia Flyers landed the knockout blow on the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series on Wednesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, winning 1-0 thanks to the deciding goal in overtime by defenseman Cam York.
The Flyers, who won the first three games of the series before dropping Games 4 and 5, will now face the Carolina Hurricanes, who finished with the most points in the Eastern Conference in the regular season (113). It’s the Flyers’ first appearance in the second round since 2020, and just their second in the last 14 years.
With 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in overtime, York’s shot from distance went through traffic and past Penguins goaltender Artūrs Šilovs, who was rock solid all game. The winner was York’s first goal since Jan. 21.
“As soon as I got it, looked up, and Catesy (forward Noah Cates) was net front,” York said after the game. “Just the way that the game was going, we knew it was going to be a greasy one. Just wanted to get it to the net. Found a hole.”
The Flyers had a burst of early energy in the first period in front of their capacity crowd, including chances from a hard-charging Owen Tippett and Luke Glendening in the slot on a feed from Sean Couturier, but the Penguins came out of it unscathed.
Pittsburgh started to take control in the second period, easily moving the puck up the ice and leading to extended time in its offensive zone. The Penguins had one particularly lengthy shift about four minutes into the frame, forcing Tippett to ice the puck. A strange delay followed, as the referees and the Flyers’ bench argued over who should be on the ice, allowing some tired Flyers players extra time to rest before the next faceoff.
Each team had its chances in the third period. Matvei Michkov’s well-placed wrist shot off the rush was gloved by Šilovs midway through the frame, and Šilovs denied an open Cates in the circle with about seven minutes remaining.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar made 12 saves in the third period, including on Bryan Rust’s two attempts from in tight after the Penguins winger dangerously cut to the net. Vladar finished with 42 saves, earning his second shutout of the series after having zero in 51 regular-season starts.
Here’s what we saw in Game 6:
Dan Vladar saved all 42 shots he faced, recording his second shutout of the series. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
Vladar keeps Flyers afloat
While Šilovs probably had the more difficult of the stops throughout the game, Vladar was just as outstanding on the other end, particularly in the third period. He tracked several shots through traffic as the Penguins got bodies to the blue paint, and with about 8:30 to go, Vladar made back-to-back stops on Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. His best stop came with 3:30 to go, when Rust drove the net through a confused Flyers defense but ran into Vladar’s pad when he tried to push it into what looked like an open net.
While Vladar has been strong throughout the series, he gave the puck away, which led to the game-winning goal in Game 4, and then saw a strange ricochet off the end boards sneak between his pads in Game 5. There were no such errors in Game 6.
“They pressed the entire game, through three periods, overtime. The amount of Grade A, point-blank saves he made was just crazy,” Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale said of Vladar. “Incredible. Big-time player. He was unbelievable tonight.”
Šilovs gives Penguins a chance
First-year Penguins coach Dan Muse has made some curious decisions with his lineup this spring, but no one can question the move to go with Šilovs after Game 3.
The 25-year-old goaltender has a history of shining under the brightest spotlights, and he certainly did his part in Game 6.
The Flyers were not substantially better than the Penguins in this contest, but for most of the night, it was Philadelphia that enjoyed the majority of the scoring chances.
And for most of the evening, Šilovs stood on his head, ultimately stopping 31 of 32 shots.
It was an up-and-down regular season for Šilovs, but he has an undeniably strong postseason and international history. He’s not afraid of the big moments, and the Penguins nearly extended the series in large part thanks to him.
“That was a great shot, great screen, posted in, nothing to say about it,” Šilovs said of the winning goal.
Michkov returns, Hathaway comes out
After sitting out Game 5, Michkov made his return to the lineup as the right wing with Cates and Alex Bump. He took his position on the right flank for the second power-play unit, too.
Michkov made some decent passes in the offensive zone in the first period and nearly broke the scoreless tie in the second period on a partial breakaway, but his attempt was turned aside with 4:35 to go. Later on the same shift, after Bump got the puck to the front of the net, Michkov was nearly able to jam the loose puck through, but Šilovs held the line. Conversely, he was also pressured into some dangerous turnovers, including midway through the first when Malkin took the puck from him in the neutral zone and raced ahead on a two-on-one before taking a shot that Vladar kicked away.
To make room for Michkov, Garnet Hathaway came out as a healthy scratch. Tyson Foerster, who has struggled in the series, was bumped down to the fourth line, while rookie Porter Martone skated with Trevor Zegras and Tippett on a new-look top line. That allowed Travis Konecny to move back to the right wing, with center Christian Dvorak and left wing Denver Barkey.
Sean Couturier and Evgeni Malkin shake hands after Game 6. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
‘Shoot!’
The Penguins, historically speaking, are a team that doesn’t shoot all that often because of their high skill level. They’d rather make the perfect play. Tommy Novak took that strategy to the extreme early in the third period.
At that point in the game, the Penguins had been credited with only two high-danger chances at five-on-five play, according to Natural Stat Trick.
And yet, early in the third period, a Sam Girard shot from the left wing wall was deflected and eventually squirted to Novak, who was standing in front of the net with a half-wide-open cage staring him in the eye.
For reasons that defy imagination, Novak didn’t shoot. He could have shot at Vladar’s stick side, which was open. He also could have shifted the puck to his backhand. Instead, he held the puck for a couple of moments before throwing a pass back across the slot that had absolutely no chance of working.
In a game that had so few scoring chances, he didn’t help the cause with that decision.
