Five reasons the Flyers advanced past the Penguins in Round 1

PHILADELPHIA — After winning the first three games of their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers finally closed out their cross-state rival in a Game 6 nail-biter Wednesday night at home, advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Here’s how they did it.1. Defensive clinicLet’s get this out of the way: Dan Vladar was outstanding in net and the Flyers’ best player in the series. In six games, Vladar had a .937 save percentage and 1.61 goals-against average, with two shutouts. Other than a giveaway that cost the Flyers Game 4 and a fluky goal that probably wasn’t his fault in Game 5, Vladar looked every bit like the Flyers’ MVP he was in the regular season.But the team in front of him did make his job easier.Advertisement