Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (0-3) @ Philadelphia Flyers (3-0)
When: 8:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and NBC Sports Philadelphia, nationally on TBS and TruTV, streaming on HBO Max
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Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins need to win tonight to force Game 5, which would take place Monday in Pittsburgh at a time yet to be determined.
Opponent Track: The Flyers are up 3-0 after outscoring the Pens by a combined score of 11-4. They’re riding a six-game win streak dating back to the end of the regular season.
Hidden Stat: Teams that gain a 3-0 lead in an NHL playoff series have gone on to win 209 out of 213 times.
Hidden Stat II: Stuart Skinner is two years removed from coming close to a historic reverse sweep with the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers had fallen into an 0-3 hole to the Florida Panthers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final when he backstopped the team to three straight wins and forced a Game 7.
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Getting to know the Flyers
Projected lines (from Thursday’s practice)
FORWARDS
Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Denver Barkey – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway
DEFENSEMEN
Travis Sanheim / Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York / Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler / Noah Juulsen
Goalies: Dan Vladar (?) and Samuel Ersson
Potential scratches: Garrett Wilson, Carl Grundstrom, Alex Bump, Emil Andrae
Injured Reserve: Rodrigo Abols (fractured ankle), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body)
Goaltending questions
The biggest Game 4 question for the Flyers will be who is starting in net.
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Rick Tocchet said Thursday that Dan Vladar is “a little banged up.” The Flyers goaltender had what Tocchet described as “maintenance days” on both Thursday and Friday, and he’s considered a game-time decision heading into Game 4.
Vladar was in visible discomfort after taking contact from Bryan Rust in the third quarter of Wednesday’s Game 3. He at times appeared to be limited in his movements after that play.
If Vladar is unable to play Saturday, the Flyers will turn back to Samuel Ersson. Ersson has started just one game over the last few weeks, and it was the Flyers’ regular-season finale after they’d already clinched their playoff spot.
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Ersson’s overall numbers for the season (.870 SV%, 3.12 GAA) aren’t great, but he picked up his game after the Olympic break in February (.912 SV% and 1.8 GAA in nine games since then, per Hockey Reference).
If Vladar is hurting, the Flyers have enough cushion with their three-game series lead to see if Ersson can build on that momentum in Game 4.
“I’m not really worried if he had to play,” Tocchet said about Ersson Friday, per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “He’s locked in. Even in practice. If his number is called, he’ll be ready to go.”
And now for the Pens
Projected lines (from Friday’s practice)
FORWARDS
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Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin
Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Anthony Mantha
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard / Kris Letang
Ryan Shea / Ilya Solovyov
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves, Jack St. Ivany, Connor Clifton
IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones (season-ending shoulder surgery)
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Chinakhov is back on a line with Malkin, reuniting what’s been a solid combo from the regular season.
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It looks like Elmer Soderblom is drawing back into the lineup and Justin Brazeau is back out, based on Friday’s practice lines.
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Another change saw Ilya Solovyov slotting in on the bottom defense pairing alongside Ryan Shea in place of Connor Clifton.
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The Pens’ goalscoring through three postseason games have been limited to Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin (2). They’ll hope that list gets longer in Game 4.
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The Penguins have controlled play for parts of this series, including late in Game 2 and early in Game 3. This team has yet to maintain that level of control for an entire playoff game. Whether or not Dan Muse and his players can figure out how to change that will determine whether the season ends tonight.
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Part of those changes will involve avoiding retaliatory penalties. The Penguins acknowledged the scrums around the midway point of Game 3 seemingly energized the home team. Avoiding a repeat of that brawl, which swung the momentum of Wednesday’s loss, could be key to the Penguins finding a way to win for the first time this series.
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