The Philadelphia Flyers went into Pittsburgh and got a 3-2 upset win over the Penguins in Game 1 on Saturday night.
Philadelphia never trailed in the game, as a strong defensive effort limited the Penguins’ chances, and the Flyers were able to capitalize on a few of theirs.
Let’s take a deeper look at all five goals in the Flyers’ 3-2 win using NHL.com’s EDGE Goal Visualizer.
Flyers’ cycle leads to Jamie Drysdale’s opening goal
The Flyers capitalized on a long shift in the Penguins’ zone to open the scoring midway through the second period.
Denver Barkey handed the puck off to Trevor Zegras in the corner and went into the slot as the tired Penguins skaters collapsed in front of the net. All five Penguins were below the top of the circles, with four skaters at or below the dots.
Zegras calmly controlled the puck behind the net, surveying his options in front. As the Penguins collapsed even further in front, he spotted Jamie Drysdale sneaking down the right side.
Drysdale was at the end of a long shift, but elected to stay on the ice as Cam York swapped out for Nick Seeler. He was at the left point and then shifted over to his right point as the left defensemen made their change. Drysdale found a soft spot in the coverage at the top of the circle and knew that Zegras would see him given the clear passing lane.
The defenseman received the puck from Zegras, changed the angle on Connor Dewar to create a shooting lane, and got the puck through traffic and past Stuart Skinner for the opening goal.
It was a goal of firsts for the Flyers, with Barkey, Zegras, and Drysdale all picking up points in their first playoff game. Zegras and Drysdale also scored their first NHL goals in the same game back on March 19, 2021.
The Flyers were unable to convert a few great chances off the rush in Game 1, so it was good to see them able to generate offense out of a cycle.
Malkin capitalizes on Flyers’ defensive lapses
Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins took advantage of a long cycle of their own to get on the board and tie the game later in the second period.
As the Penguins were changing, they had all five Flyers skaters on the right side of the defensive zone — the opposite side of the benches. A few quick passes found Rickard Rakell open by the blue line, and the forward skated in before firing a puck on net that Dan Vladar denied toward the corner.
Unfortunately, Tommy Novak was right there, and he dropped it off to Malkin coming off the bench. The veteran had plenty of room and rifled a shot past Vladar to tie the game.
This goal was the perfect example of what the Flyers need to avoid in this series. They’ve done a great job of limiting rush chances and killing plays early in their own zone, but long shifts lead to missed coverages, and that’s what happened here, as the Penguins were a step ahead of them.
Sanheim shimmies and snipes to give Flyers lead
Both teams had a few chances after that, but the game remained tied until the midway mark of the third period, when Travis Sanheim made a great move to create space and beat Skinner with a shot to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
It all started with Dvorak getting the puck into the corner and working it around the boards. Travis Konecny was headed that way if necessary, but Rasmus Ristolainen hopped off the bench and got to the puck with time and space. He baited Anthony Mantha toward him, then passed it across to Sanheim at the top of the point.
Sanheim unglued Elmer Soderblom and had room in the top of the slot to assess his options. The shot was great, as was the movement by the forwards to create space for Sanheim and doubt for Skinner.
When Sanheim made the move on Soderblom, Christian Dvorak and Konecny were crossing behind the net. Rather than staying in front for a possible deflection or rebound on a point shot, they fanned out to give Sanheim two one-time passing options with Porter Martone camped in front of the net.
Konecny was swinging outside already, but credit to Dvorak for his offensive awareness here.
All five skaters did their job, and Sanheim made the Penguins pay.
Porter Martone has his Moment
After the Sanheim goal, the Flyers did a fantastic job of clogging up the neutral zone and making the Penguins have to work all 200 feet up the ice if they wanted to score. The clock was ticking, and Martone put the exclamation point on the win with a snipe.
There aren’t enough words to describe how good this play was by Martone, so here’s the video to watch for the hundreth time.
MARTY PARTY HARD. #PHIvsPIT | #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/OFss5fPrej
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 19, 2026
The thing I want to point out is what Konecny — and more so Letang — does after getting the puck to Martone. The pest is cancelled out by Letang above the blue line, who felt satisfied with his hit as Martone enters the zone.
Letang then just stays with Konecny. He doesn’t make a move to get back into the play until it’s too late. He coasts into the zone as Martone finds twine.
It’s a real shame to see someone like Letang go out like this.
Of course, Martone’s goal gave the Flyers a bit of breathing room, but it still proved to be the game-winner after Bryan Rust’s lucky goal in front.
Right time, right place for Rust
The Penguins won an offensive-zone faceoff after Sanheim goaded Sidney Crosby into matching minors to make it 4-on-4 hockey, and 5-on-4 with the goalie pulled.
Malkin tried to get a shot through traffic from above the circle, and it bounced right in the slot to Rust off of Cam York’s glove.
Perhaps you can argue that York should either do a better job of blocking the puck or let Vladar make the save, but that’s getting a bit too nitpicky for me.
Instead, let’s take the time to focus on the Flyers’ faceoff struggles in Game 1. Everything is magnified in the playoffs, especially the play that may help determine who gets possession of the puck.
The Penguins won 29 of 49 (59.2%) of faceoffs in Game 1. Sean Couturier held his own, winning 5 of 8 draws, but every other Flyers center was under 50%. That’s an area to watch the rest of the series.
