Philadelphia leads the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, SN-PIT, NBCSP).
“If somebody told you guys before the series we were going to be up 3-1 after four games, you guys wouldn’t believe us,” Vladar said. “So we are good. Nothing’s changing for us. Still being positive in here. … They are a really good team. It’s not easy to win four in a row against a team like that. We’re fine here.”
Crosby put the Penguins ahead 1-0 at 14:24 of the first period with a power-play goal. On the ensuing face-off after Barkey was called for high-sticking, Crosby won the puck back to Erik Karlsson at the left point, then one-timed a return pass from the hash marks off Vladar’s glove.
Rakell made it 2-0 at 1:03 of the second period. Vladar lost the puck in Rakell’s skates behind the net, and Rakell dove in front to backhand it into an open cage.
“We know we’re not going to score many pretty goals,” Rakell said. “We’re going to have to score some goals on second efforts, rebounds, all those kind of ugly goals that you have to score in the playoffs. That’s just going to have to keep coming.”