PregameNo lineup changes for the Penguins from Game 1, including going back to Stuart Skinner as the starting goalie.
A look at the lines for Game 2 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/QDN52Ve6xT
— x – Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 20, 2026
The Flyers have one change from Game 1, Noah Juulsen is in and Emil Andrae is out on the blueline.
#Flyers warmup lines vs. PITFoerster – Zegras – TippettKonecny – Dvorak – MartoneBarkey – Cates – Michkov Glendening – Couturier – HathawaySanheim – RistolainenYork – Drysdale Seeler – JuulsenVladar starts in net, Ersson backs him up.
Penalties are the story of the first period, the teams combine for eight minutes on four minors (three for Philadelphia, one for Pittsburgh) that ends up with the Penguins spending 4:00 of the period on the power play, where they don’t score and mostly don’t come close to doing so.
Other than that, the first period looked like Game 1 in many ways. The Flyers continue to gum things up in the neutral zone and play tight defense. The Penguins did better to cut through the defense at times — shot attempts were 19-5 PIT at one point — but still are unable to make much out of it just only getting two of those 19 attempts on goal. The Penguins are still butting their heads against the wall by attempting low-percentage cross-ice passes frequently. The Flyers are doing the typical Flyer things (Travis Sanheim dove forward and on his butt after feeling a stick in his skates to draw a penalty, Rasmus Ristolainen punched Sidney Crosby in the head after the whistle).
Shots for the period end up 5-2, PHI. Certainly not the style and way that Pittsburgh wants these games to go, it’s still right up the Flyers’ aisle. No goals through 20 minutes.
The Penguins get caught with six players on the ice 5:34 into the period. That happens before they can manage an official shot on goal in the period but they kill it off without much problems.
The game chugs along for a while, the Pens get some pressure and coming out of a TV timeout put Egor Chinakhov with Evgeni Malkin, Tommy Novak and the third pair defense. That group gets caught on the ice for a 1:30 shift and a bad bounce leads to the first goal. Ryan Shea blocks away a Travis Konecny shot but unfortunately the puck flips out right to Porter Martone. The rookie has a wide open net. 1-0 with 6:21 to play in the second.
Marty Supreme. #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/DgDSpcYjyb
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 21, 2026
A good shift by the fourth line draws a power play for Pittsburgh with 4:12 left in the period. It leads to disaster with a shorthanded goal against. Owen Tippett wants the puck way more than Tommy Novak, who compounds the mistake of an indirect path to the puck by then colliding with Kris Letang to hand the Flyers a late 2-on-1 down low. Tippett feeds Garnet Hathaway, who matches his regular season goal total of one in the playoffs with an easy finish to extend the PHI lead to 2-0.
Hath finds a way. #IgniteTheOrange pic.twitter.com/BFWK7mfMlF
— x – Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 21, 2026
Evgeni Malkin and a Flyer both get their sticks up and contact a Flyer up high, after review Malkin gets two minutes for the high-stick but avoids getting four minutes for not causing the injury.
End of the period and it wasn’t a good one. The Pens fall behind by two goals.
The Penguins kill off the carryover power play at the start of the period.
The newly reunited Rakell-Crosby-Rust line gets a very good shift, culminating in Sam Girard all alone from the middle getting a good shot that Dan Vladar answered with a big save.
Pittsburgh stacks a couple more good shifts with a second and third line playing well, followed up by Crosby getting a shot. Shots are 6-1 Pens and it’s the Flyers finally having to ice the puck to relieve pressure from the first sustained and decent push that Pittsburgh has made. Konecny hits Crosby once the puck is gone to open the door for yet another Penguin power play.