PREVIEW 8:15 AM EDT
Having once again frittered away their margin for error in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, the Flyers (45-20-10) will head to western Pennsylvania tonight to complete their regular season series with the Pittsburgh Penguins (45-23-8). When the clubs met in Philadelphia last Thursday, the Penguins significantly outplayed the Flyers but a strong goaltending performance by Sergei Bobrovsky enabled the team to keep the game to a 1-1 tie before the Pens prevailed in a six-round shootout.
In that game, the Flyers had significant difficulty coping with the version of trap employed by Dan Bylsma's team. They struggled to gain the offensive zone on the rush and failed to make the adjustment until the latter half of the third period. Overtime was fairly even except for one lengthy and dominant shift by the Pens. When hemmed in their own zone, Philly often struggled to get the puck out.
Many of these themes repeated themselves in the second and third periods of Sunday's loss against Boston. However, the biggest direct culprit in the Flyers' 2-1 regulation loss to the Bruins was the fact that Philly yielded 2 power play goals to Boston in three tries. The PK has not generally been a problem spot for the Flyers this season.
Meanwhile, even though the Penguins have been playing stellar defense of late and getting outstanding goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury, they've been having significant problems putting the puck in the net in the absence of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Pens have won each of their last four games by shootout, and over the last three games have scored a total of two goals.
If the Penguins win in regulation tonight, they will pull even in points (100) with the Flyers. However, the Flyers would still technically be ahead in the standings on the basis of having played one fewer game. If the clubs ultimately tie in points this season, it would work in the Flyers favor that they have 6 more wins in regulation/OT than Pittsburgh. The Penguins owe 9 of their wins this season to the shootout.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
JVR - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Nodl - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo - Betts - Powe
Coburn - Timonen
Carle - Meszaros
O'Donnell - Boynton
Bobrovsky
[Boucher]
PENGUINS
Kunitz - Staal - Kennedy
Neal - Talbot - Kovalev
Connor - Comrie - Dupuis
Rupp - Adams - Asham
Orpik - Letang
Martin - Michalek
Lovejoy - Niskanen
Fleury
[Johnson]
****
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at Flyers captain Mike Richards. If you want to take the pulse of how the Flyers as a team are doing, start with how its captain is playing. Even with all the depth on the club, it depends heavily on Richards to be the catalyst up front.
The blog -- which is finished but awaiting its go-live posting -- looks at some key indicators both of Richards' performance and the corresponding effect on the rest of the team.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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