As Rick Tocchet was preparing to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, his foe’s secondary scoring stood out.

Tocchet, a former Penguins player and assistant in Year 1 at the helm of the Philadelphia Flyers, is more familiar with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang than most.

But the ability of others throughout the Penguins’ lineup to chip in offensively showed up prominently in Tocchet’s scouting reports.

“Obviously, there’s the Sids, the Letangs, but they get a lot of offense from a lot of guys,” Tocchet said of the Penguins in advance of Game 1 on April 18. “I attribute that to the coaching staff and the way they play. I didn’t expect them to be that offensive juggernaut they are. Credit to them. That’s really impressed me the way they can score goals.”

However, through the series’ first four games, the Penguins’ scoring depth was nowhere to be found.

Partially as a result, the Penguins went down 3-0 to start before showing a sign of life in Game 4, winning 4-2 in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Through four games heading into Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh’s eight goals in the series were scored by Malkin (two), Crosby (one), Letang (one), Erik Karlsson (one), Rickard Rakell (one) and Bryan Rust (one), with Connor Dewar contributing an empty netter in the Penguins’ Game 4 victory.

In other words, minus Dewar’s empty-netter, the Penguins had been devoid of bottom-six offensive contributions, something the club did not lack for during the regular season, as Tocchet observed.

As it would turn out, in Game 5 on Monday, the third and fourth lines made critical offensive contributions to help their club stay alive.

In the Penguins’ 3-2 victory, Dewar scored his second goal of the series, while Elmer Soderblom buried a close-range wrister past Flyers netminder Dan Vladar less than three minutes into the first period, opening up the scoring.

“It was great for us to get that start, especially here at home,” Soderblom said. “It felt to good get going there.”

Soderblom, a 6-foot-8 Swede whom teammates have nicknamed “Tree,” found the back of the net at the 2:45 mark of the opening period on a feed from linemate Anthony Mantha.

Mantha pressured Philadelphia defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen behind the cage and forced a turnover on the forecheck before flipping the puck into the slot, where Soderblom was waiting.

Soderblom, 24, who is making his postseason debut with the Penguins this series, notched his first career point in the playoffs on a strong overall evening for his line, which is centered by rookie Ben Kindel.

“Obviously, it’s a big goal there to get us going,” coach Dan Muse said. “I thought (Mantha) did a really good job just getting in on the forecheck on that goal and making a play in the slot — that’s a big moment in the game. I thought you saw some really solid contributions. I think there were other moments, too, where they had a couple other forechecks where they’re just getting in there.

“I thought they were able to generate a little more speed of getting in on the puck and because of that, got some good O-zone time. I thought it was a good game for them. I thought they took a step there from the previous game.”

As for Dewar, who showcased a new level of offensive aptitude during the regular season, setting career-bests in goals (14), assists (16) and points (30), he fired a high-velocity snap shot over the shoulder of Vladar early in the second period.

In fact, Dewar’s shot from the left faceoff circle was so powerful that officials did not immediately rule it a goal, believing it had ricocheted off the post.

If any Penguins player can relate to the impact bottom-six scoring can have this time of the year, it might be Bryan Rust.

For years, the now-33-year-old has been an established top option alongside Crosby and Malkin, but once upon a time, Rust was deployed in a bottom-six capacity.

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In that role, during the Penguins’ 2016 run to the Stanley Cup, Rust scored six goals after managing only four during the regular season.

“Offense is hard in the playoffs,” Rust said. “Things are tight. You’ve just got to go in there. We had an unreal forecheck on the first goal by (the third) line. They were able to get it into the slot and bury it. And obviously (Dewar) had a huge goal. Another goal from our defensemen. We’ve just to continue to do it by committee.”