Philadelphia Flyers: Penguins Game Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers have a huge matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon.

The Philadelphia Flyers will play a massive game against the state and division rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM.

The Flyers come into the game as the hottest team in hockey.  They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, which briefly vaulted them into playoff position.  The Flyers have lost that playoff position sitting idle in that time, and there will be no better way to gain position than to beat one of the two teams hovering above them in the standings.

The Flyers will also be making a significant lineup change for this game: Jakub Voracek is expected to return to the lineup.  The Flyers, of course, have been winning in his absence so they may not break up their top two lines, but Voracek will give a boost to the Flyers depth and power play.  Voracek will take the roster spot opened up by the suspension of Chris VandeVelde for his elbow to Jonathan Toews Wednesday night.

On the Penguins side, they have been playing pretty good hockey themselves recently.  They have won four games in a row, and generally have been playing good hockey since their coaching change.  As the graphic above shows, they are a strong team in many statistical categories.  This is only tempered by the recent injury to star Evgeni Malkin, which certainly hurts.

This is a huge 4-point game in the standings, so the Philadelphia crowd will be rocking for this afternoon game.  With a win, the Flyers would jump back over the Detroit Red Wings for the final playoff spot, and pull within two points of the Penguins while still holding a game in hand.