Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been on this stretch of highway before.
His team was down 3-0 in a dirty, nasty first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012. The club kept the series alive by winning Game 4. It headed back to Philly for Game 6 after a tense 3-2 win at PPG Paints Arena in Game 5.
This is probably where Crosby would like the 2012 postseason similarities to stop.
That’s because once the 2012 Pens got that series back to Philadelphia down 3-2 after falling in a 3-0 hole, they shouldn’t have even gotten off the bus at the rink.
Claude Giroux decked Crosby after the opening faceoff. Then he scored 32 seconds into the game. Scott Hartnell added another goal at 13:01 in the first priod, and Philadelphia dusted the Penguins, 5-1, to win the game and end the series.
“I think every series is new,” Crosby said Monday night. “You try to rely on experience to some extent, but I think it’s new groups and a different situation. I thought the last couple of games, we’ve found our stride a bit. So we should feel good about that.”
Penguins defenseman Kris Letang scored the game-winning goal in the 3-2 Pittsburgh victory in Game 5 on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena. Like Crosby, he is one of the few current Penguins who can remember attempting to close that 3-0 series gap in 2012, and the difficulty of keeping the energy up for that third straight elimination game.
Especially on the road in front of the always hostile Philadelphia crowd.
“The first three games (of this series) we got into the same slow game — scrum it out every time,” Letang said. “The playoffs, it’s a different energy. In Games 4 and 5, we were playing with pace. That’s what we did all year.”
One area that has aided the Penguins’ comeback effort in this series has been better starts. After chasing the Flyers for the entirety of the first two contests, the Penguins have scored the first goal in each of the last three games.
“The start in every game is huge,” Penguins winger Bryan Rust said. “When you are at home, you get the crowd on your side, and when you are on the road, you take the crowd out of it a little bit if you can get off to a good start. That’s been our goal every game. That’s going to continue to be our goal.”
It’s not just been scoring first that has helped the Penguins draw close to even in the series. It’s how they’ve played with the lead.
In the Game 4 win, Dan Muse’s team led throughout on the way to a 4-2 victory. In Game 5, Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead, blew it, but never let Philadelphia go ahead prior to Letang’s fluky game-winner.
A BOUNCE FROM THE HOCKEY GODS ????
PENGUINS BACK ON TOP 3-2! HOW DID THIS GO IN? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/9SW6VTMr75
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 28, 2026
“We’ve come out better in the last few games. I think the execution is going to continue to get better,” Muse said. “I think you’re seeing more of that. The last couple of games, we’ve taken steps in the right direction. I still think that there’s also another level that we can continue to get to. But this was a good step.”
For his part, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet has noticed some trends he wants his team to reverse before Game 6 begins Wednesday night.
“We should be pushing back. Forechecks. Getting in on people,” Tocchet said. “A couple of guys look a little sluggish with the pace. … It’s important that we understand there is another pace in us.”
The Penguins’ motto heading into the 2026 postseason has been “Flip the script.” So far, this Pens-Flyers series has been pretty much a carbon copy of that story arc from 2012.
Now more than ever, these Penguins would like to author an alternate ending. Not only how Game 6 started in 2012, but how they want it to conclude in 2026.