PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (2-3) have scratched, punched, and clawed their way back into the series after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers (3-2), 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Monday night. Despite blowing a two-goal lead and missing several attempts at an empty net to seal the game in its final minute, the Penguins were able to utilize a Kris Letang game-winning goal for a second-consecutive game to send the series back to Philadelphia with a chance to tie it in Game 6 on Wednesday night.

Sometimes goals come from the simplest plays. That is how the Penguins got on the board first. A simple dump of the puck by Elmer Soderblom led to Anthony Mantha getting to the puck first and then backhanding a pass back to a breaking Soderblom (1) down the slot. Soderblom received the pass, dropped to one knee, and then lasered a wrist shot over the glove of Flyers netminder Dan Vladar. The goal came on the Penguins’ first shot on goal and gave them an early 1-0 lead at 2:45 of the first.

While the Penguins had the better of the play for the majority of the first, they were lucky to escape with their 1-0 lead still intact after the Flyers fired eight shot attempts at Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs in the last 1:14 of the period. Only one of them made it on Silovs, four missed the net, and three were blocked.

While the Penguins held on for dear life to end the first, they took it to the Flyers to start the second. After sustained pressure in the Flyers’ zone they were able to complete a partial line change as they cycled the puck. As Sidney Crosby entered the ice he flagged down an attempted Flyers clear with his glove, dropped the puck to his stick and found a streaking Connor Dewar (2) who fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle, off the right shoulder of Vladar and in. The puck went in so quickly off the back bar of the net that the officials initially said no goal, thinking it went off the crossbar, but they quickly corrected the call. The goal gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead, but that lead would be very, very short-lived.

Just 12 seconds later the Flyers would halve the Penguins’ lead. Rookie Alex Bump (1), inserted into the lineup for Game 5 in favor of Matvei Michkov, led all Flyers shooters in the first period with three of their nine shots. He continued to have an impact in the second when he grabbed the puck at center ice, slithered his way into the Penguins’ zone, around Parker Wotherspoon, showed backhand, switched to his forehand, and wristed a shot through the equipment of Silovs to pull the Flyers back to within a goal, 2-1.

If the air did not leave the building when Crosby took a Ryan Shea slap shot off the inside of his left knee and immediately went down the runway, it did shortly thereafter when the Flyers tied the game at two. After some perimeter passing, Travis Sanheim (2) gathered the puck and skated down from his point position to the left mid-wall and (2) wristed a shot towards Silovs that hit the stick of defenseman Erik Karlsson and deflected in at 15:06 of the second.

Just as quickly as the mood had soured inside PPG Paints Arena, Crosby returned to the ice and the Penguins re-gained the lead. Crosby worked the puck below the goal line and then slid it to Kris Letang at the right point. Letang (2) then fired a slap shot that went wide right of the net. However, the ensuing rebound deflected off the boards, hit the back of Vladar’s left leg, and trickled into the net at 17:12 of the second to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. It was Letang’s second goal in as many games and his 25th career playoff goal, which leads all active defensemen.

The Penguins nearly regained their two-goal lead just 24 seconds into the third when Bryan Rust got an unobstructed chance on Vladar from in tight. He deeked forehand to backhand, but Vladar was equal to the task, robbing Rust with a left pad save.

The Penguins tightened things up defensively in the third, allowing just six shots and blocking three. In fact, the Penguins allowed just 20 total shots, the fewest they have allowed in their last 63 playoff games, according to Penguins historian Bob Grove. Additionally, after allowing 31 shot attempts in the first, the Penguins cut that number down to 12 attempts in the second and 15 in the third.

They could have made it a bit easier on themselves, but with Vladar pulled, the Penguins missed several glorious chances to score into the empty net, missing on each occasion, including a shot that slid off the post. However, despite the misses and the icing calls bringing faceoffs back to the Penguins’ zone, they were able to keep the puck out of their net and hang on for the 3-2 victory.

The Penguins and Flyers will now make the cross-state trek back to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Wednesday night. The Penguins will continue attempting to become just the fifth team in NHL history to overcome a 0-3 deficit to win a series.

Notes

The Penguins’ lines, defensive pairs, and starting goaltenders remained the same as Game 4. As mentioned, the Flyers inserted forward Alex Bump on the third line in favor of Matvei Michkov and defenseman Emil Andrae replaced Noah Juulsen on the third defensive pair.

Statistics

Shots on goal favored the Penguins, 21-20

Power plays were even at two apiece.

Hits favored the Flyers 42-37.

Faceoff winning percentage favored the Flyers 53.3% to 46.7%.

Blocked shots favored the Flyers 16-15.

The Penguins had more than double the giveaways as the Flyers, 23-11.

Tags: arturs silovs Evgeni Malkin Kris Letang philadlephia flyers Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby

Categorized:2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Penguins Postgame