VOORHEES TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Six days ago, when the Pittsburgh Penguins faithful filtered into PPG Paints Arena for Game 1 of this first-round battle, before all the disappointment and doubt and pain that soon came, they found golden towels adorning their seats. Each one was emblazoned with a Penguins’ logo, and three words, front and centre: ‘Flip the script.’
It’s been the organization’s mantra since the post-season began, a nod to the club exceeding all expectations by making it back to the dance, proving wrong the prognosticators who predicted their demise. The team’s been leaning into that underdog identity wholeheartedly, running social-media spots calling out the doubters who said they wouldn’t get this far.
But after a disastrous three games that have seen the Penguins stumble into what seems a near-inescapable 3-0 hole at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers, the message seems especially poignant. For these Penguins to survive past Saturday, for this season of redemption to continue, they’ll have to flip the script once again.
The climb will be steep. Over the entirety of the NHL’s post-season history, more than 200 series have seen one combatant build a suffocating 3-0 lead. Only four teams have ever successfully come back from the brink and taken the series. Five others have at least pulled themselves back to level ground, managing to reel off three straight and force a Game 7.
But if there’s any hope the Penguins might be able to do the same, it’s in the fact that the man guarding their cage was a key part of the last squad to do it.
“This is a group that can definitely come back from this deficit. I certainly believe that. I’ve personally done it, to be able to go to Game 7. It’s possible,” said netminder Stuart Skinner in the wake of Pittsburgh’s Game 3 loss on Wednesday.
The Edmonton, Alta., product played a key role in his hometown Oilers’ revival during the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, holding the Florida Panthers to five goals over three games as Edmonton took Games 4, 5 and 6, erasing a three-game deficit.
“Playoffs are intense. There’s a lot of pressure. A lot of noise going on everywhere,” Skinner continued. “When you go down 3-0, what really helped me in my experience was it kind of just frees you up — you don’t really have anything to lose. We’re in a spot where we don’t have anything to lose, and they do.”
Friday afternoon, after a spirited practice at the Flyers training facility in Voorhees Township, N.J., the 27-year-old reflected on that Cup Final rollercoaster — particularly the pivotal Game 4 that began tilting things in Edmonton’s favour.
“It was interesting. We were down 3-0 (in the series), and then I think the first seven minutes of Game 4, we were down 2-0. And they were on us, continuously,” Skinner remembered. “There were a couple big plays where we got a chance, Bob made a big save. And then they got a two-on-one, I made a big save. And then things just kind of started rolling from there.
“I just felt like as our team got going, we were able to just play our game, not really think about the hard loss if we do lose. We were just thinking about, you know, do-or-die.”
The Penguins have spoken repeatedly about the fact that they’ve yet to truly get to their game in this series. The Flyers’ elite defensive approach has played no small part in those struggles. But there’s also a sense that the group has been derailed too many times by the Flyers’ physicality, that they’ve gotten away from the way they played throughout the regular season.
Now, the focus shifts to simply putting together one complete effort on Saturday night. There’s one man in the room who knows how quickly things could turn if they can.
“You win one game and a lot of things can happen. A lot of things can change,” said Skinner, who remembered his former Oilers GM Ken Holland imparting wisdom from his experience on the brink — the manager’s Detroit Red Wings squad erased a 3-0 deficit of their own in the 2011 Western Conference semis. “You know, as the team that’s up 3-0, you lose that first game, it’s a tight second game, you end up losing the second game — I mean, it’s a series.
“Momentum shifts, and that can change a lot of things. One win can do a lot.”
Still, while the stakes are ramped up to lofty heights now — and were raised even higher the last time he was in this position — the process of charting a path through this pressure, of focusing on the game ahead rather than the three in the rear-view, is a familiar one for the Penguins goaltender.
“I’ve done a lot of that work in my career in general. Because it’s the same thing in a season,” Skinner explained. “You can be having a couple tough games where results aren’t going your way, and you’ve got to find out how to switch that up in your mind. To be honest, I’ve been in so many situations that this feels — I don’t want to say normal, because we’re obviously down 3-0 — but just normal in the sense of mentally juggling (the big picture and the task at hand). I feel like I know how to do that.”
For those sharing a locker room with the two-time Cup finalist, the fact that their netminder has navigated this particular vein of pressure and expectation so recently is key.
“It definitely helps,” captain Sidney Crosby said Friday. “The more poise, and the more you can stick together in these situations, the better it serves you. With Stu, it’s pretty fresh. I think having the experience he has helps a lot. Especially in that position. As a goalie, there’s so much pressure and so many eyes, so that helps big-time.”
Crosby and Co. worked through a hard skate Friday afternoon, with head coach Dan Muse barking out instructions, the club’s leaders pushing the pace. But the veteran Pens found some levity amid their grim playoff circumstances, too, as Crosby and the rest of the top power-play unit jokingly convened in Skinner’s crease, encircling the goalie as he lay on the ice, to celebrate a late goal nabbed at the end of the skate.
It was a welcome sight for their coach, who understands the necessity of keeping things light despite the situation.
“It’s important. It’s really important,” Muse said after Friday’s skate had wrapped. “I think there’s a balance — you want the intensity, it’s necessary to have a good practice today, but you also want it to be where you’re not gripping the stick too tight. … We came to work, we get something out of it, but at the same time, with this group, I think we’ve been good when we’ve been able to enjoy what we’re doing. And I thought the guys showed that there today.”
Whether it’s enough to put his club in the right frame of mind to snag their first win of this series Saturday, only time will tell. But one thing seems clear — there is no panic among this group, despite the long odds, despite what’s required to make it back to level ground.
It’s why Skinner hasn’t felt the need to specifically share his experiences from that 2024 run with the group. Not with this club’s leaders heading into Game 4 of their 33rd career playoff series, their Stanley Cup banners hanging from the rafters back in Pittsburgh.
“We’ve talked as a group about everyone’s experience. You know, some guys, it’s their first time. And guys have won it here, obviously. A few times,” Skinner said Friday. “There are guys in this room that have incredible experience in how to overcome situations like this. I’m one of those guys, too. I think all of us have a certain amount of experience that will really help this team.
“I mean, obviously. Look around this room. We’ve got legends in here.”