Crosby and Letang strike as the Penguins stave off a sweep with a 4-2 Game 4 win over Flyers
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang each scored goals and the three-time Stanley Cup champion teammates are headed back to Pittsburgh after they helped the Penguins avoid a first-round series sweep with a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 on Saturday night. Game 5 is Monday in Pittsburgh. Rickard Rakell also scored, and Connor Dewar sealed the win with a late empty-netter for the Penguins.
Penguins coach Dan Muse made the right call with the season on the line to bench starting goalie Stuart Skinner in favor of Arturs Silovs. The 38-year-old Crosby, a career-long foil for the Flyers, not only scored his first goal of the series, but he also set a savvy screen in the third period on defenseman Travis Sanheim that allowed Letang to have a clean look when he ripped his first goal of the series past Dan Vladar for a 3-1 lead. The goal was crucial after Travis Konecny scored to make it 3-2 and ignite the “Let's go Flyers!
” chants that had largely been dormant with the Flyers down early. The Penguins received a solid effort from Silovs in the net after Skinner was ineffective with three losses and an . 873 save percentage.
Silovs, who went 19-12-8 this season, made his 11th career playoff start; the previous 10 came with Vancouver in 2023-24 when it was coached by Rick Tocchet . Tocchet worked wonders with the Flyers in his first season on the bench and it was his fiery postgame speech after an overtime win in March that sparked an R-rated rallying cry. The Flyers winked at the unprintable battle cry and gave away Game 4 T-shirts to every fan that read: “Puck Everybody.
” Crosby said, not tonight. Crosby scored on a one-timer against Vladar only 5 seconds into a power play late in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Vladar, voted the Bobby Clarke team MVP, stayed in the lineup after he suffered an unspecified arm injury in Game 3 .