The Pittsburgh Penguins went into Philadelphia with their backs against the wall.

Down 3-0 in their first-round to their cross-state rivals in the Flyers, the Penguins were facing near impossible odds. Only four times in the history of the NHL has a team overcome a 3-0 series deficit to win the series.

But before the Penguins could realistically look at any of that, they had to simply just win a game first. As part of that effort, the Penguins made several changes to their lineup.

In came Ilya Solovyov, returning was Elmer Söderblom, and some other alterations to the lineup marked the last stand for head coach Dan Muse and his upstart Penguins.

But the biggest change came in net. After starting Stuart Skinner in each of the first three games, Muse turned to Arturs Silovs in desperation.

Skinner, who was acquired mid-season in a trade with Edmonton, posted an .873 save percentage through the first three games of the series and suffered a -2.8 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.

But the decision to sub out Skinner for Silovs was less about the performance of Skinner himself, and more about the coach trying to do anything he could to light a fire under his team.

And it paid off.

Inside a hostile building out for blood, Silovs stood tall, making 28 saves on 30 shots en route to the team’s first win of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was everything Muse could have hoped for as he watched on from behind the bench.

His .933 save percentage was the best single-game mark by any Penguins goaltender so far this postseason, and was the best save percentage in any game for the Penguins in over three weeks.

The Penguins took some pressure off the 25-year-old goaltender early on. Pittsburgh’s power play has been an unmitigated disaster this postseason, but they had a rare glimpse of success last night early on.

After Philadelphia’s Denver Barkey took a high-sticking penalty less than six minutes into the first period, the Penguins needed just five seconds to cash in. A swift pass from Erik Karlsson on the blue line to Sidney Crosby open in the slot saw the Penguins take a quick 1-0 lead.

That gave Silovs, who hadn’t played in nearly two weeks, an early cushion to work with as the Flyers settled in. By the period’s end, Philadelphia had out-shot the Penguins 9-5.

Pittsburgh was able to close that gap a little in the second period, trailing the middle frame in shots at 10-9. But the Penguins were also able to strike first in the second period, when Rickard Rakell was able to steal the puck off of Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar and make him pay for a misplay behind his own net.

That gave Silovs and the Penguins a two-goal lead to work with, and as the Flyers started to truly get to their game, Rakell’s goal was all the more paramount.

Towardss the end of that period, the Flyers had tipped the ice their way. A combination of a successful penalty kill for the home team and the Penguins taking a penalty for six skaters on the ice had a sleepy crowd now awake and desperate for something to cheer about.

Barkey gave them just that. Making up for his penalty earlier, he parked himself in front of the Penguins’ net and was able to tip in a shot from Trevor Zegras.

It was at this point in the game where Penguins fans would have had great reason for concern. Yes, their team still had the lead, but this game was starting to follow a pattern we had seen before in this series: the Penguins start out hot, fade midway through, and surrender the game by the third.

Silovs, however, ensured that wouldn’t happen on Saturday night. He bent, but didn’t break as the Penguins limped into the second intermission clinging to a 2-1 lead.

The netminder got another boost from Kris Letang early in the third. The embattled Penguins defenseman, who has had a series to forget so far, had his best game by far and capped it off with a clapper right down Broad Street and past Vladar.

But the Penguins still had to fend off the Flyers, a team desperate to feel the frenzy of a sweep, for more than half a period.

Silovs, again, bent but didn’t break. The Flyers rallied for a tic-tac-toe goal less than four minutes after Letang’s marker to cut the lead to 3-2. Philadelphia had stolen the momentum once more, and had the crowd back on their side as they stood one goal away from a tie.

Silovs locked them out. He survived an 11-shot third period from the Flyers, including a six-man attack once Vladar skated to the bench for the extra man.

For a goaltender who has had quite the amount of ups and downs this season, Silovs was calm, cool, and collected in his team’s most desperate hour. Though Skinner was pretty far down the list of problems plaguing the Penguins during the first three games, it’s undeniable that Silovs showed Muse and the Penguins something they’ve been looking for all series.

Silovs played like he’s been there before. But given his career résumé, perhaps that shouldn’t be all that surprising.

One of the selling points for starting Skinner in the postseason was his vast playoff experience. Coming off of back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final during his time with Edmonton, Skinner had a combined 38 starts in the playoffs. At just 27 years old, he has 53 playoff starts to his name. It’s hard to find that amount of experience in someone that young.

But Silovs is an experienced playoff goaltender as well.

Two years ago when Silovs was in Vancouver, the Canucks suffered a string of injuries in net during their 2024 playoff run. He was called upon to start ten games for the Canucks, starting midway through the first round against Nashville and taking the net the entire time against Edmonton (ironically, against Skinner).

Silovs had just nine career NHL games to his name before being thrown into action for Vancouver, and his work in the postseason that year was more than all of his regular action combined up to that point.

Though the Canucks ultimately fell in round two, Silovs backstopped them all the way to a game seven, and recorded an .898 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average.

That’s not even to mention his stellar run during the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, where he had a .931 save percentage in 24 games en route to a Cup win with the Abbotsford Canucks.

Perhaps it was some of that experience that helped Silovs save the Penguins and prolong their season for at least two more days.