Penguins’ discipline has been a key factor to swing series
For a minute there, it appeared as though we were going to get three sweeps in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Philadelphia Flyers all went up 3-0 in their respective series’, and while the Hurricanes and Avalanche each took care of business in their Game 4s, the Flyers have lost two games in a row to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh hasn’t played at a completely different level compared to earlier in the series. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve been almost dead even with the Flyers in scoring chances generated, and have actually been outshot in aggregate over the last two games. What the Penguins have done, however, is stay out of the penalty box. They’ve only given the Flyers six power play opportunities over these last two games, and have allowed no power play goals.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Penguins play-by-play announcer Josh Getzoff to discuss how Pittsburgh’s discipline has helped force a Game 6 in Philadelphia.
Tyler Yaremchuk: You can see the direct correlation of low penalty minutes and wins for Pittsburgh.
Josh Getzoff: I’ve got to give Colby Armstrong some credit here. We love Army, obviously, all across the North American continent. When you look at those first couple of games, the thing he mentioned to me when we left the rink after the Flyers had won Game 2 is “They have a lot of momentum, they may very well win Game 3, but I just don’t know if the Flyers can continue to be as punishing as they’ve been to start this series.”
You guys know, it’s a demanding style to finish every check, to run around a little bit after the whistle. I think, now that we’re getting into the latter part of the series, they haven’t been able to do that as much. One, because they’ve been chasing the games, and two, because quite simply, I just don’t think they have the same juice to make that kind of commitment that they did in Games 1 and 2. That’s just human, that’s just the nature of it, and that’s king of the beauty of the playoffs, is you have to learn how to battle your way through a five-, six-, maybe even seven-game series.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Tuesday’s episode here…