Looking to get the jump in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers are on the road on Saturday for Game One against Dan Muse's Pittsburgh Penguins. The two teams last met in the playoffs during the 2018 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. During the 2025-26 regular season, the Flyers(43-27-12, 27 regulation wins) and Penguins (41-25-16, 34 RW) both finished with 98 points. Pittsburgh won the RW tiebreaker and the right to host Game Seven if necessary in this series.
Game time at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday is 8:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on ESPN nationally and NBCSP locally.
During the regular season series between the two teams, each club won once at home and once in the other's building. Both Philly wins came via shootout.
Both the Flyers and Penguins entered the National Hockey League as part of the league's 1967 expansion from six to 12 teams. However, it has only been since the late 1980s that a significant rivalry emerged between the two Pennsylvania teams. The Flyers prevailed over the Penguins in 1989, 1996, 2000 and 2010 playoff meetings. Pittsburgh won in 2008, 2009 and 2018.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Game One.
1. Experience vs. Youth
The Penguins were the NHL's oldest team this season in terms of average age per roster player. Pittsburgh has more "big name" star talent on the roster, starting with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson. All but Karlsson are holdovers from the Penguins' Stanley Cup years in the late 2000s to mid 2010s. Pittsburgh also has the likes of long-tenured Bryan Rust and 2025 veteran free agent acquisition Anthony Mantha. Pittsburgh does have a sprinkling of young talent on the team, including teenager Ben Kindel. Nevertheless, it is first and foremost a veteran-driven hockey team.
The Flyers, conversely, have a large contingent of players in their early to mid-20s plus 19-year-old standout Porter Martone. Matvei Michkov, 21, led the team in scoring after the Olympic break. Among the veterans in their late 20s or 30s, the longest-tenured players are captain Sean Couturier, leading scorer Travis Konecny and top defenseman Travis Sanheim. This season, Sanheim suited up for Team Canada in the Olympics and also won the Barry Ashbee Trophy (Flyers' most outstanding defenseman) for the fourth time in his career.
2. Between the Pipes
Dan Vladar represented Czechia in the Olympics this year and captured the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers' Most Valuable Player during the regular season. He is unlikely to be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy (NHL top goaltender) but may get a few voting points in the Vezina and Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) tabulations. Goaltenders are not usually considered among the locker room leaders on their teams, but Vladar has very much become part of Philly's leadership nucleus. Meanwhile, Samuel Ersson had a strong run after the Olympic break to finish on a positive note despite struggling the first two-thirds of the campaign.
For Pittsburgh, veteran Stuart Skinner accumulated 50 games worth of Stanley Cup playoff experience as a member of the Edmonton Oilers before joining the Penguins in the December 2025 trade that sent Tristan Jarry to Edmonton. Skinner won back-to-back Western Conference championships as the Oilers' primary playoff starter. He has dealt with skeptics and critics for years but his teams have won with him behind them in the ice. Meanwhile Arturs Silovs, 25, appeared in 39 games for the Penguins this season after coming over from the Vancouver Canucks.
3. Discipline and special teams
The Flyers likely cannot afford their 2026 series with Pittsburgh to play out along the same lines as the war of high-scoring attrition to two teams played in 2012. As far as the power play goals, the Flyers finished last in the NHL (15.7 percent success rate) despite posting 20 percent success rates in October and April. The intervening six months were quite rough. The Philly penalty kill was in the NHL's top four through Thanksgiving but was extremely streaky thereafter, including two separate prolonged stretches that combined with the power play woes to cost the team numerous standings points.
The Penguins, conversely, varied between solid and scorching hot (especially early in the season) on the power play. The power play had a few issues after the Olympic break. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh clicked at an overall 24.1 percent rate on the power play for the season; good for 7th in the league. The penalty kill drew less notice but finished at 81.7 percent; tied for 5th in the NHL. Philly's penalty kill finished at 77.6 percent; tied for 22nd.
Strategically, the Flyers hope to keep play at 5-on-5 manpower as much as possible. Given the highly emotional nature and unpredictability of playoff hockey, always expect the unexpected. But the Flyers' best shot on paper is to outplay Pittsburgh at 5-on-5 through the Flyers' four-line depth, and break even (or close to even) on special teams. On ice, however, there could be surprises in how even strength vs. special teams play out in series impact.
4. Neutral zone and puck possession
The Flyers tweaked their neutral zone forecheck and, to a lesser extent, some of their defensive zone schemes (with a little more man-to-man emphasis and less reliance on a box+1 zone defense) after the Olympics. Things were simplified. The effects were dramatic. Side note: Philly also simplified the power play a bit in the latter stages of the season as Tyson Foerster returned and Martone joined the team.
Pay close attention to how effectively the two teams in this series navigate or defend the neutral zone. Zone entries, retrievals and exists won't generate headlines but they'll go a long way in determining which team out-chances the other. The rest comes down to goalie play.
