PITTSBURGH _ For the Flyers, the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs looked strikingly similar to their regular-season matchups with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
In other words, another loss. And another game in which their defense was embarrassed.
Building a 3-0 first-period lead against a shaky Brian Elliott, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins trounced the Flyers, 7-0, before a roaring sellout crowd at PPG Paints Arena.
It was the most lopsided Game 1 loss in Flyers history and the most goals they had allowed in a playoff game since a 10-3 loss to visiting Pittsburgh in Game 4 of the wild 2012 series. The Flyers won that series in six games.
Put simply: The Flyers, unlike their two overtime losses in Pittsburgh during the regular season, were schooled in every aspect of the game Wednesday.
The Flyers have a 23-9 series record when winning Game 1, and a 15-23 series record when they lose the opener of a seven-game matchup.
Game 2 is in Pittsburgh on Friday night.
Sidney Crosby scored a hat trick, and Jake Guentzel had a goal and three assists to pace Pittsburgh, which had just two more points than the Flyers in the regular season but has won all five games against Philadelphia this season and has scored five goals or more in each victory.
It was the 11th hat trick allowed by the Flyers in their playoff history, and it was the third time in Crosby's Hall-of-Fame career that he had scored three goals in a playoff game.
Matt Murray collected his third straight playoff shutout dating back to last year's Stanley Cup Final, and he now has a playoff scoreless streak of 206:26.
Elliott played the last two regular-season games after missing nearly two months following core-muscle surgery and he obviously is not himself yet. He allowed five goals on 19 shots and was replaced by Petr Mrazek with 10 minutes, 59 seconds left in the first period.
The veteran goalie could not be faulted for either second-period goal.
With the Penguins on a power play, Guentzel got behind Radko Gudas and, from the doorstep, knocked in Derick Brassard's perfect feed to make it 4-0 with 12:10 left in the second. Just 71 seconds later, Crosby, certified Flyers killer, scored a remarkable goal to make it 5-0.
With his back to the net, Crosby made a backhanded tip as he swatted a puck out of the air and past Elliott.
First-period goals by Bryan Rust (a poor rebound allowed by Elliott), an all-alone Carl Hagelin (tip-in), and Evgeni Malkin staked the Penguins to a 3-0 lead.
Rust scored on a long rebound from the top of the left circle, while Hagelin scored after Sean Couturier failed to clear the puck out of the zone. On the Penguins' third goal, Malkin came out of the penalty box, skated around Shayne Gostisbehere and beat Elliott with a backhander to the far side to make it 3-0 with 5:51 left in the first.
Earlier in the period, the Flyers nearly tied the score at 1-1, but an all-alone Scott Laughton couldn't finish a golden opportunity in front. Laughton, goal-less in his last 22 games of the regular season, fanned on his first shot, and Murray made a great save after the Flyers' left winger gathered the puck and got off a point-blank shot.
The Flyers squandered two power plays in the opening period and were outshot 2-0 during their time with a man advantage.
Claude Giroux, who had 102 points in the regular season, Couturier and Gostisbehere were each minus-4 in the blowout defeat.
Because of their regular-season dominance over the Flyers, most hockey experts picked the Penguins to win the series.
"I think everybody in the media says we're the underdogs," Flyers rookie center Nolan Patrick said before the series started, "but no one in our room really thinks that."
If they don't rebound and play competitively in Game 2, the players might start thinking otherwise.
