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Flyers Playoff Gameday: Game 5 @ PIT |
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GAME 5 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ PENGUINS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers host Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Friday night in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
Every game of the series so far has been a blowout final score. Pittsburgh won Game 1 by a 7-0 count, Game 3 by 5-1 and Game 4 by a 5-0 final score. The Flyers' victory in Game 2 was by a 5-1 margin. A second Flyers win in Pittsburgh would bring the series back to the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday. Otherwise, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins will advance to the second round of the 2018 playoffs.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers held a full practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Thursday. Selke Trophy finalist Sean Couturier skated on his own earlier in the morning but did not participate in the practice. He made the trip to Pittsburgh with the team, and is officially day-to-day with a lower-body injury. If Couturier is unable to play, Valtteri Filppula (who skated at the 1C spot at practice on Thursday) will skate between Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Hakstol said that he is disinclined to move Giroux to center primarily because of his Hart Trophy caliber regular season playing left wing.
It appears that Robert Hägg will enter the Flyers lineup for Game 5, with Travis Sanheim sitting as a healthy scratch. Hakstol will keep the pairing of Brandon Manning with Radko Gudas together. On Thursday, he defended the oft-maligned duo and said they've played well together in the series with the exception of Game 4.
On PhiladelphiaFlyers.com later this morning, there will be in-depth keys to staying alive in Game 5 article. In a nutshell, if the Flyers are to bring the series back to Philly on Sunday, it is crucial to get an early goal to relax and energize the team, to show much more subsequent push-back resiliency if and when the Penguins do score, and absolutely vital for Elliott to make saves, without exception, on everything that is stoppable.
PENGUINS OUTLOOK
The Penguins held a full practice on Thursday as well. Sullivan said that Patric Hörnqvist, who missed Game 4 with an upper-body injury, will also sit out Game 5. Goaltender Matt Murray had a mishap in practice on Thursday but was fine afterwards.
From a Penguins' standpoint, there is very little the team needs to change. Of the 12 periods played in the series, the Penguins have been the better team in 10. The exceptions are the first period of Game 3 (which Pittsburgh still managed to go off leading, 1-0) and a relatively evenly played third period of Game 2 (despite a Pittsburgh 12-7 shot on goal advantage) with the Flyers playing from ahead and getting back-to-back goals to open a 4-0 lead.
The Flyers won the special teams battle in Game 2. The Penguins dominated in the other three games. Overall, Pittsburgh is 5-for-19 overall on the man advantage in the series, and 15-for-17 on the penalty kill.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 14 Sean Couturier - Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 15 Jori Lehterä - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hägg - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth
[37 Brian Elliott]
Scratches: 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 54 Oskar Lindblom (healthy), 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 6 Travis Sanheim (healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (healthy), 34 Petr Mrazek (healthy).
PENGUINS
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 12 Dominik Simon
62 Carl Hagelin - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 81 Phil Kessel
43 Conor Sheary - 19 Derick Brassard - 17 Bryan Rust
34 Tom Kuhnhackl - 15 Riley Sheahan - 46 Zach Aston-Reese
8 Brian Dumolin - 58 Kris Letang
3 Olli Määttä - 4 Justin Schultz
2 Chad Ruhwedel - 6 Jamie Oleksiak
30 Matt Murray
[1 Casey DeSmith]
Scratches: 22 Matt Hunwick (healthy), 37 Carter Rowney (day-to-day, upper body), 72 Patric Hörnqvist (upper body).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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