Brooke Pryor
Multiple Authors
PITTSBURGH — After fending off elimination for the second time in 48 hours, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby said his team has found its stride.
“The last couple games we’ve found our stride a bit, so we feel good about that,” Crosby said after the Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Monday night to force Game 6. “I think with any series, though, you’ve got to get better with every game, and there’s still things that we can do better, and we’ll try to build on that.
“But we’re playing good hockey, and we got to go in there and find a way to win again.”
Game 6 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
The Penguins have outscored the Flyers 7-4 in the past two games after being outscored 11-4 in the first three.
And like their past three outings, the Penguins were aggressive from the opening period and netted the first goal Monday night, this time less than three minutes in as Anthony Mantha fed Elmer Soderblom the puck from behind the net and the left winger buried it past Dan Vladar for his first career playoff goal.
“It was great for us to get that start, especially here at home,” Soderblom said.
The quick goal instantly injected the crowd with energy, especially after many fans left the last contest here dejected when the Penguins were shut out 3-0 in Game 2.
But that wasn’t the case Monday night.
The Penguins scored twice more in the second period, each assisted by Crosby, including a bizarre ricochet goal that slipped past Vladar and was credited to Kris Letang.
“Especially after all the looks I got in the second, I can’t believe that one goes in, but I just tried to put it there,” Letang said. “Obviously made a crazy bounce. Sometimes you create your own luck.”
And the Penguins needed that lucky break after the Flyers knotted it up at 2 just minutes earlier on their own fluky goal.
“I think any time there’s a momentum swing like that, to be able to come back and quickly get it back, yeah, I’m a big believer,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “I think you earn your bounces, and so bounces are part of the game, but I think you earn them, and if you’re working and you’re working to do the right things, that’s usually when the bounces go your way.”
After attempting just 18 shots in their Game 1 loss, the Penguins have found more rhythm in the offensive zone over the past three games, something Crosby and his teammates said has been a key part of the team’s improvement.
“I think we’re getting to our game a lot more,” Letang said. “Our pace is a lot higher. The way we hold on to puck offensively, we’re not one and done on the rush. We’re sustaining zone time and it’s hard to defend, so we have to keep doing that.”
And while the Penguins created their own luck by sustaining their time in the offensive zone, the crowd helped create momentum with its loud “Flyers suck” chants and energetic playoff towel twirling.
“We definitely feed off it,” said Crosby, who returned to the ice after taking a shot off his left knee, adding after the game that he was fine. “It gives us a big boost, and whether it’s an early goal like that where we can get some momentum and feel that or late in a game where they’ve got the goalie pulled and we’ve got to find a way to close the game out, that’s huge to have your home crowd behind you. We feel that. It gives us a big boost and that’s something that goes a long way.”
Not only have the Penguins regained their offensive identity, but their defense helped put together a shutout in the third period to preserve their one-goal lead. Making his second consecutive start, goalie Arturs Silovs came up clutch throughout the night with 18 saves, but none were bigger than his third-period stops to keep the Penguins’ season alive.
“It’s about effort, and I think everyone bought in,” Silovs said. “Everyone had their hunger to battle in this game, and we got rewarded.”
The pattern of this series is reminiscent of the 2012 postseason, when the Penguins went down 3-0 after hosting the first two games. Pittsburgh rebounded to win Games 4 and 5 before being eliminated in Game 6 in Philadelphia.
Letang, who was part of that series along with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, sees the parallels.
Of course, this time, Letang and his teammates want to channel their postseason motto and flip the script on Game 6.
“I think it’s pretty simple,” Letang said. “The first three games, we kind of got into the same kind of slow game and scrum it out every time. And obviously the playoff is a different energy, but Game 4 and 5, we’re playing with pace, and that’s what we did all year. We’re not a team that we’re playing tough all year. We’re a team that won by playing fast and sustaining [offensive] zone.”
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