Porter Martone was playing college hockey last month. Now he's making a difference in the NHL playoffs.
Youth is being served early in the first round, along with some relative newcomers contributing. Anaheim's Troy Terry scored in his postseason debut nearly a decade into his professional career, Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky had a hat trick in just his sixth playoff game and Utah's Logan Cooley will go down in history as the first Mammoth player with a playoff goal.
At the forefront of the success is Martone, who has two goals to put the Flyers up 2-0 in their first-round series against archrival Pittsburgh. Game 3 of the Battle of Pennsylvania is set for Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
“He’s figuring it all out," coach Rick Tocchet said on a video call with reporters Tuesday. ”Where it might take a young guy a week or a bunch of games, it only took him a period and a half to figure out playoff hockey: where he’d have to be and what he had to do. A lot of maturity for a 19-year-old."
Martone has 12 points in 11 games since leaving Michigan State to turn pro. He credited his teammates and said he “hopped on a moving train, and it's been good since.”
“There’s not a lot of guys that can come in and make the impact that he has,” said Flyers forward Travis Konecny, who also has two goals. “Especially in the games leading up to the playoffs, how important those were, for him being able to jump in, I think it speaks not to his hockey ability but how he wants to learn.”
Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT (TNT)
Series: Flyers lead 2-0.
The first chance for Flyers mascot Gritty to attend a home playoff game comes with the chance for his team to move to the verge of sweeping the Penguins. The last time they made it was the 2020 pandemic bubble, and the most recent game in Philly was in 2018, so the intensity in a sports-crazed city is expected to be through the roof.
“The fans, when they’re into it, this fanbase and this city embraces their team,” said Tocchet, who skated in 95 playoff games during two stints with the Flyers. “That’s what I felt as a player. It’s an extra boost when you walk around this city and have these people behind you.”
On the ice, it's up to rookie Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse and his staff to figure out a way to crack the trap Tocchet has set for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the rest of the playoff-tested Penguins. No one has lit up the Flyers more than Crosby, who has 36 points in 25 playoff games against them and isn't likely to be held off the scoresheet like he was the first two this year.
“It’s playoff hockey," said Crosby, who also has 139 points in 93 regular-season games against Philadelphia. "It’s tight checking. We’ve got to find a way or produce, whatever you want to call it.”
Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars
When/Where to Watch: Game 3, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT (TNT)
Series: Tied 1-1.
The back-and-forth, edge-of-your-seat action of Game 2 was much more what everyone expected from these Central Division rivals than the series opener, when the Wild rolled 6-1. Dallas evened things up with a better performance in net from Jake Oettinger and two goals from Wyatt Johnston.
Play now shifts to Minnesota, where the State of Hockey is hoping to will its team to its first postseason series victory since 2015. The winner faces Colorado or Los Angeles, but envisioning who that will be at this stage is anyone's guess.
“It’s going to be a battle of a series, and we knew that coming in," said Wild defenseman Brock Faber, who scored in Game 2. “I think we’re the tougher team. I think we have to be tougher mentally. And that’ll only be good for us.”
A parade to the penalty box on either side Monday night led to more than 15 of 60 minutes being played at something other than 5 on 5. Adjustments are coming as a result.
“That’s what usually happens and keep tweaking a little bit,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "But at the end of the day, what’s going to happen is it’s going to become a players’ series. By the time you get to the end, they’re going to have to decide what it’s going to do. … That’s what makes these series great.”
Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton Oilers
When/Where to Watch: Game 2, Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDT (TBS)
Series: Oilers lead 1-0.
Edmonton lost all 14 regular-season games in which Connor McDavid did not register a point. The Oilers broke that streak by winning their playoff opener against Anaheim, blowing a lead and then rallying to beat the Ducks thanks to unlikely heroes Jason Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen.
“The mood was calm — that’s one of the benefits of a veteran team that’s been through it,” said Dickinson, who was acquired at the trade deadline from Chicago. “Nobody is overreacting, nobody is getting frustrated. The message was simple: go out and attack. If it takes the entire period, then it takes the entire period, but we’re not going to let up.”
The Ducks are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, led by three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Joel Quenneville and fueled by their young core. First-line center Leo Carlsson is just 21, and he and his teammates are not daunted by this deficit.
"We knew it was going to be a tight series," Carlson said. “We knew it was going to be hard, but we’re a great team also.”
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AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed to this report.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
