The Pittsburgh Penguins needed their veterans to step up to avoid the sweep against the Philadelphia Flyers. They not only got that, but also a strong performance from Arturs Silovs and a bit of imitating Philadelphia's style.
After starting this percolating, best-of-seven playoff series with three straight losses, it would have been easy for the aging Pittsburgh Penguins to pack it in Saturday and make tee times for their favorite golf courses.
But there's too much pride on the Penguins to allow that to happen.
Not surprisingly, it was the veterans who led the way as the Penguins played their best game of the series and stayed alive with a hard-earned 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the deflated Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The old guys showed they still have something left in the tank against the upstart, younger Flyers.
Sidney Crosby, 38, had two points and scored his first goal of the series, and Kris Letang, 39, deposited what proved to be the game-winning tally as the Penguins survived.
"It's only one, but it gives us some life, and I think that looked more like our game," said Crosby, whose team iced the win on Connor Dewar's empty-net goal with 57 seconds left. "It's probably taken us three games to look like ourselves a bit. That's something we can definitely build on."
With Pittsburgh clinging to a 2-1 lead early in the third period, Crosby kicked the puck to Letang, then drove toward the net and jumped into the air to set a screen as the defenseman cruised closer and beat goaltender Dan Vladar.
"It's all those little details sometimes," Letang said. "It's not the crazy play or the passes and finding a guy back post. It was an amazing play and just shows you how much IQ he has on the ice and how he knows what to do every moment in every situation."
Penguins coach Dan Muse said the seeds for the win were planted by Friday's sharp, upbeat practice.
"I thought they competed really hard (Friday) and they were focused, but they also weren't too tight," Muse said. "The credit falls to the leadership in the locker room to make sure that's there. That's a credit to Sid and the leaders. Today started yesterday."
Muse gambled by replacing goalie Stuart Skinner, who played very well in the first three games, with Arturs 'Artie' Silvos, who stopped 28 of 30 shots.
"Tonight, with the situation we were in, in a loud building like this, I thought he was really poised," Crosby said. "He made some big saves for us when they pushed and could have gotten a lot of momentum."
One of his biggest saves came in the second period as he stopped Tyson Foerster on a shorthanded mini-breakaway.
Imitating The Flyers
With their playoff hopes flickering, the Penguins took a page out of the Flyers' playbook.
Imitating the way the Flyers played in the first three games, Pittsburgh had more physicality in its game and displayed a close-checking style. The Pens also did a better job navigating through the neutral zone.
As a result, the Penguins – which had a 36-29 advantage in hits – kept their season alive.
Philadelphia has a 3-1 lead in the series, which resumes Monday night at 7 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh.
But the Penguins have hope. They are returning home, and they found a blueprint to beat their cross-state rivals: tight-checking, physicality and hustle.
The hustle was provided by Rickard Rakell on one of the game's most critical goals.
Hustling behind the net, he blocked a clearing attempt by Flyers goalie Vladar. The puck caromed in front, and Rakell made a diving swipe at it – barely getting to the puck ahead of Vladar – and put it into the net.
That gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead with 18:57 left in the second.
Vladar took responsibility for the first two goals, including a power-play tally by Crosby that bounced off his glove.
After the loss, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said the Flyers had some skaters who looked "sluggish" in the first part of the game.
"We threw too many pucks away," he said. "That's what happens when you're not moving your feet. But then we started to come" in the second half of the game.
"I don't think anyone expected us to be up 3-0," said Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, who fired a shot off the crossbar when the Flyers faced a 2-1 deficit late in the second period. "A 3-1 series lead, we'll take it."
Sanheim pointed out that the Flyers have bounced back all season in games after losses.
"We've been playing well on the road, and we'll put our best effort there and hopefully get it done," right winger Travis Konecny said.
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