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PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins just won\u2019t die.<\/p>\n
For a second consecutive game facing elimination, the Penguins scratched and clawed their way back into the series and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in Game 5 on home ice on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Game 6 of a suddenly fascinating series will take place on Wednesday in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The old guys played a big role in keeping the Penguins alive in this one. Defenseman Kris Letang, for a second consecutive night, scored the winning goal \u2014 an absolute stunner \u2014 and captain Sidney Crosby again assisted on it.<\/p>\n
After a slow start to the series, Crosby has four points in the past two games, including a couple of helpers against the Flyers in Game 5.<\/p>\n
Elmer S\u00f6derblom and Connor Dewar also scored for the Penguins, while Art\u016brs \u0160ilovs earned the victory in net for the second consecutive game.<\/p>\n
Travis Sanheim and Alex Bump scored for the Flyers, who were silent offensively for most of the third period before a frantic surge in the final two minutes. \u0160ilovs and the Penguins were able to hold them off, and they live to fight another day.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we saw in Game 5.<\/p>\n
The Penguins entered this game with only one goal from their bottom-six forwards in this series: Dewar\u2019s empty-netter in Game 4.<\/p>\n
Monday night was a little different.<\/p>\n
Anthony Mantha, the Penguins\u2019 leading goal scorer this season who has struggled mightily in this series, helped Pittsburgh open the scoring. Early in the first period, while on a forecheck, he collected the puck behind the net and set up S\u00f6derblom, who scored his first career playoff goal.<\/p>\n
Dewar then scored his second goal of the series. With the Penguins surging and in the middle of a line change, Crosby found Dewar streaking down the left wing, and his rocket beat Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar.<\/p>\n
The Penguins were the third-highest-scoring team in the NHL during the regular season, largely because of their scoring depth. It finally showed up.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t as egregious as the Penguins\u2019 second goal in Game 4, when Vladar was pressured into a turnover leading to Rickard Rakell\u2019s score, but Letang\u2019s fortunate bounce off the glass behind the Flyers\u2019 net was still a misplay. Vladar failed to snag the soft floater from the point by Letang and didn\u2019t pick up where the puck went from there, as it slid between his pads. In hindsight, Vladar probably would have been better off just staying in his net and letting the shot sail past him.<\/p>\n
Vladar hasn\u2019t been awful in either of the past two games, but he hasn\u2019t outplayed \u0160ilovs, nullifying what should be an advantage for the Flyers in the series.<\/p>\n
It was a wild night for \u0160ilovs, who started his second consecutive game after sitting for the first three in the series. He was brilliant in the first period, when the Penguins took the lead even as the Flyers enjoyed the better of the play for most of the opening 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u0160ilovs\u2019 second period, though, wasn\u2019t so great. He allowed what could politely be described as a soft goal to Alex Bump, and making matters worse, the goal came only 12 seconds after Dewar had given the Penguins a 2-0 advantage.<\/p>\n
He was then the victim of poor luck when Travis Sanheim\u2019s bad-angle shot was inadvertently deflected by Erik Karlsson, going just inside the post to even the score.<\/p>\n
Still, \u0160ilovs did enough to earn the win, stopping 18 of 20 shots on goal.<\/p>\n
Crosby left the game briefly in the second period after teammate Ryan Shea\u2019s shot belted him on the right knee.<\/p>\n
He was in clear pain and raced off the ice before departing down the tunnel toward the locker room. After a couple of minutes, Crosby returned \u2014 while limping \u2014 and witnessed Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim\u2019s tying goal from the bench.<\/p>\n
However, Crosby returned and produced his second assist of the evening on Letang\u2019s wild goal later in the second period.<\/p>\n
Crosby has faced knee problems a few times this season, starting with the Olympics, where a hit from Radko Gudas knocked him out for a month. He also missed a game late in the regular season after getting his knee banged up in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Crosby was able to finish Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet made headlines for removing Matvei Michkov from the lineup after four ineffective games for the second-year forward. But it didn\u2019t take very long for his decision to insert Bump into the series to look like the right one, as Bump was arguably the Flyers\u2019 top forward in Game 5.<\/p>\n
Just 12 seconds after the Penguins had taken a 2-0 second-period lead, Bump gained the blue line and cut around Parker Wotherspoon before sneaking a shot through \u0160ilovs at 3:29. Bump, who also generated a dangerous chance on his first shift a little over a minute into the game, finished with a team-high four shots on goal.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see if Tocchet finds a way to get Michkov, who\u2019s scoreless with just four shots on goal in the series, back into the lineup for Game 6. But if he does, it\u2019s almost certainly not going to be instead of Bump.<\/p>\n
The Penguins\u2019 first two goals were a direct result of their aggressive forecheck. Rasmus Ristolainen was bodied off the puck behind the Flyers\u2019 net by Mantha, who found S\u00f6derblom in the slot to open the scoring. Early in the second, it was Owen Tippett\u2019s egregious turnover that led to Pittsburgh\u2019s second goal by Dewar.<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t the case early in the first, as the Flyers controlled the first few minutes for the first time in the series \u2014 something Tocchet mentioned before the game as a point of emphasis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of put our foot in the water and see the temperature,\u201d Tocchet said of the first few games of the series. \u201cWe want to dive in.\u201d<\/p>\n
They did just that, leading to some dangerous chances by Bump, Denver Barkey and Tippett, but still couldn\u2019t grab the lead. The Flyers have yet to score in the first period of the series, while surrendering three goals to the Penguins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n