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Flyers Gameday: 4/1/12 @ Penguins

April 1, 2012, 2:01 AM ET [1239 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
PREVIEW 1:15 AM EDT

It is a virtual certainty that the Philadelphia Flyers (45-24-9) and Pittsburgh Penguins (48-24-6) will play one another in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. They will also clash twice in the final week of the regular season, starting with today's 12:30 p.m. matinee in Pittsburgh telecast nationally on NBC.

This is the fifth of six meetings between the Atlantic Division archrivals this season, and the second of the three games in Pittsburgh. The Flyers have won three of the first four games, most recently with a dramatic 3rd period comeback from a 2-0 deficit and goal by Scott Hartnell in the final second of overtime.

Both the Flyers are Penguins will be playing for the third time in four days. However, the Pens were idle yesterday while the Flyers climbed out of a 3-0 hole against the Ottawa Senators to gain a tie before Ottawa grabbed the bonus point via shootout. As a result, the Flyers cannot catch Pittsburgh in the standings today even if they beat the Penguins within regulation. A win for the Penguins would just about seal home ice against Philly in the playoffs.

The Flyers' problems with slow starts and poor overall record in day games has been discussed over and over again. Suffice to say that the club may be very good at playing comeback hockey -- including against the Penguins so far this season -- but they need to break the habit if they are to have success when the playoffs start after next week.

With Ilya Bryzgalov nursing a chip fracture in his right foot, Sergei Bobrovsky will get his third straight start in goal for Philly. He had a rough first period against the Senators but came back to play very well over the remainder of regulation and overtime. Bobrovsky has fared well against Pittsburgh in his still-brief NHL career (4-2-1, 2.47 GAA, .915 SV%).

Yesterday, the Flyers generated plenty of first period scoring chances but couldn't get a puck past Craig Anderson. Meanwhile, several turnovers proved costly, while Bobrovsky let in a bad goal and struggled with his rebound control.

In the middle stanza, the Flyers broke through for a Wayne Simmonds goal that required him to get 6 or 7 stitches from above his right eye to the bridge of his nose after Brayden Schenn's shot hit the stick of Chris Phillips, deflected up and struck Simmonds in the face and then went in the net. Later, Sean Couturier made a nice move to take the puck to the net. It went in just as Filip Kuba attempted to deliberately push the post off its moorings. Philly got the equalizer on a counterattack where Braydon Coburn joined the rush and got rewarded.

To beat Pittsburgh, the Flyers need to get the Claude Giroux line going again offensively. Jaromir Jagr has been creating and receiving all sorts of scoring chances but has been stuck on 18 goals for the last 11 games. Giroux has not figured in the scoring in any of Philly's last 16 goals and is pointless in the last three games. Hartnell has gone pointless in five of the last six games since his crucial two goals in the last game against the Pens.

The Penguins dropped a pair of games to the Islanders this past week but then rebounded to beat the Buffalo Sabres on Friday by a 5-3 score. Sidney Crosby led the way with one goal and three assists to reach 600 points in his NHL career. Meanwhile, likely Art Ross Trophy and Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin raised his season totals to 48 goals and 102 points on the season.

The omnipresent threat of Malkin, Crosby and, to a lesser extent, James Neal, opens things up for the rest of the Pens. For example, second-line winger Pascal Dupuis brings an active 13-game point streak (9 G, 8 A, 17 PTS) into today's game.

The last time the Flyers and Penguins played, Peter Laviolette attempted to get Sean Couturier, Braydon Coburn and Nicklas Grossmann out on the ice against Malkin as much as possible. Malkin eventually scored a late second period goal on a shift where he was matched against Giroux and the pairing of Kimmo Timonen and Matt Carle.

On the injury front, the Flyers remain without Bryzgalov, James van Riemsdyk (foot surgery on March 6, out til at least middle of ECQF) and Andrej Meszaros (back surgery on March 19, out for 6-8 weeks from that date). Andreas Lilja (upper body) remains day-to-day. For Pittsburgh, Kris Letang is day-to-day with a facial/jaw injury. The club will definitely be without Ben Lovejoy (knee surgery) for a few more weeks.

The Flyers bring the NHL's fifth-best power play (19.9%) and 14th on the penalty kill (83.0%) into today's game. Pittsburgh is ranked 6th on the man advantage (19.3%) and 3rd on the penalty kill (88.2%). Both clubs have had some problems yielding shorthanded goals this year, with Philly giving up 9 and the Pens yielding 10. However, the Penguins have also scored 10 shorties of their own, while the Flyers have done it 6 times.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Voracek
Wellwood - Read - Rinaldo

Carle - Timonen
Grossmann - Coburn
Bourdon - Kubina

Bobrovsky
[Bacashihua]


PENGUINS

Kunitz - Malkin - Neal
Sullivan - Crosby - Dupuis
Cooke - Staal - Kennedy
Tangradi - Adams - Asham

Orpik - Michalek
Martin - Niskanen
Strait - Engelland

Fleury
[Johnson]
***********

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