Penguins/NHL
3 - 2
The Pittsburgh Penguins staved off elimination for the second consecutive game and are sending the series back to Philadelphia. Pittsburgh prevailed in Game 5 with a 3-2 win in arguably their most complete game of the series.
Is the tide changing in the series?
There’s a reason only four teams in NHL history have come back in a series being down 3-0 (.981 All-Time Winning % For Teams up 3-0) but you can feel it where Pittsburgh has turned the tables a bit where all of the pressure is going to be on Philadelphia Wednesday night with Pittsburgh having the potential of a Game 7 at home.
Among the reasons is just the overall level of play in the last five to six periods. Whereas, in the first three games Philadelphia was a physical, swarming systematic masterclass, Pittsburgh has suddenly got to their game where you can even read the Flyers body language they know it’s a series now.
Sidney Crosby with a 2 assists night was the catalyst once again with a dominant 200 ft game and it was also a number of other factors that played out in Game 5 to be encouraged of where Pittsburgh’s game is headed into Game 6.
“We’ve done a great job of handling adversity,” Sidney Crosby said. “Again here, we’re faced with more. It doesn’t get any easier, we have a lot of belief in our group and we’ve done it time and time again.”
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Depth Finally Shines Through: The third line for the first time in the series played fast with and away from the puck. Elmer Soderblom with an opening goal minutes in the first period, was a puck possession beast along the wall and also drew a penalty in the first. Even Anthony Mantha who has been among the worst players in the series, had some fire in his game. Instead of perimeter, perimeter, perimeter from Mantha, there were attempts to get to the inside. And there was just a trickledown effect. The 4th line resembled the 4th line of the regular season. They were hard on pucks, providing that second wave of pressure in a way the Flyers drove the Penguins nuts with in games 1-3. A Connor Dewar blistering goal in the second was off a Sidney Crosby feed
Smart Physicality: Game 5 was the most physical we saw the Penguins all series and it was smart physicality. There were few drive-by’s of passing up checks. I thought Pittsburgh as a whole gave the Flyers a taste of their own medicine in just not making things easy and it played a part in the Flyers lacking creativity with the puck because of the Penguins pressure. And let’s call it like it is, the Penguins stopped playing into the Flyers head games after the whistle. That was a big development in Game 5.
Defending Hard In Proper Lanes: A major strength for the Penguins all season was structure defensively to offset limitations of the personnel they have on the blueline. It was close to a master-class defensively in the third Monday night. Little running around among the group and defending hard in the battle areas. Pittsburgh was the faster team retrieving pucks and rebounds in their own zone and Flyers coach Rick Tocchet in particular thought how hard the Penguins defended took away from the Flyers creativity. It saw Philadelphia rushing shots and don’t overlook Pittsburgh’s 1-2-2 neutral zone trap shining through the last two games in being a game changer in the series.
“It’s a tight game, gotta give them credit,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “They’re defending really hard. Got to fake some shots, deception. Little more creativity,” Tocchet said of his group.” To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Game 4 Key Takeaways: Did Penguins find some cracks in the Flyers game?