Playoff hockey is back in Philadelphia, and the Flyers kicked off the new era with a 3-2 win in Pittsburgh. They now have home-ice advantage for the remainder of the series, and will go back to Philadelphia with the series at least tied 1-1 before Game 3.
The basics
First period: No scoring
Second period: 9:19 – Jamie Drysdale (Trevor Zegras, Denver Barkey), 15:51 – Evgeni Malkin (Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell)
Third period: 10:00 – Travis Sanheim (Rasmus Ristolainen, Christian Dvorak), 17:23 – Porter Martone (Travis Konecny), 18:59 – Bryan Rust (Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson)
SOG: 20 (PHI) – 17 (PIT)
Takeaways
Travis Sanheim makes biggest play of his career
How good must the go-ahead goal have felt for Travis Sanheim?
We have to start with one of the three Flyers on this roster who has been here forever. With exactly 10 minutes to go in the third, Travis Sanheim made the play of his career thus far, making a move on the blueline and eventually beating Skinner with a shot. The assists went to Ristolainen and Dvorak, as we got our first ever Playoff Risto point too.
Sanny Snipe Show in the Steel City. 🎯#PHIvsPIT | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/wKP2bq9rC3
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 19, 2026
On the rest of the night, Sanheim was also one of the best players on the ice. He took down a massive 23:19 TOI (second to Ristolainen’s 25:00). He decked multiple Penguins with open-ice hits. He got under the skin of Sidney Crosby at the end of regulation with the goalie pulled for Pittsburgh, earning offsetting penalties that took the Penguins captain off the ice. Sanheim just took over in many different ways, as it was a darn good start to the playoffs for the Flyers No. 1 defenseman.
Porter Martone also makes biggest play of his career
Heading into the playoffs, Porter Martone is probably the Flyers biggest wild card, the Flyers biggest ceiling-raiser for how far they can go in the playoffs. Tonight, after being fairly unnoticeable during stretches of this one, Martone sealed the game for the Flyers with the ultimate game-winning goal. With less than three minutes to go, Martone skated around the circle, found some room, and sniped a puck past Skinner. Truly an impressive amount of raw skill and poise for the 19-year-old. If this is the Porter Martone that the Flyers continue to get in this series, look out.
MARTY PARTY HARD. #PHIvsPIT | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/OFss5fPrej
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 19, 2026
Jamie Drysdale opens the scoring
Jamie Drysdale was one of the standouts for the Flyers tonight, with the first Flyers playoff goal since 2020. Up to the point of Drysdale’s goal in the second period, the Flyers were peppering Stuart Skinner with high danger chances out of intermission. They were due, and it came in the form of a Drysdale shot sneaking through Skinner for the first playoff point of his career.
EAST SIDE STRIKES FIRST. #PHIvsPIT | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/WtKs41kE2U
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 19, 2026
Other than that? It was an all-around solid first career playoff game for Drysdale. He was noticeable in positive ways on the breakout, had no noticeable gaffes, and played the type of way that we’ve come to expect from Drysdale this season. Another positive sign for the Flyers chances in this series.
Physicality galore
It might have been just the intensity of the playoffs, but man did the Flyers make it a point to up the physicality today. Every single player on the Flyers registered at least one hit, except for Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras. They registered a whopping 40 hits, including 20 in the first period alone. Couturier had 7 hits, including 5 in that extremely physical first period. Couturier was a real standout all night, and looks to be putting his fourth line style into overdrive.
The Penguins seemed a little surprised by the physicality in the first period, and certainly upped the ante as the game progressed. Hits finished at 41-40 Pittsburgh, but this was really the case of the Flyers dragging the Penguins into the fight. The Penguins did wake up over the course of the game, and are much more certain to come out with juice in Game 2. Expect this only to get more physical as we progress.
Early returns on special teams battle
One of the major storylines to track in this series is the massive gap in the quality of the Flyers and Penguins special teams. Simply put, to win this series against Pittsburgh, the Flyers are going to have to stay out of the box and limit the amount of power play opportunities Pittsburgh gets. Or, the Flyers bottom-third of the NHL penalty kill is going to have to stand strong against the 7th best power play in the league.
Tonight, it’s so far, so good for the special teams battle for Philadelphia. They went 2 for 2 on the penalty kill and 0 for 3 on the power play. We’re never expecting much from the power play, and that will be sure to bite them at some point in the playoffs, but tonight is not that night. The Flyers will take any game they can get where there’s no special teams goals whatsoever. By shutting down the Penguins power play, the Flyers were able to make this game that would have to be won at 5-on-5. All year, that’s been a recipe for success, and that continued tonight.
Couturier, Dvorak lines get Crosby duties
Before the game, Rick Tocchet said that two lines will have the job of stopping Sidney Crosby. Those two lines were Sean Couturier and Christian Dvorak’s.
Through two periods, the Flyers matched either Couturier or Dvorak on Crosby in all but one shift at even strength per Natural Stat Trick. The one anomaly? The shift right before Evgeni Malkin’s goal in the second period that tied the game, where the Cates line got pinned in the Flyers zone for a long time. That trend continued in the third period, where Tocchet tried to get Couturier out there against Crosby whenever he could.
Outside of that shift, the Flyers did their job on Crosby in Game 1. Holding Crosby off the stat sheet is a victory whenever it happens, and another good sign of things to come in this series. Crosby’s line still drove play at 5-on-5 (53 CF%), but they generated 0 high danger chances all night at even strength. That will play for the Flyers, and we’ll see how the Penguins try to adjust in Game 2.
How did the young guys do?
There’s something to be said about the poise that the Flyers young players showed tonight. It came through in different moments, and up and down the lineup. Porter Martone scored an essential, highlight reel goal to win the game. Denver Barkey won a long board battle against multiple Penguins in the last 20 seconds of the first period, primarily against 6’8” Elder Soderblom, and also registered an assist. Tyson Foerster caused issues all night on the forecheck, drawing a penalty because of it. Jamie Drysdale scored in his first career playoff game. There were positives up and down the lineup, and even though Matvei Michkov had a relatively quiet first game, it’s hard not to walk away impressed with the way the young guns played tonight. If they keep doing that, that bodes well for the rest of this series.
