For the first time in eight seasons and the eighth time overall, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will meet in the Stanley Cup playoffs, with the opening game of their first-round series taking place Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

The latest chapter of the Battle of Pennsylvania features a couple teams ending lengthy postseason droughts. The Penguins last made the playoffs in 2022, but beyond that, the franchise’s last series win came in 2018 against the Flyers.

Philadelphia last made the playoffs in 2020. However, Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier and Travis Sanheim are the only players remaining from that squad.

This Flyers team surprised some by reaching the postseason, but they earned their spot thanks to their strong play down the stretch. Coach Rick Tocchet’s club went 18-7-1 after the Olympics, going from sixth in the Metropolitan — eight points back of the then-third-place New York Islanders — to leapfrogging the Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and Islanders for the division’s final playoff spot.

The Flyers may be the third-youngest team by average age in the postseason, according to EliteProspects.com, but Tocchet said the past few weeks have been a playoff-like atmosphere. Now, the question becomes how much slack the coach gives his younger players when the pressure increases, especially when playing a veteran-laden group like the Penguins.

“I don’t want these guys to be nervous if they make a mistake,” Tocchet said. “Then I’m not doing my job if I’m making these guys nervous.”

One young player who has stood out is Porter Martone, who joined the club in late March. He scored 10 points (four goals, six assists) in the Flyers’ last eight games, with points in each of the last six.

Tocchet has already made his choice in goal in Dan Vladar, who played six straight games earlier this month and went 5-1 with a .921 save percentage. He allowed a total of six goals in the five wins and will making his first career playoff start.

The Czech goalie has played the Penguins six times in his career. He is 2-3-1 with an .899 save percentage and a 3.10 goals-against average.

Pittsburgh does have a question of who will be its netminder. Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner shared that role during the regular season. Skinner, acquired during the season from Edmonton for Tristan Jarry, has made back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, but Silovs also has postseason experience from his time in Vancouver.

While Skinner has more experience, both have fared well against the Flyers. Skinner is 5-1-2 in eight games with a .913 save percentage and a 2.45 GAA, while Silovs is 1-0-1 with a .944 save percentage and a 1.92 GAA.

While the Flyers have youth, the Penguins have a core of 30-somethings looking to make one last run to the Cup. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have three titles in their nearly two decades together in the Steel City. Despite being 38 and 39, respectively, they continue to lead; Crosby put up a team-hgh 74 points in 68 games, while Malkin had 61 in 56.

First-year coach Dan Muse said that leadership has its advantages.

“I don’t have to say anything,” Muse said Friday. “I know for sure that the guys that have the significant playoff experience … are going to be playing a big role there in just terms of helping along the guys that this is their first time.”

–Field Level Media

Jon Rahm used a strong back nine during Friday’s second round to take a narrow lead at the halfway point of LIV Golf Mexico City in Naucalpan, Mexico.

Rahm — who backdoored his way into a top-40 finish last week at the Masters by shooting 4 under in the final round to finish at 1 over — overcame a rocky front nine to shoot 4 under on the back nine, post 67 at Club de Golf Chapultepec and sit at 10-under-par 132.

The Spaniard was in second place after the opening round at 6 under. He’s now one stroke clear of Matthew Wolff, Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland and Harold Varner III, who are all tied at 9 under.

“I was even par on that 9th tee, and I thought, ‘Well, if I hit a good tee shot on 9, I’m going to give myself a birdie chance,'” Rahm said after the round. “If I keep hitting good drives like I’ve been doing so far, I was going to give myself really good chances at 10, 11 and 12, so I think I told (caddie) Adam (Hayes), ‘If we can get one or two before we get to the par-5s, I think we’re in a good spot,’ and kind of took it that way.”

Rahm, who started on the first tee at the shotgun-start event, opened with a bogey, which set the tone for an even-par front nine with three birdies and three bogeys. That included a ball into the water at No. 8, which led to a second consecutive bogey.

He changed the tune by starting his back nine with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole, kicking off a bogey-free final half of his round. Rahm racked up four birdies to put himself in pole position as he seeks his second 2026 win and sixth straight top-five finish to begin the season.

Wolff, McKibbin and Luis Masaveu of Spain (who is in fifth place at 8 under) each shot 6-under 65 to shoot up the leaderboard.

Wolff navigated a number of tough situations with par saves to come away with a bogey-free round.

“I was a bit all over the place, to be honest. I told my caddie after I finished up, I said, ‘I would have never guessed that that round would be bogey-free.’ I feel really good with the putter, so I think that helped a lot,” Wolff said. “… Overall, obviously I’m really happy, but definitely would like to tighten the ball-striking up a little bit. But it’s day by day. Hopefully I can leave that bad ball-striking behind and hit it good the next few days.”

Australia’s Marc Leishman had the low round of the day, posting a 7-under 64 to move past his 3-over opening round to move into a tie for 11th at 4 under. He eagled Nos. 7 and 12, finishing 5 under at the three par-5 holes during his Friday round.

First-round leader Victor Perez of France followed up his career-best 9-under 62 by shooting 2 over on Friday. He’s tied for sixth at 7 under along with Canada’s Richard T. Lee and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.

Bryson DeChambeau, aiming to become the first player in LIV Golf history to win three straight individual events, posted his second straight even-par 71 and is in a tie for 31st.

–Field Level Media

Scott Hend has won everywhere from Asia to Canada to his native Australia in his long, workmanlike golf career. Now he is in position to contend for his first major championship.

Hend posted a 7-under-par 65 on Friday, the lowest round through two days of the Senior PGA Championship, to share the 36-hole lead with Brian Gay at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

Hend was 2 under for his day when he made the turn, but climbed the leaderboard quickly when he got birdies to fall at Nos. 11, 12 and 13. Hend added back-to-back birdies at Nos. 16-17 to shoot 5-under 31 coming in.

He and Gay sit at 10-under 134 at Concession — the new host of the major through 2028 – though both believed they could have been even better.

“I was disappointed in yesterday’s two double bogeys on the back nine, so I wanted to play that nine a bit smarter and a bit better today,” Gay said. “So I didn’t short-side myself as much as what I did yesterday, and it seemed to work out quite well.”

Hend has traveled Asia, collecting 10 wins on the Asian Tour from 2008-19. He has won three times since joining the European Senior Tour. He knows that the leaderboard is packed with challengers who have experience under the brightest lights.

“I haven’t got any majors in my back pockets, so the guys who have majors should be the ones that are favorites,” Hend said.

That includes Stewart Cink and South Africa’s Retief Goosen, who share third place at 8 under par with Ben Crane. Cink shot a 67 Friday while Crane and Goosen posted 69s.

Cink made an impressive eagle at the par-5 17th on a long, uphill putt. That pushed him to 9 under, but he bogeyed his final hole.

“Two bogeys today. You know, obviously you’d like to clean those up,” said Cink, who has won six times since joining the PGA Tour Champions and twice this year but is searching for his first senior major.

“But you know, all in all it was pretty good golf, and I would take days like today pretty much every day for the rest of my career and be happy, because there’s going to be some days that yield some low scores on days like this, and there’s not going to be too many over-par rounds.”

As for Gay, he is in the same bucket as Hend, seeking his first career major of any kind. An eagle at the par-5 seventh was counteracted by his double-bogey 7 at the 17th.

“Another pretty good day. A little volatile. Pretty similar to yesterday, except I butchered a couple of par-5s. Two of them with one bad tee ball, two good tee balls, but other than that, I putted well again.”

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, the defending champion, went 9 over through 36 holes and missed the cut by seven strokes.

–Field Level Media