Nicholas Robertson scored twice in his Pittsburgh debut and Arturs Silovs stopped all 19 shots he faced as the Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7–0 in Wednesday’s season opener.
Pittsburgh scored twice in the first period, three times in the second and twice more in the third at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Penguins finished with a 38–19 advantage in shots, while Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar made 31 saves.
Robertson opened the scoring at 7:26 of the first period, redirecting a Kris Letang shot. The forward joined Pittsburgh in a July trade with Toronto that sent a 2028 fourth-round pick to the Maple Leafs.
Ville Koivunen made it 2–0 later in the period after a transition play involving Samuel Girard. Pittsburgh carried that lead into the intermission before adding three goals in a little more than five minutes during the second.
Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play at 5:03. Hendrix Lapierre followed at 7:26, and Filip Hallander extended the advantage to 5–0 at 10:23. Hallander finished with a goal and two assists, while Lapierre contributed a goal and an assist.
Robertson’s second goal came shorthanded in the third period. A puck sent around the boards took an unusual bounce and went in after contacting Vladar’s stick. Yegor Chinakhov added a late power-play goal to complete the scoring.
Silovs’ shutout gave Pittsburgh a scoreless-against opening night for a second consecutive season. He had also blanked the New York Rangers in the Penguins’ previous season opener.
The result came against the club that eliminated Pittsburgh in six games during the first round of the 2026 playoffs. Wednesday was the teams’ first regular-season meeting since that series.
Sidney Crosby recorded an assist as he began his 20th season as Pittsburgh’s captain. Crosby, Malkin and Letang were all in the lineup for an opening-night win in which six Penguins scored and Philadelphia failed to find a way past Silovs.
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This page is an original Sporting Page summary. The reporting remains with NHL game report.
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