There were plenty of potential shortcomings for the Pittsburgh Penguins to worry about entering their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

All of them were viable concerns.

Leaky goaltending.

Spotty defense.

An aging roster full of battered bodies.

What wasn’t a cause of consternation was the offense. It was largely the strength of this group as the Penguins pumped in 290 goals during the regular season, third-most in the NHL.

But two games into this series, the script has been flipped — as it’s been said — with the Penguins’ carnivorous attack being rendered meek by a stout Flyers defensive effort.

On Monday, the Penguins were blanked by the Flyers, 3-0, in Game 2 at PPG Paints Arena and fell behind in the best-of-seven series, 2-0.

Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Wearing their yellow third jerseys, the Penguins saw their offensive attack slowed down by the Flyers’ determined and disciplined defensive approach. That led to goaltender Dan Vladar recording his first career postseason shutout. His 27 saves improved his mark this postseason to 2-0.

Of particular scrutiny, the Penguins’ power play — which ranked seventh in the NHL during regular season play with a conversion rate of 24.1% — was feeble for the second consecutive game, failing to convert on five opportunities, and even allowing a short-handed goal (a chronic issue throughout the regular season).

In total, they were limited to two shots with the man advantage.

During Saturday’s 3-2 home loss in Game 1, the Penguins were 0 for 2 on the power play, with one shot during those opportunities.

“Our power play has got to be better,” said Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who has yet to record a point in the series. “When we get opportunities, you get momentum or ultimately score, we’ve got to find ways to generate a little more from that. I think just finding a way to bury those ones in front and then making sure we’re better on the (power play).”

Just being better in finding any kind of recordable offense in any scenario would be a nice change for the Penguins, who have had trouble with the Flyers’ persistent effort in cluttering their own defensive zone.

“They do a good job getting in lanes and that’s what they do,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “We’ve got to find a way to break them down a little bit more and make them be a little bit later coming out, or being in position. It wasn’t until, I think, sometime throughout the third (period) we created some sustainable zone time and guys got away from their checks and we spread them out a little bit.

“We get outplayed for two games at home. It hurts.”

What hasn’t hurt the Penguins is the goaltending. Stuart Skinner offered another valiant effort, stopping 20 of 22 shots.

Skinner, whose postseason record fell to 0-2, professed resolve, as he typically does.

“Obviously, right now, we’re not going to be happy about this,” Skinner said. “But tomorrow is a new day. We can give ourselves a chance to be upset, be frustrated with this loss. Then, when the sun comes up tomorrow, it’s a new day, a new opportunity for us to get better and become tighter as a group.

“Especially when it comes to playoff time, you’re playing every other day, so you can’t dwell on losses.”

There wasn’t much to dwell on for either team from an attacking perspective in the first period as the Penguins were limited to two shots while the Flyers scraped out only five.

Flyers rookie forward Porter Martone struck first at 13 minutes, 39 seconds of the second period when he found his second goal of the postseason.

Meandering behind the Penguins’ net, Flyers forward Christian Dvorak fed a pass from the right of the cage to the near circle, where linemate Travis Konecny saw his one-timer attempt blocked by the stick of Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea. The puck took a fortuitous carom to the lower portion of the left circle, where Martone alertly tapped a backhander past Skinner’s right skate on the near side. Konecny and Dvorak had assists.

For the 19-year-old Martone, who is playing in his first career postseason, he scored the winning goal for the second consecutive contest.

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“He’s not overwhelmed,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “Even that goal … that’s a goal-scorer’s goal.

“That’s what he does. He’s a hockey player.”

A common malady for the Penguins during the regular season continued as they allowed a short-handed goal at 17:43 of the second frame when forward Garnet Hathaway generated his first score of the postseason.

From his end boards, Skinner rimmed a loose puck to the left half-wall, but there was a miscommuncation of some sort as Penguins forward Tommy Novak was not in position to receive it. Flyers forward Owen Tippett took advantage of the miscue to claim possession.

Deking past Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, Tippett generated a two-on-one rush with Hathaway against Penguins rookie forward Ben Kindel. As Kindel leaned down to provide some resistance, Tippett slipped a pass from the left circle to the slot, where Hathaway directed an easy forehand shot into a mostly vacant cage. Tippett tallied the lone assist.

“Just kind of got caught up,” Novak said of the mishap. “And they ended up getting a two-on-one (rush) out of it and capitalized.”

The Penguins were second in the NHL during regular-season play with 12 short-handed goals allowed.

“I think (Monday’s short-handed goal) was just a little boo-boo by everybody on the ice, including myself,” Skinner said. “When you take a shift off or when you think you’ve got some time because you’re on a power play or whatever the case may be and you let a chance go, this time of year, (opponents) are going to do their best to bury, obviously. Even in the regular season, they’re going to do their best to bury.

“It’s just something that we’ve got to clean up. We just can’t take one shift off. You take one shift off, it’s the NHL, guys are good.”

Tippett was granted a penalty shot at 9:45 of the third period but fired a wrister wide to the right of the cage.

Flyers forward Luke Glendening capped the scoring with his first goal on an empty net at 17:55 of the final frame off assists from forward Sean Couturier and Hathaway.

Now, the Penguins must tap into another of their celebrated assets that defined their regular season.

Resolve.

Be it through injuries or their own malfunctions, the Penguins regularly showed an ability to overcome impediments big and small throughout 2025-26.

“They’re not dead,” Tocchet said. “So, we have to act like they’re not dead.”

The Penguins need their offense to come back to life if they are to get back in this series.

“It’s playoff hockey,” Crosby said. “It’s tight checking. We’ve got to find a way to generate or produce.

“We’ve been in some tough spots all year. We’ve always responded really well to adversity. It seems like it’s brought out the best in all of us. I think that getting on the road and having a situation like this hopefully brings out the best in us again here.”

Notes:

• The last shutout of the Penguins in a postseason game was a 2-0 win by the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal round series at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Aug. 7, 2020 (during the NHL’s pandemic-era “bubble” playoffs). Goaltender Carey Price made 22 saves in that victory.

• The only other shutout by the Flyers of the Penguins in a postseason game came in a 3-0 win at the Mellon Arena in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal, April 23, 2009.

• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov, as well as forwards Justin Brazeau and Kevin Hayes, were healthy scratches.

• The Penguins have never allowed a penalty shot goal in the playoffs. The previous three attempts by opponents:

penaltyshots

• Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae was scratched because of an undisclosed injury and is considered “day-to-day.” He was replaced in the lineup by defenseman Noah Juulsen.

• Former Penguins forward Garrett Wilson was among eight scratches for the Flyers.

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