Flyers can't overcome sluggish start in Game 4 loss to Penguins

In the Flyers decisive win on Wednesday that gave them a commanding lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in their first round, best-of-seven series, the game was mostly decided by the tremendous play of a handful of Philadelphia veterans. 

Pittsburgh returned the favor on Saturday as Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson, all well into their 30's, played a huge role in a 4-2 victory at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Flyers lead in the series is now 3-1, with game five set for Monday in Pittsburgh

The Penguins made the first desperate move of the series as they started Arturs Silovs in goal in place of Stuart Skinner, who had been in net for the first three losses.

Much like Game 3, the Penguins opened the scoring in the first period and took that lead to intermission. Denver Barkey got called for a high-stick in front of the Pittsburgh net with 5:41 to go in the first. It didn't take long for the Penguins to capitalize as Erik Karlsson collected the puck off the boards in the Flyers end and shoveled a pass straight ahead to Crosby at the right circle. He blasted one that trickled off the glove of Dan Vladar just five seconds into the advantage for his first goal of the series. Both teams had some decent scoring chances, the best for the Flyers by Trevor Zegras when he took the puck off the boards just to the side of Silovs, and tried a between-the-legs short side shot. Zegras thought the puck had gone in, or sold it enough to warrant a replay that ruled no goal.

Unlike Game 3, they upped their lead to 2-0 early in the second period on a horrible play by Vladar. Attempting to handle a dump in behind the net, Vladar fumbled an attempted backhand along the boards while being stick checked by Richard Rekell. The puck made its way toward the front of the empty net and Rekell was able to dive and sweep it in just 1:03 into the period.

What little air the Flyers had in them in the first seemed to completely leave them after that as Pittsburgh controlled most of the action. Tyson Foerster did have a chance with a breakaway from the left boards, but his far post attempt along the ice was padded by Silovs. In desperate need of some kind of spark, Trevor Zegras provided it when his tremendous effort in the Pittsburgh end cut the lead in half.

Zegras worked the puck behind the Pittsburgh net until the Flyers were set up in the zone. After getting rid of the puck, he circled back around, to the left of Silovs and took a pass from Cam York. His tough angle from near the goal line found Barkey for a tip in and life was restored in the building and, more importantly, in the Flyers.  

But Pittsburgh drained it a little just 4:27 in the final period on a goal by Letang. Crosby won a battle along the boards and was able to kick the puck to Letang at the point. Crosby then set a pick on Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale and drove back towards Vladar, allowing Letang to waltz in and unleash a slapper that put the Penguins up 3-1.

It was short lived however, as two and a half minutes later, the Flyers closed the gap to one goal again when Christian threw a perfect pass out to the circle to Travis Konecny who blasted it past Silovs to make it 3-2. It was as close as the Flyers would get as Pittsburgh got an empty net goal from Connor Dewar with 55 seconds to play for the final tally. The Penguins were better along the boards, won big faceoffs and controlled the play throughout, forcing another trip to the western part of Pennsylvania.