PREVIEW 7:00 AM EDT
The Philadelphia Flyers have shown throughout both the regular season and postseason series to date that they can come back from just about any deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have already recovered from a 3-0 deficit in Game 1 and, in Game 2, climbed out of 2-0, 3-1, 4-3, and 5-4 holes to win both games.
The Flyers have also shown throughout the year that it is often a better road team than home team. Now, as the scene shifts for the next two games to the Wells Fargo Center, the club hopes to send the locals home happy. Today, they will try to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Today's game starts at 3 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
Philly's problems with slow starts and issues in day games in particular (4-8-2 in regular season, but 2-2-0 against Penguins) have been discussed so often that they no longer bear repeating. All that needs to be said is that this Flyers team rarely makes things easy on itself but is also unafraid of the hard work it takes to get better as a game progresses. However, they can't keep playing with fire and not getting burned, can they?
Today's game will mark the ninth meeting of the season between the teams and the sixth one in a month. So there really aren't any surprises that Peter Laviolette and Dan Bylsma have to throw at one another.
Strategically, the Penguins will try to push the tempo and stretch the gap between the Philly defense and forwards. That enables Pittsburgh to attack with speed on the line rush, dole out heavy hits and pick off some turnovers. The Flyers will try to control the walls, pressure the Penguins defense and then turn up their own speed game.
As always, special teams and goaltending will be critical. The Flyers have been the better club on special teams thus far, while the goaltending has been a mixed back. Ilya Bryzgalov's performance through two games can be best described as "bending but not breaking" while Marc-Andre Fleury has started out games looking unbeatable and then getting increasingly rattled as they've progressed.
Of course, things can -- and often do -- change in a hurry in the postseason. The Penguins need to get Evgeni Malkin's line going. Sean Couturier not only registered a hat trick last game, he also continued to do an excellent checking job on Malkin. But Malkin remains extremely dangerous. On the flip side, Sidney Crosby has goals in both games of the series. Meanwhile, with points in the first two games of the series, Pascal Dupuis brings a 19-game point streak into today, dating back to the final 17 games of the regular season.
On the Philly side, the club got a dominant Game 1 performance from Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn and, in Game 2, Claude Giroux's franchise record six-point game, Couturier, and ex-Penguin Max Talbot led the way. Jaromir Jagr has struck for a game-winning goal and crucial power play assist but has otherwise been quiet, along with Scott Hartnell.
The injury list remains the same for both teams. For Philly, Marc-Andre Bourdon remains day-to-day with an upper body injury. James van Riemsdyk (foot surgery) has just begun skating again, along with Tom Sestito (surgery to repair groin tear). Andrej Meszaros (back surgery) has not resumed skating yet. For Pittsburgh, defenseman Matt Niskanen has been upgraded from doubtful to day-to-day. He is questionable for today's game.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Voracek/Rinaldo
Wellwood - Read - Rinaldo/Voracek
Carle - Timonen
Grossmann - Coburn
Lilja - Kubina
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
PENGUINS
Kunitz - Malkin - Neal
Sullivan - Crosby - Dupuis
Cooke - Staal - Kennedy
Adams - Vitale - Asham
Martin - Letang
Orpik - Michalek
Lovejoy - Engelland
Fleury
[Johnson]
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