Penguins fend off elimination again
with a 3-2 Game 5 win over Flyers to send series back to Philly
[April 28, 2026]
By WILL GRAVES
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Dewar, Kris Letang and Elmer Soderblom
scored and the Pittsburgh Penguins avoided elimination for the
second time in 48 hours with a 3-2 win over Philadelphia in Game 5
of their first-round series on Monday night.
Sidney Crosby shook off a shot to his left knee to add two assists
for the Penguins, who cut the Flyers’ lead in the best-of-seven
series to 3-2.
Game 6 is Wednesday in Philadelphia, where the pressure will be on
the Flyers to avoid putting themselves in danger of becoming just
the fifth team in NHL history to blow a series after winning the
first three games.
“We know it’s a big challenge going into there," Crosby said. "But I
think we have a lot of belief in our group, and we’ve done it time
and time again.”
Alex Bump scored in his playoff debut for Philadelphia, who rallied
from a 2-0 deficit to tie it on Travis Sanheim's second goal of the
series 15:06 into the second.
Crosby, who limped to the bench and then to the training room for
treatment minutes earlier after a blast from the point by teammate
Ryan Shea appeared to hit the top of his left knee, helped put the
Penguins back in front just over two minutes later when he fed the
puck to Letang at the top of the Philadelphia zone.
Letang sent a shot toward Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar that sailed
wide of the net before bouncing back toward Vladar. The puck smacked
off Vladar's left pad, then his right and across the goal line to
give Pittsburgh the lead for good.
“Bounces are part of the game,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “But I
think you earn them when you're working and you try to do the right
things. That’s usually when the bounces go your way.”
After four games of mostly low-event hockey, Game 5 started with a
frantic pace, a style that favors the Penguins, who finished as the
NHL's third-highest-scoring team during the regular season.
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Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (37) blocks a shot by
Philadelphia Flyers' Noah Cates (27) during the first period of Game
5 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in
Pittsburgh, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
That offense went largely missing while Pittsburgh
fell into a 3-0 hole. Pushed to the brink, it has returned with a
flourish, and this time it wasn't just Crosby, Letang and Evgeni
Malkin shouldering the burden.
Soderblom's first goal of the playoffs and Dewar's
second gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead in the second period. Philadelphia
responded behind Bump and Sanheim, but Letang's fluky score late in
the second was the difference.
Pittsburgh will take the ice on Wednesday, having all the momentum
after two games in which they looked like the resilient, resourceful
group that was among the NHL's biggest surprises.
The Flyers and their late playoff surge were one of the others,
though Philadelphia and its talented young core will have the
difficult task of finishing off a more experienced group with Hall
of Famers scattered across the roster.
“They are a veteran team, they know what it takes to win,” Vladar
said. "We are still a young team. We’ve got to learn that. We’ve got
to bounce back. Still try to play our game, not their game.”
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