The Philadelphia Flyers head back to Pittsburgh to finish off the Penguins. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here with Last Word On Hockey. Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for games around the NHL. In tonight’s matchup, Pittsburgh tries to keep themselves alive once again against their biggest rivals. Stick around for more NHL predictions throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
NHL Predictions featuring the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins
Regular Season Head-to-Head: Flyers 2-2 Penguins
Playoff Series: Flyers 3-1 Penguins
How to Watch: Sportsnet+, TVAS+, SN, TVAS, SN360, ESPN, SN-PIT, NBCSP
Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Penguins Story
A far better, complete defensive team effort from the Penguins gave them a 4-2 win in Game Four. With the win, Pittsburgh kept themselves alive in the series and will live to fight another day back at home in the Steel City. This win comes off the back of a tight defensive structure and better offensive focus. Although they only put up 21 shots, their chances were high-danger ones, and the Penguins looked far closer to the opportunistic team they typically were during the regular season.
The stars continue to shine for the Penguins, with Captain Sidney Crosby recording his first goal of the series on the power play. He had two points on the night. Rickard Rakell has been an unsung factor of this series; his goal in the second period, in addition to an assist later on Kris Letang’s game-winner, gives him four points in four games this round. Veteran defenceman Letang scored a massive goal after the Flyers cut the lead 2-1 to regain an important two-goal lead. In a 3-2 game, it was the ever-reliable fourth line that put the game away. Connor Dewar scored to make it 4-2, with assists to Noel Accianguiri and Blake Lizotte.
In net, Arturs Silovs made his Penguins playoff debut. He made 28 saves on 30 shots, his .933 save percentage making him the go-to starter in this series going forward. However, it’s always a good idea to check official lineups before placing bets.
Flyers Story
Game Four of the series introduced some doubt into the Flyers’ game. In two straight games, Philadelphia came away from the first period down 1-0. Where in Game Three they were able to tie the game and build momentum off of it, a costly turnover by goaltender Dan Vladar gave the Penguins their first multi-goal lead all series long. Although Philadelphia had 30 shots in the game, many of them were low-danger opportunities. In Game Five, the Flyers will need to return to their aggressive offence and strict defensive style in order to stop the Penguins from gaining momentum.
There were some highlights in the game, however. Rookie forward Denver Barkey scored his first NHL playoff goal to cut the lead to 2-1. An assist from star forward Trevor Zegras gave him a goal and four points in four games this series. In the third period, Travis Konecny fired a gorgeous shot that cut the lead to 3-2. This was his third point of the series, while an assist to Christian Dvorak marked his third point of the series as well. Defenceman Travis Sanheim and Cam York also pitched in an assist each in the loss.
Game Four was by far Dan Vladar’s shakiest of the series. Saving 17 out of 20 shots, Vladar put in an .850 save percentage, dropping his overall save percentage to a .926 on the series.
Prediction
While the Penguins finally got a win in the series, it wasn’t so much them being dialled as it was a few better shot selections and a shaky netminder the other way. Expect Philadelphia to come out hard in this game and put away the series.
Prediction: Flyers win Game Five 4-3
Prop Bet of the Night
We close out NHL predictions with some prop bets of the night. Following the trend of high scoring, a popular prop bet of goals over 6 with odds of +110 is a good one.
Main photo by: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
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