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04/20 21:17 CDT Vladar stops 27 shots as Flyers top Penguins 3-0 to take commanding 2-0 lead in first-round series Vladar stops 27 shots as Flyers top Penguins 3-0 to take commanding 2-0 lead in first-round series By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) --- Dan Vladar stopped 27 shots, rookie Porter Martone scored for the second straight game and the Philadelphia Flyers shut out Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series. The 19-year-old Martone became the sixth-youngest player in NHL history to score in each of his first two playoff games when he beat Stuart Skinner deep into the second period to put Philadelphia in front. Garnet Hathaway added a short-handed goal a few minutes later, and Luke Glendening chipped in an empty-netter late in the third. Vladar made it stand up as the red-hot Flyers, who needed a scorching finishing stretch just to reach the playoffs, frustrated the suddenly offensively challenged Penguins all night. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh, the NHL's third-highest scoring team during a resurgent regular season, again struggled to get pucks on net against Vladar. The Penguins, who had just 17 shots in a Game 1 loss on Saturday night, vowed to come out with more jump. While Pittsburgh controlled long swaths of the game after another slow start, including sustained pressure in the third, it could not find a way to slip the puck past Vladar. The 28-year-old Vladar, who had never won a playoff game in his six-year career before this series, held firm as the Flyers moved to within two wins of advancing in the postseason outside of the 2020 COVID-19 bubble for the first time since toppling the Penguins in the opening round in 2012. First-year Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse even shuffled his lines midgame, moving Rickard Rakell back to the first line alongside Crosby and Bryan Rust while dropping Egor Chinakhov to the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak. It created more opportunities, just not more goals. The Penguins went 0 for 5 on the power play to fall to 0 for 7 with the man advantage during the series. Stuart Skinner made 20 saves for the Penguins, including a couple of breakaways that could have broken things open, but it wasn't against the young Flyers, who seem to be gaining confidence with each passing game. Martone, who was playing collegiately at Michigan State last month, scored his fifth goal in 10 games as a pro when a rebound off a Travis Konecny shot came right to his stick. Martone powered it into the open net to put Philadelphia in front with 6:21 to go in the second. The Flyers were on the penalty kill just over four minutes later when they doubled their lead. Owen Tippett fought off a pair of Penguins to keep the puck in the Pittsburgh zone and then fed Hathaway, who deposited it into the open net to put Philadelphia in firm control. ___ AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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