Rumor has it there is a hockey game this afternoon.
Penguins and Flyers will meet for only the second time this season. Today's game looked like just another game a few months ago with the Flyers struggling. Since then the Philadelphia has been shot out of a cannon led by their phenom defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.
The two Pennsylvania teams have played the best hockey in the Eastern Conference the last 20 games. Here are the Score-Adjusted Possession numbers for the top five teams in the NHL.
Pretty solid stuff by both teams which should make today's contest one that is well played. You'll also notice Detroit there. The Eastern Conference wild card race is going to be a dog fight until the end.
Here are the projections for that dog fight
Detroit is more than likely hoping for a Pittsburgh regulation win with a Philadelphia regulation win the second worst outcome. An overtime game is a worst case scenario for Detroit.
Philadelphia should be getting a big boost today with Jakub Voracek coming back into the lineup
Voracek set to return with Flyers still hot https://t.co/ObDvH5DXDw via @cpsj
— Dave Isaac (@davegisaac) March 19, 2016
However, it has been somewhat of a down year for the star winger. Voracek only has ten goals on the season which puts him behind the likes of Matt Cullen who has 11. His 5v5 points/60 which has been consistently above 2.0 is now down to 1.64. That said the Flyers are still better for having him in the lineup versus having him absent.
Pittsburgh needs to stay out of the penalty box. They do a terrible job against Philadelphia's power play. In Pittsburgh's 4-3 win over earlier this year all three goals came on Philadelphia's power play. Over the past three seasons (2013-16) 36.6% of all Flyers goals scored against Pittsburgh have come on the power play. That number is only 25.8% for Philadelphia when including all NHL teams.
Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek haven't been nearly as dangerous during even-strength play on the power play this year
You can also see why Pittsburgh misses Evgeni Malkin on the power play. He is a machine. Only Kevin Shattenkirk's 5v4 points per 60 of 8.13 is better than Evgeni Malkin this year.
Kris Letang has been generating offense at an insane level this year. His all situations points per 60 of 2.00 is marvelous. Erik Karlsson's 2.09 is even better. Shayne Gostisbehere's 2.33 leads all NHL defensemen.
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is always entertaining and today shouldn't be any exception.
Thanks for reading!