Penguins lose East 1st Round to Flyers, slow starts among factors

PHILADELPHIA -- The Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 1-0 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

The Penguins (41-25-16) surprised many by qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2022 by finishing second in the Metropolitan Division in what was expected to be a rebuilding season, but haven't won a postseason series since defeating the Flyers in six games of the 2018 first round. They lost the first three games before rebounding to win the next two, but failed in their bid to become the fifth team in NHL history to rally from down 3-0 to win a best-of-7 series.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Evgeni Malkin, F; Anthony Mantha, F; Kevin Hayes, F; Noel Acciari, F; Connor Dewar, F; Connor Clifton, D; Ryan Shea, D; Ilya Solovyov, D; Stuart Skinner, G

Potential restricted free agents: Egor Chinakhov, F; Arturs Silovs, G; Ville Koivunen, F

Potential 2026 Draft picks: 5

Here are five reasons the Penguins were eliminated:

1. Slow start

The Penguins had a few spurts of good play in the first three games, but they took until a 4-2 victory in Game 4 to match the Flyers' level. By then, they were in too deep a hole and could not recover. Pittsburgh was outscored 11-4 in losing the first three games with Evgeni Malkin (two), Bryan Rust (one) and Erik Karlsson (one) the only players to score goals. After leading the Penguins with 74 points (29 goals, 45 assists) in 68 regular-season games, Sidney Crosby was limited to one point in the first three games, an assist on Malkin's first-period power-play goal in Game 3, before breaking out with a goal and an assist in Game 4 and two assists in Game 5.

2. Generating quality chances

After Pittsburgh was second in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals during the regular season with 201, it scored five in the six games against Philadelphia's tight-checking defensive structure. The Flyers scored 11 goals at 5-on-5. The Penguins had trouble getting through the neutral zone in the first two games and getting shots through to the net for much of the series. Although the Penguins had a 394-310 advantage in shot attempts in the series, they had only an 159-155 edge in shots on goal. That's partly because they lead the playoffs in shot attempts that missed the net (128) and were blocked (107).

3. Depth disappeared

The Penguins received offensive contributions throughout their lineup during the regular season with 12 players scoring at least 13 goals, including four with at least 20. Only eight scored goals against the Flyers, though, led by Malkin, Kris Letang and Connor Dewar with two each. After leading Pittsburgh with 33 goals during the regular season, Anthony Mantha didn't score any in the playoffs. Egor Chinakhov, who had 18 goals in 43 games after being acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 29, also didn't have a goal in the series. In contrast, the Flyers had 14 different players score goals, including five defensemen.

4. Power-play struggles

After the Penguins power play was a strength for much of the regular season, when it was ranked seventh in the NHL (24.1 percent), it couldn't make a difference against the Flyers, going 3-for-19 (15.8 percent). It went 0-for-7 in first two games, including giving up a backbreaking short-handed goal to Garnet Hathaway in the second period of a 3-0 loss in Game 2. When the power play got back on track in Game 3 and went 2-for-5, the penalty kill faltered and allowed two goals while short-handed three times against a Flyers power play that was ranked last (15.7 percent). Pittsburgh was unable to build on its Game 3 success with the man-advantage and went 1-for-7 in the final three games of the series.

5. Dan Vladar

Vladar was a difference-maker for the Flyers, stopping 148 of 158 shots in the series for a 1.61 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and two shutouts. The Penguins were able to get to Vladar a little in winning Game 4 (4-2) and Game 5 (3-2), but he rebounded with a 42-save shutout in Game 6 to win a goaltending duel with Arturs Silovs, who made 31 saves. Vladar outplayed Stuart Skinner (0-3, 3.08 GAA, .873 save percentage) in the first three games before Pittsburgh switched to Silovs (2-1, 1.52 GAA, .939 save percentage) in Game 4.