GAME PREVIEW (10:00 AM EDT)
There is a sense of urgency any time the Philadelphia Flyers (1-6-0) play the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins (5-1-0). With the Flyers already eight points behind the Pens in the Metropolitan Division standings and coming off three straight regulation losses in winnable games, the urgency for a Flyers' victory is that much greater.
Game time at the Wells Fargo Center tonight is 7 p.m. eastern. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NHL Network.
This is the first of five meetings between the teams this season. The next one will take place in Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center on Nov. 13. Home ice has meant little in recent season series between the Flyers and Penguins. The visiting team has won 18 of the last 25 regular season clashes.
After tonight, the Flyers do not play again until next Thursday.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers have played just well enough to lose their last three games. In each match, Philly found different ways to come away with zero points. Last Saturday in Detroit, Philadelphia took too many penalties and received shaky goaltending from Ray Emery. On Tuesday against Vancouver, the club stayed out of the box (only one minor penalty) and received solid goaltending from Steve Mason but two multi-player defense breakdowns in the third period proved fatal.
The three constant problems thus far in October:
1) The Flyers power play has not scored since the second game of the season. In the broader picture, Philly has struggled mightily to put pucks in the net in any manpower scenario. They have scored just 10 goals through seven games. Claude Giroux (two assists), Jakub Voracek (three assists), Wayne Simmonds (one assist), Sean Couturier (two assists), Matt Read (no points), injured forward Scott Hartnell (no points in five games), and defensemen Kimmo Timonen (no points) and Mark Streit (two assists) are among the players who have yet to score their first goal of the season.
2) Bad third periods have plagued the team. The Flyers have entered all seven third periods this season anywhere from one goal ahead (twice), tied (once) or trailing by just one goal (four times). In order words, the Flyers were in position to come away with one or two points in each and every game if they won the final 20 minutes. Instead, they have been outscored 10-2.
3) The team has not made many defensive mistakes thus far, especially at five on five. Breakouts, puck management and coverages have been better than last year, especially in the games since Craig Berube took over as head coach. Nevertheless the mistakes that have happened have been pretty egregious, and many have ended up in the back of the net.
Whenever the Flyers play the Penguins, emotions run high. There has been a tendency for most Flyers-Penguins games to turn into high-scoring, penalty-filled affairs in which no lead is safe for either team.
I would not be surprised if the Flyers produce three goals tonight for the first time this season, but I have concerns about the team maintaining discipline and avoiding gift goals to a Penguins team than can create plenty of offense in its own right.
PENGUINS OUTLOOK
Pittsburgh brings a two-game winning streak into this game. The Penguins are coming off a 3-2 home win against Edmonton on Tuesday. Evgeni Malkin's power play goal snapped a 2-2 tie in the third period. Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz tallied the other goals for the Pens, while Sidney Crosby assisted on all three Pens goals. Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves for the victory.
The Pens have generally been a good first and third period club thus far this season. Pittsburgh has outscored opponents by a margin of 8-3 in the opening period and 10-5 in the third period. It is in the middle period where the Penguins scored the fewest goals and have come out the wrong side of the ledger (7-5) to date.
Pittsburgh brings the NHL's hottest power play into tonight's game, clicking at a robust 35.3 percent (6-for-17) to lead the League. They have accomplished this despite the absence of Kris Letang the entire season to date, and with James Neal having played just one game before going on injured reserve.
The Penguins penalty kill has not had to go to work very often in the first six games; Pittsburgh has been shorthanded just 18 total times (compared to 34 times in seven games for Philly). When they have been shorthanded, opponents have scored four times.
Marc-Andre Fleury has been shaky in recent postseasons but the regular season is rarely a problem for him (although he often seems to have subpar games against Philly). To date this season, Fleury is unbeaten in five starts with a 1.80 goals against average, .925 save percentage and one shutout.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
15 Tye McGinn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Max Talbot - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
37 Jay Rosehill or 45 Kris Newbury - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 26 Erik Gustafsson
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
32 Mark Streit - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Kris Newbury or Jay Rosehill (healthy), Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Scott Hartnell (upper-body), Vincent Lecavalier (lower-body), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
PENGUINS
14 Chris Kunitz - 87 Sidney Crosby - 9 Pascal Dupuis
36 Jussi Jokinen - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 12 Chuck Kobasew
15 Tanner Glass - 16 Brandon Sutter - 27 Craig Adams
17 Dustin Jeffrey - 46 Joe Vitale - 39 Harry Zolnierczyk
44 Brooks Orpik - 7 Paul Martin
4 Rob Scuderi - 2 Matt Niskanen
3 Olli Määttä - 5 Deryk Engelland
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
[37 Jeff Zatkoff]
Scratches: Robert Bortuzzo (healthy), Beau Bennett (lower body), Kris Letang (IR, lower body), James Neal (IR, upper body), Matt D'Agostini (IR, lower body), Tomas Vokoun (IR, blood clot).
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