One of the people partly responsible for several of the Stanley Cup banners that hang from the rafters of PPG Paints Arena had a nuanced, measured and calming assessment of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 home loss to the rival Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their first-round series Saturday.

Rick Tocchet.

An intimidating power forward who was a vital component of the Penguins’ 1992 championship team and an assistant coach on the 2016-17 teams, Tocchet is now the head coach of the Flyers and understands the ramifications Saturday’s outcome had for his current employer.

“It’s Game 1,” Tocchet said. “We won one game. It’s going to be a long series.”

If this series is to be more competitive, it’s going to require some recoding by the Penguins, who were outshot (20-17) and largely out-everything-ed — with the exception of turnovers (15-11) — throughout the bulk of the contest.

“They came in and they executed their game plan,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “We need to be better in terms of executing ours, and we’ve got to be better, just in general.”

Puck management was a fairly prominent shortcoming of the Penguins as they regularly gave it away or didn’t put it in areas of the ice that could allow them to get past a stiff Flyers defensive scheme that stacked bodies at their blue line.

“We try to go through the neutral zone with control, try to get through the (offensive) blue line with control,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “Especially in the second period, we kind of got away from our game at putting it deep, trying to grind them down low. We have to focus on that a little bit more.”

There was plenty to focus on with regards to the cantankerous nature this game had. While the Penguins were credited with a slight edge in hits — 41-40 — the Flyers, at least to the naked eye, were the more aggressive of the two squads.

Perhaps the most prominent display of bellicosity came late in the second period when Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin slammed Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler into Philadelphia’s end boards. Seeler and Malkin continued to interact until Seeler cross-checked Malkin’s chronically injured left shoulder, causing him to wince in discomfort.

During a television stoppage that happened shortly thereafter, an official had to escort Malkin away from the visiting bench following a prolonged argument.

“We should play our game,” Malkin said. “I think we, a little bit, lost control in the second period. … We start fighting. This is what they want, you know?

“We know it’s a tight, physical game, but we need to play better.”

It would be hard to expect Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner to play better than what he offered Saturday, as he valiantly stopped 17 of 20 shots. On the surface, those are pedestrian totals, but the Flyers’ scoring chances were of a much higher quality — such as a handful of breakaways — than what the Penguins could generate.

“(The Flyers) picked off pucks at the right time,” Skinner said. “Their guys just read that really well and kind of got ahead of us. Their team has got a lot of speed. Their transition game is one of the best in the NHL.”

The 17 shots the Penguins registered were their lowest such figure in a playoff game since they fired 12 shots against the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 29, 2017. The Penguins, somehow, won that game, 5-3.

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was responsible for three of the Penguins’ shots Saturday but was fairly quiet most of the contest, aside from a pair of penalties he took.

“It’s playoff hockey,” Crosby said. “It was tight, and we didn’t do a good job of sustaining some zone time. They were getting out, and we’ve got to find a way to generate a little bit more there.”

There was an anxious moment 7:58 into regulation when Flyers forward Christian Dvorak fanned on a forehand shot while rushing in from the left circle. As the puck fluttered into the crease, Dvorak crashed on top of Skinner. A scrum developed with the Penguins directing anger at Dvorak. As Penguins athletic trainer Kevin Elliott attended to Skinner — who remained in the contest — officials ruled no goal was scored.

Former Erie Otters defenseman Jamie Drysdale scored the contest’s first valid goal 9:19 into the second period.

Driving behind the Penguins’ net from the left wing, Flyers forward Trevor Zegras emerged to the right of the cage and slid a pass to the right circle. Drysdale accepted the offering, deked a bit to his right to get some space on Penguins forward Connor Dewar and fired a wrister through Skinner’s five hole. Penguins defenseman Sam Girard, tied up with Flyers rookie forward Denver Barkey, inadvertently screened Skinner on the sequence. Zegras and Barkey had assists.

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Malkin tied the game at 15:51 of the second period.

From Philadelphia’s right corner, Penguins forward Rickard Rakell utilized Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim as a screen and snapped off a wrister. Goaltender Dan Vladar kicked out a rebound back to the top of the circle where Penguins forward Tommy Novak claimed it and deftly chopped a backhand pass toward the near dot for Malkin, who pumped a wrister through Vladar’s five hole. Novak and Rakell registered assists.

Sanheim restored a lead for the visitors at 10:00 of the third period.

Taking a pass at the center point of the offensive zone, Sanheim deked around Penguins forward Elmer Soderblom, drove the slot and fired a wrister past Skinner’s glove. Defensive partner Rasmus Ristolainen and Dvorak were deemed worthy of assists.

Flyers rookie forward Porter Martone, making his postseason debut, scored the eventual winning goal at 17:23 of the third.

Driving the puck up the right wing into the offensive zone, Martone spun away from Penguins forward Noel Acciari, curled around above the right dot, set Acciari as a screen and snapped a wrister past Skinner’s glove on the near side. The lone assist was collected by Konecny.

Penguins forward Bryan Rust capped the scoring at 18:59 of the third period during a five-on-four sequence with Skinner pulled for an extra attacker.

From above the right circle of the offensive zone, Malkin fired a wrister that was blocked by Flyers defenseman Cam York near the right hashmarks. The rebound trickled into the slot where Rust ripped a wrister past Vladar’s glove. Malkin and defenseman Erik Karlsson collected assists.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday.

The Penguins largely see their malfunctions in Game 1 as being more than correctable.

“I feel like the guys should be feeling really good about their game,” Skinner said. “Every single period, we just kept on getting better. If we continue to do that, we’re going to put ourselves in a really good spot.”

Notes:

• The Penguins’ power play was limited to one shot and was 0 for 2 on the evening.

• Penguins forwards Connor Dewar (undisclosed) and Blake Lizotte (right hand) each rejoined the lineup after missing four and 15 games, respectively, in the final weeks of the regular season due to injury.

• Penguins forward Justin Brazeau, typically a steady presence in the Penguins’ lineup throughout the regular season, was a healthy scratch for the first time in 2025-26.

• Rakell’s assist was his first career postseason point with the Penguins.

• Forward Ben Kindel (18 years, 364 days) became the third youngest player to appear in a postseason game for the Penguins. Forwards Jordan Staal (18 years, 213 days) and Richard Park (18 years, 346 days) were younger in their debuts.

• Soderblom also made his postseason debut.

• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov and forward Kevin Hayes were also healthy scratches.

• Nine members of the Flyers made their postseason debuts:

Forwards – Barkey, Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Martone, Matvei Michkov, Zegras

Defensemen – Drysdale, Ristolainen, York

Ristolainen waited 13 seasons and 820 regular season games before making his postseason debut.

• Former Penguins forward Garrett Wilson was a healthy scratch for the Flyers.

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