Flyers Lost Physical Battle in Game 5, Allowing Pittsburgh to Dictate the Pace and Game: ‘They Were the Happier Team’
Apr 27, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) checks Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny (11) after the play as linesman Scott Cherrey (50) intervenes during the first period in game five of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia Flyers headed to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins for Game 5, looking to rebound from an intense Game 4 where Pittsburgh dictated the pace, and the game’s tipping point was a quirky goal on an extremely heads-up play from Rickard Rakell to beat Daniel Vladar on a strange play. Game 5’s storyline reads the exact same way. The Penguins dictated the pace all game, and it showed in not just the final score but in how the game was played.
Start with the hits, because that’s where the momentum in this series has gotten away from the Flyers. Through the first three games, games the Flyers won by a combined 11-4 they were averaging 44 hits per game to Pittsburgh’s 33. That 11-hit edge per game was not a coincidence; it was the Flyers’ identity. They were the physical team; they were winning races, setting the terms of engagement, and Pittsburgh was the one absorbing it. In Games 4 and 5, that edge vanished entirely. The hit averages are now 36.5 for Pittsburgh and 35.5 for the Flyers. The Penguins didn’t start hitting more; the Flyers have started playing tighter and not driving physicality.
What’s happening alongside the physical shift is the penalty problem, and this one is harder to recover from. In Games 1-3, Pittsburgh was taking more trips to the box, averaging 28 penalty minutes a game against the Flyers’ 22. The Flyers had the discipline edge. Then Games 4 and 5 arrived, and Pittsburgh cut its PIM average down to nine. The Flyers got to 14. It flipped. In Game 5, Travis Konecny picked up two penalties, Emil Andrae added another, and the Flyers went 0-2 on their own power plays while Pittsburgh’s power play did what it needed to do. When Pittsburgh pushes the physical play, the Flyers push back with their sticks and their hands. That is exactly what Pittsburgh wants. In the first three games, it was the Flyers getting under the skin of the Penguins, getting them to retaliate.
Then there are the strange goals, the type of goal that you wouldn’t see repeated if you watched five years of hockey. Game 4, Rakell capitalizes on Vladar losing a puck behind his own net. Game 5, Kris Letang winds up from the blue line, the puck rattles off the glass, clips the back of Vladar’s leg, and rolls across the line. Here is the part nobody wants to say out loud: those bounces do not go that way for teams playing without urgency and structure. Pittsburgh earned the luck by being the more desperate team.
“I mean, just unfortunate bounce to be honest with you. I mean, you can always do something better in every single goal.” Vladar said postgame, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a bounce off the boards or if it’s a two [man] breakaway, you can always do something a little bit better, but yeah, they just got that bounce we didn’t, and they were the happier team today.”
The goaltending numbers quietly confirm everything. In Games 1-3, Vladar averaged 23.3 saves per game and looked like he was playing in a different sport than the Pittsburgh shooters. Stuart Skinner on the other end averaged 20.7, and in Games 4 and 5, Arturs Silovs stepped in and went 28 saves in Game 4 and 18 in Game 5, averaging 23.0. Vladar dropped to 17.5. Both of his losses now include goals that had no business crossing the line. Rick Tocchet‘s job is not to make mass changes, though scratching Matvei Michkov in favor of Alex Bump worked out Monday night; he needs to get more from every player, including getting better on line changes to keep fresh legs on the ice.
“They don’t need the coaches or myself to be tight,” Tocchet said. “I mean, they’re two good hockey games. Penguins made the made the moments more than us the last two games. But each guy’s got to come in in a mindset they can play their best game. And that doesn’t mean scoring goals and assists. It’s what’s your best game that’s going to help the team. Like clear a good clear or a good change.”
The Flyers still lead this series 3-2 and go home on Wednesday for Game 6 in front of their home crowd. But something is fundamentally off with how the Flyers have approached these last two games. The numbers lay it out plainly: the hitting dropped on average, the penalty differential flipped, Pittsburgh is blocking more shots than they were in Games 1-3, and the goalie who stole the series early is now falling victim to bouncing bad-luck goals in consecutive games.
Tocchet does not have time to overthink this, bringing back that “scumbag hockey” that Paul Bissonnette so eloquently stated after the Flyers’ Game 3 win. In any series, the fourth win is the hardest to get, and it’s even harder with a team loaded with future Hall of Fame players, like the Penguins. Wednesday night, Xfinity Mobile Arena will be loud and ready. The Flyers better make sure they show up to close it, because nobody in orange wants to give Sidney Crosby any opportunity to turn back the clock.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
