{"id":489567,"date":"2026-04-25T07:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=489567"},"modified":"2026-04-25T07:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:51:18","slug":"nhl-predictions-round-1-game-4-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs-philadelphia-flyers-pittsburgh-penguins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/04\/25\/nhl-predictions-round-1-game-4-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs-philadelphia-flyers-pittsburgh-penguins\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Round 1, Game 4, 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Philadelphia Flyers vs Pittsburgh Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Flyers look to sweep the Pittsburgh Penguins in Philadelphia<\/a>. Welcome back to NHL Predictions here with <\/span>Last Word On Hockey<\/em>. Each day, we provide in-depth analysis, insights, and predictions for games around the NHL. In tonight\u2019s matchup, the Flyers are bringing out the brooms, hoping to end the series in Game 4.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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NHL Predictions featuring the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Regular Season Head-to-Head:<\/strong> Flyers 2-2 Penguins<\/p>\n

Playoff Series:<\/strong> Flyers 3-0 Penguins<\/p>\n

How to W<\/strong><\/a>atch:<\/strong><\/a> Sportsnet+, TVAS+, SN, TVAS, HBO MAX, TBS, truTV, NBCSP, SN-PIT<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Puck Drop:<\/strong> 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

Penguins Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Credit Image: \u00a9 Richard Ulreich\/Cal Sport Media<\/p>\n

The Penguins<\/a> come into this game down 3-0 in the series. Facing elimination far earlier than they would\u2019ve hoped, Pittsburgh needs to battle hard and control tempo if they want any chance to salvage anything from this series. The Penguins have been completely outplayed for eight out of the nine periods played so far, with the first period of Game 3 being the one they can argue they definitively won. Not only will they need to strike first again in this game, but they\u2019ll need to keep that kind of play up for all sixty minutes in order to elongate a potentially short series.<\/p>\n

Evgeni Malkin<\/a> opened the scoring in Game 3 with a power play goal. The upcoming free agent has two goals and an assist for three points through three games. In the second, a costly penalty would lead to a tie goal, and eventually turn into a 3-1 Flyers lead after two. In the third, Erik Karlsson<\/a> scored to cut the lead to one, once again, on the power play. Unfortunately, this would be all she wrote<\/em> for the Penguins, as Philadelphia would win the game 5-2. Outside of these goals, there weren\u2019t many chances for the Penguins, especially after the Flyers’ eruption of goals in the second period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In net, Stuart Skinner<\/a> continues to play well. Although he was scored on four times in the previous game, he kept Pittsburgh in it as best as he could. Some much-needed goal support could go a long way to insulate Skinner. While it\u2019s likely he plays Game 4, it\u2019s always a good idea to check official lineups before placing any bets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Flyers Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Post-Olympic break momentum has continued to flow for the Flyers. After an incredible run to qualify for the first round, Philadelphia has executed a suffocating defensive game from all positions in order to stifle the second-highest scoring team in the regular season. In Game 4, the Flyers’ job will simply be to continue executing their game plan and stifle any Penguins offence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The offence of the Flyers exploded in the second period of Game Three. After a Trevor Zegras<\/a> power-play goal tied the game, defencemen Rasmus Ristolainen<\/a> and Nick Seeler would get themselves on the scoresheet to get the Flyers ahead 3-1. With Pittsburgh surging, having cut the lead to 3-2, Noah Cates would score the backbreaker on the power play with just seven and a half left in the third period. This goal completely deflated Pittsburgh, and the Flyers cruised to the victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Vladar played another stellar game, making 27 saves on 29 shots. With a cumulative .946 save percentage, Vladar has quelled a ton of doubts about his ability with this series. However, it should be noted that Vladar seemed to hurt his arm in the third period. While he remained in the game, this could be an issue going forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prediction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh is completely flat. While they\u2019re capable of stringing together a good 5-10 minutes, like in the first period of Game Three, they\u2019ve also shown that they can\u2019t keep this up all game long. Playing in Philadelphia, expect the Flyers to continue feeding on the raucous home crowd\u2019s energy and beat the Penguins with another flurry of goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prediction: Flyers win Game Four 4-3<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bet of the Night<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While the Penguins are set to push hard, a lacklustre commitment to defence means the Flyers have the advantage. Expecting a high-scoring game, a popular prop bet of goals over six with odds of +100 is a good one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Flyers look to sweep the Pittsburgh Penguins in Philadelphia. 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\u2019s matchup, the Flyers are bringing out the brooms, hoping to end the series in Game 4.\u00a0 NHL Predictions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5231,"featured_media":489666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4547,4548,16,4524],"tags":[8285,6082,6123],"class_list":["post-489567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-penguins","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-flyers","category-nhl-predictions","tag-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-philadelphia-flyers-predictions","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-predictions"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489567"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489668,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489567\/revisions\/489668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}