Flyers vs. Penguins: Game 6 prediction

The Flyers pushed their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins back to their home ice for Game 6, but will the defending champion break through to Round 2?

The first-round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers is finally perhaps starting to live up to its massive expectations, as the Flyers forced a Game 6 back at Wells Fargo Center with a last-minute game winner From Sean Couturier in Game 5.

After four straight games of blowouts, Game 5 was the first game that was close and came down to the wire. The Flyers defeated the Penguins 4-2 in Pittsburgh to extend the series with the aforementioned late go ahead goal from Couturier, and look to score their first home playoff win since 2016.

When the Penguins went up 2-1 in the second period of Game 5, you could hear the collective “here we go again” from the rest of league, expecting a third straight five game victory in the first round for the Penguins. The Flyers battled back valiantly, but were dominated in the third period. Michal Neuvirth, who made his first start of the series, stood tall and kept the Flyers alive, allowing Couturier to score the winner. If the Flyers can take the momentum from stealing a game in Pittsburgh along with Neuvirth’s superb play, this series could very well head back to Pittsburgh for a winner takes all.

The Penguins have got to be frustrated by that loss, but they were almost due for one like that. The Penguins crushed the Flyers in the third period, but couldn’t even take the game to overtime, a result they’ve been on the opposite side of in the past. Matt Murray has only lost consecutive games once in the postseason, and once the Penguins offense finds a weakness in Neuvirth, it’ll be all over.

This is a matchup of playoff momentum vs. playoff xxperience. The Flyers got the wind back in their sails with the game winner from Couturier to extend the series and take all that momentum to their home ice, but the Penguins are too experienced to let a loss like that get to them to drop two straight and allow a Game 7 back on home ice.

Expect another slugfest here in Game 6. The Penguins jump out to an early lead, Flyers battle back to tie and we get out first OT of this series. In overtime, Conor Sheary beats Neuvirth to give the Penguins their ninth consecutive playoff series victory.

Game 6 Predicition: Penguins Defeat Flyers 4-3 in Overtime

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