Flyers emerge with win over Penguins in opening tussle of playoff series

Porter Martone scored a timely goal late for the Philadelphia Flyers, who skated away with a 3-2 road victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series on Saturday night.

Travis Sanheim and Jamie Drysdale also scored for Philadelphia. Trevor Zegras, Denver Barkey, Rasmus Ristolainen, Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny registered assists.

Dan Vladar stopped 15 shots for the Flyers, none bigger than a point-blank stop on Anthony Mantha in the closing seconds to preserve the win.

Evgeni Malkin scored his 68th postseason goal for the Penguins and assisted on Bryan Rust's goal. Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson earned assists.

Stuart Skinner faced 20 shots and made 17 saves.

The postseason renewal of the Battle of Pennsylvania was exactly that for the two teams ending lengthy playoff droughts. It was a physical affair that featured just 26 shots on goal and 59 hits through the first two periods. That favored the Flyers, who finished the season fourth in the league in hits.

Martone, the 19-year-old who joined Philadelphia from Michigan State on March 31, scored what appeared to be an insurance goal with 2:37 left that gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead. That prompted Pittsburgh to pull Skinner for a sixth attacker.

A tussle between Penguins star Sidney Crosby and Sanheim sent both to the penalty box with 1:09 left, and Rust made it a one-goal game from the high slot eight seconds later.

Drysdale gave Philadelphia the lead midway through the second. Zegras skated behind the net and found the defenseman in the faceoff circle. Denver Barkey also assisted on the goal and further helped by screening Skinner.

Less than seven minutes later, Malkin provided the equalizer as the Penguins applied pressure in the attack zone. Vladar stopped Rakell but allowed a long rebound to his right that Novak tapped to the 39-year-old, who scored from the faceoff circle with 4:09 left in the period.

Sanheim reclaimed the lead for Philadelphia at the midway point of the third.

Pittsburgh's 17 shots on goal were its fewest in a postseason game since the Penguins mustered just 12 in Game 5 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final against the Nashville Predators.

--Field Level Media