BY THE NUMBERS

Top Flyers against Penguins (career regular season stats)

Simon Gagne 47 GP, 19 G, 21 A, 40 PTS
Danny Briere 28 GP, 7 G, 17 A, 24 PTS
Mike Richards 28 GP, 4 G, 18 A, 22 PTS
Jeff Carter 27 GP, 8 G, 12 A, 20 PTS
Kimmo Timonen 26 GP, 3 G, 16 A, 19 PTS
Chris Pronger 26 GP, 2 G, 16 A, 18 PTS
Scott Hartnell 21 GP, 6 G, 10 A, 16 PTS

Top Penguins against Flyers

Sidney Crosby 26 GP, 20 G, 26 A, 46 PTS
Sergei Gonchar 60 GP, 14 G, 32 A, 46 PTS
Evgeni Malkin 21 GP, 13 G, 18 A, 31 PTS
Ruslan Fedotenko 27 GP, 11 G, 7 A, 18 PTS
Jordan Staal 22 GP, 6 G, 3 A, 9 PTS
Matt Cooke 16 GP, 6 G, 2 A, 8 PTS

****

PREVIEW 7:30 AM

The latest installment of the Battle of Pennsylvania takes place tonight at the Wachovia Center, where the Flyers will put their undefeated record on the line against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Last night, the Penguins were guilty of looking past the Phoenix Coyotes, and Phoenix made Pittsburgh pay, shutting them out, 3-0. Lack of focus shouldn't be an issue tonight.

As always when the Flyers play the Penguins, the crowd focus will be on booing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But those two aren't the only Pens players who present a difficult challenge to the Flyers. The team also can't forget to check defenseman Sergei Gonchar or former Flyers winger Ruslan Fedotenko, both of whom have long histories of torturing the Flyers.

The Flyers will be without Blair Betts (shoulder) and, quite possibly, James van Riemsdyk. The latter passed his baseline testing for a potential concussion after taking a heavy hit from Milan Jurcina on Tuesday, but he was woozy when he went off the ice and caution seems to be in order here. JVR is officially a game-time decision. There's also a possibility that Ole-Kristian Tollefsen will make his regular season for the Flyers tonight.


LINEUP (subject to change)

Hartnell - Carter - Briere
Gagne - Richards - Pyorala
Carcillo - Giroux - Asham/Laperriere
Cote - Powe - Laperriere/Asham

Pronger - Carle
Timonen - Coburn
Parent - Syvret/Tollefsen

Emery
[Boucher]

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