Flyers vs. Penguins parlay: Pittsburgh, aiming to extend season, may have found something in Arturs Silovs

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Silovs didn't have great regular-season numbers but seems to shine in the postseason. You may remember that in the 2024 playoffs as a rookie with only nine total RS games of experience, he was thrust into a first-round series with Vancouver and led a series win over Nashville. Silovs at the time became the second goaltender in NHL history to secure his first career shutout (regular season or playoffs) in a series-clinching win. And then in the 2024-25 AHL season, Silovs was the MVP during the Calder Cup playoffs to secure an AHL championship for the Abbotsford Canucks. He had five total shutouts in that postseason.

Crosby was also excellent in Game 3, opening the scoring with his first goal of the playoffs in the first period and setting up blueliner Kris Letang's critical third-period goal with a sorta soccer-style kick of the puck to Letang. It was Crosby's 16th career playoff goal against the Flyers to pass Wayne Gretzky (15) and Malkin (15) for the most against the franchise. Crosby also passed Juri Kurri with 203 career playoff points, third-most in history by a player with a single franchise. Gretzky naturally holds that mark of 252. Crosby is set at -290 for a point in Game 4 and is the +185 anytime goalscoring favorite.

The Penguins also kept their composure for the most part after the Flyers got under their skin at times in the first three games and forced stupid penalties. Pittsburgh was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in Game 4 and 1-for-3 on the power play. If you score on the man advantage in the playoffs and don't allow one, you most likely are winning.

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"I thought we were a little bit more poised. I mean, that stuff's going to happen. It's playoffs, but we just have to be a little bit more smart about it," Crosby said. "I thought we did a better job of that. Ultimately, we got to save our energy for in between the whistles. I think that translated into the way we played. We had a lot of guys contributing, generating really good chances, and looked more like ourselves."

The Pens forced Game 5 after facing a 3-0 series hole for the third time in franchise history. All of them have come against the Flyers in the "Battle of Pennsylvania," also 2012 and 1997. They lost in '97 in five and in '12 in six.

Dan Vladar had been lights out for Philly in the first three games in stopping 70 of 74 shots for a .946 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average. But he completely blundered on Pittsburgh's early second-period goal for a 2-0 hole in Game 4.

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet indicated some lineup changes could be coming for Game 5, but Vladar certainly will remain the starter. Struggling forward Matvei Michkov didn't have a spot in the team's top four forward lines during practice Sunday, so he might be a healthy scratch. The 21-year-old was tied for third on the Flyers in scoring in the regular season with 51 points, including 20 goals. But he has zero points and is minus-1 in this series.

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When you give a player like Crosby a second life, you are probably going to pay for it. While I'd still expect Philly to win the series in six games, I do like the Pens to at least force it.  This is the 11th time they are facing a 3-1 series deficit and are 5-5 in Game 5 across the previous 10. The Flyers own an all-time record of 44-36 in potential series-clinching games, including a 21-21 mark away. Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.