Penguins/NHL
Game 4:
The Pittsburgh Penguins staved off elimination Saturday Night with a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers to shift the series back to Pittsburgh Monday night. Sidney Crosby was the focal point of the Penguins victorious night. A power play goal at 14:27 of the first period jump started the Penguins and Pittsburgh never trailed for the first time in the series. Every push from Philadelphia was answered by the Penguins, capped off by phenomenal wall work from Crosby leading to Kris Letang’s third period goal, 4:27 in the the period to push the Penguins lead to 3-1. A Connor Dewar empty net goal would ice the game for Pittsburgh. 
Game 4 Key Takeaways 
The Flyers winning four straight has not happened once this year and winning four straight in the playoffs is always a difficult task. As badly as the Penguins were outplayed through the first nine periods of the series, no one should be shocked we’re going to see a Game 5. The Penguins have showed resiliency and pride all season and it was on display in the Game 4 win. What mattered is for the first time in the series the Penguins were able to dictate the terms in longer portions. The Flyers after playing a near perfect style of play through three games, looked like a club that didn’t have the same intensity in their game Saturday night. Even with a shot gap disadvantage, Flyers were +9 on the night, Pittsburgh was able to create more time and space for themselves throughout all three zones in attempting to drive play, something that was nowhere to be seen in games one through three. That’s where Game 5 becomes fascinating to see if Pittsburgh has a legitimate shot to extend the series and turn the pressure on Philadelphia for a potential Game 6 Wednesday Night. Do the Flyers Monday reclaim that suffocating, waves of pressure style to their game. If they don’t, things could get interesting.
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2. 
A storyline going into Game 5 is Flyers netminder Dan Vladar. Vladar after getting shaken up in the third period of Game 3 never looked right in Game 4. Is there an opportunity here for the Penguins? Crosby’s power play goal early in the first was a simple save Vladar was making 10 out of 10 times in games 1-3. Vladar then fumbled the puck behind the goal on Rickard Rakell’s’ goal and handling the puck is a major weakness in Vladar’s game. Pittsburgh aggressive chip and chase to the corners in Game 2 did not go well but soft dumps around the goal to force Vladar into those types of situations like the Rakell goal is something to watch.
3. Answering the Call: Arturs Silovs with a 28 save performance and he was very calm and pose in the net from start to finish. The Grade-A chances belonged to the Flyers. With Silovs, though, who would really be surprised if he allows four or five blown by him Monday Night. With the major inconsistencies Silovs has had since the Olympic break and struggles on home-ice, I would still be tempted to go back to Stuart Skinner in Game 5 on home-ice. The spark from a backup only lasts so long would be the thinking here.
4. Where is the scoring depth? The Penguins can’t truly make this a long series with three to four forwards showing up + Erik Karlsson, right? Someone from an Egor Chinakhov, Ben Kindel or Anthony Mantha has to step up here moving forward. Evaluating the two clubs 5 vs 5, Pittsburgh is severely lacking even an Avery Hayes type in their lineup to apply more speed and pressure on the forecheck.
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Game 3 What We Learned: Flyers showing Penguins what a roster built for playoffs looks like