Penguins outhit, outshot, outplayed, drop Game 1

This article originally appeared on PGHHockeyNOW.com.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (0-1) fell to the Philadelphia Flyers (1-0) 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night, dropping the first game of the series. The Flyers outhit, outshot, and out chanced the Penguins in the series lid lifter and will look to take a 2-0 series lead back to Philadelphia when the two teams clash again in Game 2 on Monday night.

The cross-state hate was prevalent in the first period. While there were no goals scored, there were a combined 30 hits, 20 by the Flyers. The Flyers also outshot the Penguins 9-5 in the frame. There were also about a dozen after-the-whistle scrums.

Both teams had a chance on the power play in the first, but neither could convert. The Flyers thought they scored on their power play opportunity, but Flyers forward Christian Dvorak ran into Penguins netminder Stuart Skinner, making no attempt to avoid contact with him. While the puck did enter the net, the goal was immediately disallowed by the officials on the ice and the Flyers did not challenge.

Although Skinner turned aside three different Flyer breakaways and a two-on-one, it would still be the Flyers broke the stalemate at 9:19 of the second period. With the Penguins’ entire five-man unit stuck on the ice for over a minute, the Flyers cycled with the puck, grinding down the weary group. Eventually, the puck ended up on the stick of Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale (1) who wristed the puck from the bottom of the right circle, through traffic in front and then through the five-hole of Skinner.

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