Ristolainen's poise in playoff debut helps Flyers in Game 1 win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Rasmus Ristolainen heard for 13 seasons that his game was built for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

At 6-foot-4, 208 pounds, with nastiness and physicality hard-wired into his game, he certainly looked like someone who could be a postseason difference-maker.

On Saturday, he finally got to show it.

The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman had played 820 regular-season games, the most among active players, before skating in his first postseason game.

So what's another few hours before the 8:25 p.m. ET puck drop of Game 1 between the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena?

"Just itching to play," he said. "Obviously, all the buildup to it, warmups felt like a long time. Just wanted to get on the ice and start playing."

He didn't waste any time making an impact on the game, knocking Penguins forward Bryan Rust to the ice with a hit along the boards in the defensive zone 20 seconds into the game. And anytime there was a scrum when he was on the ice, he was right in the middle of it.

Then in the third period he made one of the most important plays of the game. He held Christian Dvorak's rim around the boards in at the right point in the offensive zone and centered it to defense partner Travis Sanheim, who skated down the slot and scored to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 10:00.

The Flyers held on for a 3-2 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference First-Round series.

"Obviously a great teammate, great player," Sanheim said. "Deserves to play in the playoffs."

But we don't always get what we deserve, and NHL players aren't exempt from that. 

Ristolainen only came close to the postseason once during his first eight seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, missing out on being one of the 12 teams in the East to reach the 2020 playoffs by three points. Three times the Sabres finished last in the conference, four times finishing at least 34 points out of a spot.

He was traded to the Flyers on July 23, 2021, but there wasn't much more team success. They came up four points short in 2023-24; last season they finished 15 points out. And Ristolainen missed the final month of the season because of a ruptured right triceps tendon.

Recovery from that surgery kept him out the first 31 games of this season.  

But through it all, the 31-year-old believed there eventually would be some good through all the challenges.

"Obviously it's a team sport, I can't control everything on my own," he said. "Just try to get better and keep working and I believed it will happen one day."

That one day finally came Saturday, and he made it count, playing a Flyers-high 25:00, with one shot on goal, one hit and his first playoff point.

"I've talked to him this year, he's sick and tired," coach Rick Tocchet said. "He wants to be in the playoffs. And you could tell that he wanted to be in a playoff game. And he played that way."

Ristolainen was one of 10 Flyers to make his playoff debut Saturday. But aside from Ristolainen, the oldest of them was 27-year-old center Noah Cates, who only has five seasons of watching the playoffs on TV. Then there was 20-year-old rookie forward Denver Barkey, who had to wait a whole 43 regular-season games before making his playoff debut.

"Obviously he was probably really excited," Barkey said. "It's a lot of games without playoff games. So I'm sure he was super pumped. He's been great for us on the back end. He's so solid. He does everything the right way. He plays physical too. This is, I think, his style of hockey. So I'm sure he was excited. He played great."

Could the wait have made the moment that much sweeter? 

"It felt good," Ristolainen said. "We played well, got the win. That's all that matters."

Garnet Hathaway, who played in his 32nd playoff game, had a different view.

"The obstacle is the way," he said. "You fight through those things, you improve from it. And maybe he's more poised for the playoffs than he's ever been."

The Flyers will need that poise, as well as all the other things Ristolainen brings, especially in a series that saw a combined 81 hits.

That's just in Game 1. Wait until the series really gets nasty.

"He's built for this," Hathaway said. "I think he really is. I thought he played great for us tonight, and he's going to be a big part of this for us."