The Battle of Pennsylvania renews this month as the Flyers take on the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Penguins have a veteran-laden team with long-tenured superstar names atop their lineup: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson. The Flyers, meanwhile, were driven by goaltending, overall depth, and rising young talents on the wing.
Following is a thumbnail comparison of the two teams.
Experience vs. Youth: This is going to be one of the main story lines of the series. The Penguins have a roster led by players with a wealth of big-game experience. For the Flyers -- whose most playoff-experienced roster players are veteran role players Luke Glendening and Garnet Hathaway -- the regular season stretch drive this year was like a surrogate "playoff-like" environment. Meanwhile, although the Penguins do have some promising young players on their roster such as 2025 first-round pick Ben Kindel, their core group is generally older players. Beyond Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson and Letang, the likes of Bryan Rust, Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari have plenty of NHL experience.
On the Philly side, there's a familiar group in their late 20s to early 30s in prominent roles: leading scorer Travis Konecny, top defenseman Travis Sanheim and his blueline partner Rasmus Ristolainen, team captain Sean Couturier (who has a history of personal playoff success against Pittsburgh). Couturier got off to a fast start in April, struggled for much of the season thereafter, but thrived down the stretch after accepting a fourth-line role. Overall, however, Philly is driven by players in their early-to-mid 20s: Trevor Zegras, Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Jamie Drysdale, Cam York, Noah Cates. Teenage winger Porter Martone, Philly's first pick of the 2025 Draft, was a revelation down the stretch.
The size factor: Pittsburgh is a heavy team for the most part. The Flyers have size at the top end of their blue line. The return of Foerster from a four-month absence and the addition of Martone lessened some of that disadvantage. A bigger factor, however, is the on-paper gap between the Penguins' centers and their Philly counterparts. The Flyers will need to compensate through their ability to roll four solid lines and get productive shifts from their third pair on defense (shot-blocking vet Nick Seeler and small puck-mover Emil Andrae) to supplement their top four group of Sanheim, Ristolainen, Drysdale and York.
Between the pipes: Dan Vladar was a shoo-in for the Bobby Clarke Trophy as Flyers MVP this season. The Czech Olympian consistently gave his team an opportunity to win games.He was also a galvanizing presence in the locker room and displayed resiliency whenever faced with adversity.Meanwhile, goaltending partner Samuel Ersson played very well down the stretch when called upon after struggling with inconsistency and an injury absence in the months leading up to the Olympic break. On the Pittsburgh side, Stuart Skinner went to back-to-back Cup Finals as a member of the Edmonton Oilers but has often dealt with skeptics of his ability to backstop a top team as its primary starter. Arturs Silovs posted an identical save percentage (.888) to Skinner in 39 games with 38 starts.
Special teams: In the first month of the season and the final eight games, the Flyers' power play clicked at a 20 percent rate. However, from November until the end of March -- and overall for the season -- the Flyers were at the bottom of the NHL. The Philly penalty kill ranked in the NHL's top four at Thanksgiving but hit three separate rough slumps in the months that followed. Philadelphia had a 5-on-5 edge on the Penguins as the season developed. If the Flyers can minimize the penalties they take against Pittsburgh's formidable power play (24.1 percent) and scratch out a couple power play goals of their own -- basically, the aim is to break even on special teams and win games at full strength -- they will be in good shape to succeed in the series.
SEASON SERIES RECAP
October 28: Flyers 3 vs. Penguins 2 (SO, 2-1)
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals by Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny. A mid-third period tying goal by Sidney Crosby sent the game to overtime. After a scoreless sudden death, shootout goals by Matvei Michkov and Brink secured the bonus point. Samuel Ersson earned the win in net.
December 1: Flyers 1 vs. Penguins 5
This was the game where Tyson Foerster scored a 5-on-3 power play goal. However, on the ensuing 5-on-4, Foerster suffered a serious arm injury attempting a one-timer from nearly the exact same spot. The injury kept him out for four months before his recent return. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh scored three power play goals of their own and pulled away. Crosby had two goals that night. Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson collected two assists apiece. Dan Vladar took the loss in net.
January 15: Flyers 3 @ Penguins 6
This game coincided with Philly’s roughest stretch of the entire 2025-26 season: a run of five straight regulation losses amid an 0-5-1 winless nosedive. Another stretch of three straight regulation losses followed about a week later. On this night, the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. Crosby had a goal and an assist.Justin Brazeau, who scored in the first meeting of the season series, tallied again in this one. Denver Barkey chipped in two assists in a losing cause. Matvei Michkov scored a late goal. Vladar was out with an injury at the time. Ersson started and lasted 22 minutes. Aleksei Kolosov went the rest of the way. Stuart Skinner made 30 saves for Pittsburgh.
March 7: Flyers 4 @ Penguins 3 (SO, 1-0)
Trevor Zegras notched the lone shootout goal to cap a comeback win. Neither Crosby (injured during the Olympics) nor Malkin (suspended by the NHL) played in this match. Owen Tippett, starting to heat up offensively, notched his 20th goal of the season. However, it was the youngsters who lifted Philly to comebacks from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 deficits. Alex Bump notched his first NHL goal, while Barkey scored his third. Vladar (20 saves through 65 minutes, 3-for-3 in the shootout) defeated Skinner (12 saves, 2-for-3).
MONTH-BY-MONTH COMPARISONS
OCTOBER
Flyers: 6-3-1
Penguins: 8-2-2
GPG: PHI 2.80 PIT 3.67
GAA: PHI 2.40 PIT 3.42
PP%: PHI 20.0% PIT 31.0%
PK%: PHI 89.2% PIT 81.6%
Leading scorers
PHI: Zegras (8-4-12), Couturier (7-2-9), Cates (3-4-7)
PIT: Malkin (3-14-17), Crosby (8-7-15), Brazeau (6-6-12)
NOVEMBER
Flyers: 8-4-2
Penguins: 4-5-3
GPG: PHI 2.86 PIT 2.50
GAA: PHI 3.07 PIT 3.17
PP%: PHI 15.2% PIT 29.6%
PK%: PHI 81.1% PIT 89.3%
Leading scorers
PHI: Konecny (2-11-13), Zegras (5-7-12), Dvorak (4-7-11)
PIT: Crosby (8-4-12), Rust (3-5-8), Malkin (3-4-7)
DECEMBER
Flyers: 6-5-4
Penguins: 5-5-4
GPG: PHI 3.07 PIT 3.36
GAA: PHI 2.93 PIT 3.64
PP%: PHI 13.6% PIT 29.8%
PK%: PHI 76.6% PIT 76.7%
Leading scorers
PHI: Konecny (9-7-16), Zegras (6-9-15), Cates (5-4-9)
PIT: Rust (8-8-16), Mantha (6-7-13), Crosby (5-8-13)
JANUARY (to early Feb Olympic break)
Flyers: 5-8-4
Penguins: 12-3-3
GPG: PHI 2.82 PIT 3.89
GAA: PHI 3.88 PIT 2.44
PP%: PHI 16.7% PIT 15.9%
PK%: PHI 72.5% PIT 88.9%
Leading scorers
PHI: Konecny (9-9-18), Tippett (7-5-12), Zegras (5-5-10)
PIT: Crosby (6-13-19), Mantha (6-9-15), Malkin (5-10-15)
MARCH (plus late Feb post-Olympics)
Flyers: 12-5-1
Penguins: 9-6-4
GPG: PHI 2.72 PIT 3.63
GAA: PHI 2.44 PIT 3.47
PP%: PHI 13.0% PIT 19.7%
PK%: PHI 77.4% PIT 74.1%
Leading scorers
PHI: Cates (7-9-16), Tippett (8-5-13), Dvorak (4-8-12)
PIT: Karlsson (9-16-25), Rust (8-13-21), Rakell (10-9-19)
APRIL
Flyers: 6-2-0
Penguins: 3-4-0
GPG: PHI 3.63 PIT 4.29
GAA: PHI 2.25 PIT 4.29
PP%: PHI 20.0% PIT 26.3%
PK%: PHI 70.0% PIT 81.3%
Leading scorers
PHI: Michkov (8-4-11), Martone (4-6-10), Zegras (3-4-7)
PIT: Malkin (4-4-8), Chinakhov (3-5-8), Crosby (1-6-7)
