PHILADELPHIA — Having missed the postseason in each of their previous three campaigns, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a heightened appreciation for the privilege of playing truly meaningful games into late April.

They’ll be able to play one more such game thanks to a 4-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The result was the Penguins’ first win in the best-of-seven series, reducing their deficit to 3-1 in the series. Game 5 is 7 p.m. Monday at PPG Paints Arena.

While the odds of the Penguins pulling off a “reverse sweep” and winning the final four games of this series are very slim, their spirits are buoyed simply by having the luxury of fighting to stay alive in the postseason.

“As a player, this is the best time of year,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said Thursday following a practice in Vorhees Township, N.J. “It’s not an ideal situation (being down, 3-0). But, at the same time, we would have (taken) this last year.

“It’s a matter of having the right approach, enjoying it and just making sure we focus on what is in front of us here.”

Rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs, making his postseason debut with the Penguins, largely kept most of the puck in front of him as he stopped 28 of 30 shots. Silovs took over for Stuart Skinner, who had started the first three games of the series.

“He played great,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “Some big saves. I’ve got a lot of confidence in both guys. Really happy for him. Especially if you look at his year, our year, we’ve gone back and forth (with goaltenders) basically the whole season.

“(Silovs) just focused in on his day-to-day (process), made sure he was prepared and when his name was called, he was ready. Great by him.”

Crosby was ready as well. After being limited to one assist in the first three games of the series, Crosby peppered the Flyers for a goal and an assist.

“That’s our leader,” Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea said. “So, when he’s going, it ignites the whole group. That’s what it did tonight.”

Crosby opened the scoring, 14 minutes, 24 seconds into regulation during a power-play sequence.

On a faceoff in Philadelphia’s left circle, Crosby beat Flyers forward Luke Glendening and muscled the puck back to the near half wall for Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson. Holding the puck for a moment to allow a passing lane to open, Karlsson dished it back to Crosby, who swatted a one-timer from the top of the circle to the far side. The puck clunked off goaltender Dan Vladar’s glove and fluttered into the cage. Karlsson had the only assist.

A determined effort by the visitors and a clumsy moment by the hosts led to Penguins forward Rickard Rakell’s first goal of the playoffs 63 seconds into the second period.

Vacating his crease to corral a puck dumped in behind the net, Vladar had a miscommunication with Flyers defenseman Cam York and panicked as Rakell darted in on a forecheck. After Vladar chopped the puck off the end boards, the rebound caromed to the right of the blue paint, where Rakell lunged to sweep it into an open cage with a backhand shot. There were no assists.

“Just tried to pressure the goalie,” Rakell said. “The puck ended up hitting me and I just tried to reach for it. I didn’t even see it go in. But I realized it was in the net. Obviously, a great feeling.

“A great feeling to go up two goals knowing they’re going to have a pushback.”

That pushback started when the Flyers got on the scoreboard at 15:40 of the second frame via rookie forward Denver Barkey’s first career postseason goal.

After Silovs was unable to settle a puck rimmed behind the Penguins’ net, Flyers forward Trevor Zegras wound up with it in the left corner and initiated a cycle. Eventually, York accepted a pass at the right point and then offloaded it to Zegras in the near circle. Advancing a bit toward the net, Zegras slipped a pass to the blue paint, where Barkey, shaking off a check from Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, fired a forehand shot behind Silovs. Zegras and York earmarked assists.

Featured Local Businesses

More local businesses

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang’s first goal of the postseason — and first since New Year’s Day — came 4:27 into the third period during a four-on-four scenario.

On Philadelphia’s left wall, Crosby won a battle against Flyers forward Travis Konecny and kicked the puck with his right skate to the near point for Letang. Advancing toward the high slot, Letang wound up and cranked a slapper past Vladar’s blocker. Crosby hassled Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale to create an effective screen on the sequence. Assists went to Crosby and Rakell.

Letang lauded Crosby’s contribution to the score.

“It’s all those little details sometimes,” Letang said. “It’s not the crazy play or the passes. … Sometimes, it’s little details. Picking (Drysdale), he gave me a lot of time to pick my shot. It was an amazing play.

“It just shows you how much IQ he has on the ice and he knows what to do at every moment and every situation.”

The Flyers persisted and responded with Konecny’s first goal at 7:03 of the third frame.

Collecting a rimmed puck from the Penguins’ right corner, Flyers forward Travis Dvorak immediately fed a pass from the end boards to the near circle, where Konecny leaned down to pump a one-timer past Silovs’ left shoulder on the near side. Karlsson inadvertently screened Silovs on the sequence. Dvorak and defenseman Travis Sanheim secured assists.

Penguins forward Connor Dewar capped the scoring with his first goal on an empty net at 19:03 of the final frame off assists from linemates Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari.

As the clock expired, the longstanding rivals gathered to exchange pleasantries. At one point in the fracas, Penguins forward Bryan Rust appeared to pull the hair of Flyers rookie forward Porter Martone.

But the only player to receive a penalty out of the battle was Zegras, who was assessed a 10-minute misconduct.

For the most part, the Penguins steered clear of the Flyers’ attempts to goad them into retaliatory measures that might have led to penalties.

“They’re going to do it and we’re going to stick up for ourselves,” Shea said. “But just seeing how everything is being played out across the league, they’re going to take the (player that retaliates). So, we’re trying to take a step back from that and stay out of that.”

The Penguins managed to stay alive with a must-win Saturday.

They have another must-win Monday.

“It’s only one (win),” Crosby said. “But I think it gives us some life. That looked more like our game. It’s probably taken us three games to look like ourselves a bit. That’s something that we can definitely build on. Obviously, going home, it doesn’t get any easier. With every game in the series, it’s more difficult.

“But we’ve got some life and we’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity of going back home now.”

Notes:

• Rakell scored his first career postseason goal for the Penguins. His last postseason goal came as a member of the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of a first-round series against the San Jose Sharks. He scored his team’s only goal in an 8-1 road loss, April 16, 2018.

• Penguins rookie defenseman Ilya Solovyov made his NHL postseason debut. Opening the contest on the right side of the third pairing, the left-handed Solovyov logged a game-low 7:33 of ice time on 12 shifts and had one shot attempt.

• Solovyov became only the eighth native of Belarus to appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game. His predecessors:

Forwards – Mikhail Grabovski, Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei Kostitsyn, Aliaksei Protas, Yegor Sharangovich, Vladimir Tsyplakov

Defenseman – Ruslan Salei

• Penguins defensemen Connor Clifton, Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivany, as well as forwards Justin Brazeau and Kevin Hayes, were healthy scratches.

Featured Local Businesses

More local businesses