PHILADELPHIA — The Penguins had almost 72 hours to sit on their 3-0 series deficit to the Philadelphia Flyers. They emerged from that long break as a rejuvenated team and delivered their best performance of the playoffs by far.

Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell each had a goal and an assist as Pittsburgh beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2, on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Penguins staved off elimination with the road win and pushed the series back to PPG Paints Arena for Game 5.

Pittsburgh played with the urgency of a team facing elimination in the first period. They had the better scoring chances early. After Anthony Mantha took an ill-advised penalty in the offensive zone, the Penguins killed off the ensuing power play without allowing a shot.

And they capitalized on their first power play of the game, as Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the series. He won the initial faceoff and then ripped home a one-timer off a pass from Erik Karlsson seconds into the man-advantage.

Less than a minute later, Trevor Zegras came within inches of tying it. Arturs Silovs trapped the puck before it fully crossed the line, one of his nine first-period saves.

For the second straight game, the Penguins carried a one-goal lead into the first intermission.

That’s where they left the Game 3 script behind. Rather than succumbing to the Flyers’ instigation and allowing the game to flip, Pittsburgh added to the lead early in the second period — pouncing on perhaps the first serious mistake of the series for Philadelphia.

Rickard Rakell harassed Flyers goalie Dan Vladar as he played the puck behind the net. The Penguins forward stole it and managed to pop it in the open net before Vladar could recover.

But the Penguins’ power-play struggles of the first two games in the series returned in the second period. They surrendered several shorthanded chances that Silovs turned away. The damage to Pittsburgh’s momentum was done, however, and the Flyers cut the deficit in half shortly after the visitors’ second paltry power-play of the period.

Zegras skated in tight and was stopped by Silovs, but the rebound popped to Denver Barkey. The Flyers rookie knocked it in at the 15:40 mark of the middle frame.

Philadelphia has dominated the frequent 4-on-4 periods in the series. So it looked like trouble for the Penguins when Erik Karlsson and Garnet Hathaway both took penalties along the boards.

But this time, Pittsburgh took advantage as Kris Letang turned back the clock with his first goal since Jan. 1.

That gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead with just over 15 minutes to play. The Flyers cut the advantage in half less than three minutes later, as Travis Konecny fired in a one-timer from the circle amid several Penguins defenders.

That forced Pittsburgh to defend a one-goal lead for almost 13 minutes of remaining game time.

But Connor Dewar restored the Penguins’ two-goal lead with an empty-net breakaway at the 19:03 mark of the third period.

It was over when …

Letang’s 4-on-4 goal gave the Penguins their first multi-goal lead of the series. The Flyers made it closer but that provided the breathing room Pittsburgh needed.

Stat of the game

Plus-2: The rating for Letang and his defensive pairing partner Sam Girard. That duo struggled mightily in the first three games of the series but was solid Saturday.

Around the boards

— Silovs drew his first start of the series in net after Stuart Skinner started the first three games. Skinner had largely played well but struggled in the second period of Game 3.

— Defenseman Ilya Solovyov played his first game of the series, replacing Connor Clifton on the third defensive pair with Ryan Shea.

— Elmer Soderblom re-entered the lineup after he was scratched in Game 3. Justin Brazeau went back to the press box.

Up next

The series returns to Pittsburgh, where the Penguins will once again be facing elimination in Game 5 at 7 pm. Monday.

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