PHILADELPHIA — A few minutes after the Pittsburgh Penguins’ feel-good season ended at the hands of their most hated rival, Sidney Crosby sat alone in the locker room. A moment earlier, the captain had been surrounded by teammates Bryan Rust and Erik Karlsson, who discussed a missed opportunity on a play in overtime.
They’ll have plenty of those to discuss in time. For now, it was just Crosby alone in his thoughts, a few months from turning 39, another season in his storied career through and more uncertainty to come this summer.
The Penguins fell to the Philadelphia Flyers, 1-0, in an overtime classic on Wednesday night, dashing their hopes of winning a third straight game to force the first-round series to a deciding seventh game.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar finally out-dueled Artūrs Šilovs in a game that neither organization will forget anytime soon.
This sting of this loss will hurt for a while, and for so many reasons.
“All game, we were probably the better team,” Karlsson said. “They had some chances. Credit to them. They bent, but they didn’t break. We did everything we could to make them break, but we couldn’t do it.”
That is the story of this series.
Through 77 minutes and 32 agonizing seconds in Game 6, the Penguins couldn’t score. In the six games, totaling 377:32, the Penguins scored only 11 goals, one of which was an empty-netter. They entered the season as the NHL’s third-highest-scoring team, averaging 3.57 goals per game. In six games against the Flyers, they averaged 1.83 goals per game.
Why?
“The big one (reason) is that we didn’t really get to the net at all,” defenseman Ryan Shea said. “That’s why we were in a 3-0 hole. That’s a big part of it. We have some big guys that scored a lot of goals around the net during the season. Playing hockey is about defense, but it’s also about getting to the gritty areas.”
Ironically enough, the game-winning goal off of Flyers defenseman Cam York’s stick was a harmless-looking shot from the point that had eyes. The Flyers were in front of the net, making it difficult for Šilovs to see the puck.
Karlsson wasn’t as blunt as Shea, but he suggested something similar when asked why the Penguins couldn’t score in this series.
“It’s a good question,” he said. “I don’t really know. The hockey is a little bit different this time of the year. Guys lay their bodies on the line every shift this time of year, make sure they’re on the right side of the puck. Goals are probably scored in a different kind of way this time of the year. Maybe that had something to do with it.”
As the series went on, the Penguins slowly started to solve Philadelphia’s trap, which is to say, they finally got over their stubbornness and settled for dumping pucks deep. Their zone time in Game 6 was illustrative. Until overtime, however, they really never generated all that many Grade-A looks. They were never able to solve Philadelphia’s last line of defense. And when they did, Vladar was there to slam the door.
The Penguins’ big names were largely held in check:
• Crosby had five points in the series but only one goal.
• Evgeni Malkin had three points in the first three games of the series, but none in the final three.
• Rickard Rakell scored one goal.
• Rust scored one goal.
• Karlsson scored one goal.
• Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov, the team’s two leading goal scorers since Jan. 1, were held without a goal in the series.
“The amount of Grade A’s we had in overtime was way more than we had in the first three periods combined,” Shea said. “Sometimes that’s how it works. That gave us a lot in OT. We just couldn’t slam the door. Then they get a seeing-eye shot to go in.”
For one last time in the 2025-26 season, here are my observations:
Ten postgame observations
• Tommy Novak had a glorious chance to score in the third period when the puck bounced to him in front of Vladar. Instead of shooting, he passed back into a crowd.
I asked him why he didn’t shoot.
“I felt like (Vladar) was on top of me,” he said. “So, I just looked back door. Thought I had Chinny (Chinakhov). If I could reverse time and do it over again, it would be an easy decision.”
• Ben Kindel probably had his best game of the series, nearly winning it in overtime. He was a presence all night.
However, the 19-year-old rookie was guilty of an icing infraction that brought the faceoff back into Pittsburgh territory. He then lost the draw that led to the game-winning goal.
“It was clear icing,” Kindel said. “I just wish I would have made a better play there.”
• Šilovs played a spectacular game. If the Penguins had won, it would have been remembered as one of the great goaltending performances in team history, and that’s not hyperbole. He stoned Matvei Michkov on a breakaway. He made a stunning save on Porter Martone in the moments before York’s game-winner.
“Incredible,” Shea said. “Probably one of our worst starts to a game all series. It was only 0-0 because of Artie. He should be proud of himself. I know the boys in here are proud of him.”
• It was an inglorious series for Mantha. He’s scored zero goals in 19 postseason games, but he had one look after another in this game. The puck was following him in overtime. He just couldn’t score. On one look, he went to his patented backhand, five-hole move in tight instead of simply ripping the puck. He was also guilty of a couple of horrible turnovers in overtime.
It was a great season for Mantha, but it was a horrific postseason series.
• Kris Letang took a brutal penalty at the end of the second period. He and Travis Konecny were jousting in front of the net, and Konecny’s stick got high. It’s a playoff game. These things happen. Letang responded by sucker punching Konecny in the face. Letang was lucky to get only two minutes of penalty time for that display and luckier still that his team killed it off to begin the third period.
That was an undisciplined action for anyone in the NHL, let alone a 39-year-old who’s had Letang’s experience. Letang played quite well in the last three games of this series, but that was a forgettable moment.
• I thought Malkin was the Penguins’ best player in the first two games of this series in Pittsburgh, and he followed it by scoring the first goal of Game 3. From that point on, he largely disappeared.
The game looked a bit too fast for him during much of the final three games, and his shot isn’t what it once was. He’ll be 40 in July. It happens. He’s still an effective player who had a terrific regular season, but he really seemed to lose his legs in the last two games of this series.
• Crosby was good in Game 6, not great. His playmaking was on display, but he wasn’t able to take it over. I’d suggest his age plays a big role in that.
Dating back to January, Crosby scored only three goals in his final 24 games of the season. Maybe his health had something to do with that. It’s a troubling number.
• The Flyers just don’t give up odd-man rushes. It takes so much discipline to play that way. Give Flyers coach Rick Tocchet credit. He’s really good at his job and has his team buying into what he’s preaching.
• The Penguins’ fourth line was sensational, Connor Dewar in particular. Best game I’ve ever seen him play.
• So, what comes next?
Malkin and Letang were two of the few players who slipped out of the locker room before the media entered. Crosby was asked about the future of the Big Three.
“It might be a little early for that,” he said. “We’ll have a few days to digest everything and evaluate stuff.”
He referred to Letang and Malkin as “family.”
“Honestly, it’s something that we’ve probably just gotten used to (playing together), but I think they’re like family,” he said. “I think that’s the best way to describe it. We’ve had some great wins, some tough losses like this. Ultimately, though, that’s a long time that we’ve played together. I’m so appreciative for the opportunity to be able to play with them as long as we have. Hopefully, we can keep going.”
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