The Pittsburgh Penguins have a chance to force a decisive Game 7 of their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers with a win in Philly during Wednesday night’s Game 6.

All the momentum is on Pittsburgh’s side after fending off elimination in each of the last two games. The Pens are a victory away from digging themselves out of a 3-0 hole thanks to a 4-2 win in Game 4 and a 3-2 victory in Game 5 on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Unfortunately, the Flyers haven’t lost four in a row since Jan. 26-31. The Penguins’ haven’t won four in a row since Jan. 19-31. That was during a six-game winning streak that featured five victories against non-playoff teams.

While the Penguins have done a lot of things better over these past two games to keep a pulse against Philadelphia, there are still some aspects of their game that they’ll need to address if they are hoping to drag the series back to Pittsburgh for a winner-take-all showdown Saturday night.

• Faceoffs: The Penguins won the faceoff battle in the first game, 59.2%-40.8%. They lost it in each of the next four games.

Sidney Crosby has not been immune to that problem. He was 31 of 79 in the circle in games 2-4, before winning 12 of 20 draws Monday. Philly only won at the dot 32-28 on Monday. So, collectively, the Pens appear to be getting better as well.

For as much concern that existed early in this series about the Penguins establishing more extended possession time in the offensive zone, that gets a lot easier if you can win some draws in the other team’s end.

• Egor Chinakhov needs to hit the net: Chinakhov may have been the Penguins’ most pleasant surprise this year. He was wonderful in the regular season with 18 goals and 18 assists in 43 games after arriving from Columbus.

So far this series, the 25-year-old Russian has no points and has failed to register a shot on goal in three of the five games. He has attempted 28 shots. Twenty-two of them have been blocked or missed the net.

For the Penguins to be successful, Chinakhov at least has to get a few more pucks on Flyers goalie Dan Vladar. His shot is deceptive, tricky, quick and hard to handle. If he can at least get a few shots on target and open a few lanes, maybe he can create some rebound opportunities for his teammates.

• Anthony Mantha better stay out of the box and score a goal: Like Chinakhov, Mantha had a brilliant first season in Pittsburgh. He led the club with 33 goals in 2025-26.

Through the first four games of the playoffs, Mantha didn’t register a point, was a minus-5 and totaled just five shots on goal with 18 penalty minutes.

He was better in Game 5, picking up an assist, blocking a shot and totaling three hits. He did find himself in the penalty box once more, though.

The Penguins finally got some help from the third line in Game 5 as Mantha set up Elmer Soderblom for the first goal of the game.

For that matter, now would be a good time for Ben Kindel to get in gear too. He doesn’t have a point and is minus-3 with just seven shots on goal in five games.

• Pressure Vladar: Vladar has been very good throughout this series. He has only allowed 10 goals on 115 shots. That’s a save percentage of .913 and a goals-against average of 2.03 over the five games.

But he has allowed two costly goals in odd situations. He misplayed a puck while Rickard Rakell was bearing down on him in Game 4. He also lost track of a shot off the glass from Kris Letang. It ricocheted off of him and into the net.

That eventually became the game-winner Monday.

Vladar hasn’t quite been the same since he got injured in Game 3, but he’s still been solid. The Penguins need to disrupt his comfort.

Go hard to the net early. Mantha barreled into Vladar during Game 5. Maybe that helped the cause.

Try to make Vladar play the puck. Make plays from beneath the goal line. Fire pucks from all angles. Create from behind the cage. Crash the net aggressively after shots from the point. Throw pucks at his feet. Screen him. Bump him. Don’t let him get settled.

• Bait Konecny: Travis Konecny is a good player. He’s also an irritating, ornery little cuss.

No doubt, Konecny has impacted this series. He has agitated just about anyone in a Penguins uniform and has taken multiple runs at Sidney Crosby.

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Konecny was Philadelphia’s points leader during the regular season with 68. He was second on the team in goals with 27. The 29-year-old winger doesn’t have a multi-point game in the series, and he has just one goal over the five games.

He has, however, been a minus-3 three over the last two contests and spent 10 minutes in the box over the last four games. Konecny can’t score from there. And if he is more worried about getting under everyone’s skin as opposed to getting pucks under Artus Silov’s pads, that may be a good thing.

Agitate Konecny. Get him off the ice and off his game.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network preview Game 6