The Philadelphia Flyers forward will be a player to focus in on as the team takes on the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road.
Fresh off a ten-day All-Star Break, a well-rested Philadelphia Flyers team will return to action as they face off with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the PPG Paints Arena. If you can recall, the Flyers took the last meeting between these two squads, shutting out the Penguins 3-0 on home ice in their final game before the All-Star festivities took place. Philly will now hope to take a 2-1 season-series lead with a win over their in-state rival tonight while also trying to extend their current winning streak to three.
If the Flyers want to accomplish that feat, it won’t hurt if their team Captain came through with a big performance, which is why I’m placing Claude Giroux in the spotlight as a player to watch this evening. Giroux had a solid end to the unofficial first half of the year, netting four points (0 Goals, 4 Assists) in his last five games going into the break. He’s also riding a two-game point streak and hasn’t been left off of the scoresheet in back-to-back contests since January 11th-13th. We’ve seen Giroux step his play up against the Penguins throughout his career, scoring 51 points in 50 games when facing the other Pennsylvanian team. I can’t think of any reason as to why he won’t do more of the same here tonight unless of course an injury takes place *knocks on wood*.
As far as who’s starting in-net, it’s been confirmed that Brian Elliott will get the nod in this one while Alex Lyon will go against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Shayne Gostisbehere will travel with the team but won’t play as he’s still recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.
Puck drop is set for 7 pm EST. You can watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia, AT&T Sportsnet-Pittsburgh, Sportsnet in Canada, or on ESPN+, which has a free 7-day trial that includes live streaming for this game on all your smart devices! Besides NHL games, ESPN+ features a selection of live games from MLB, MLS, Serie A, FA Cup, and EFL. Get in on the action with Live UFC Fight Nights, 30+ Top Rank Boxing cards, Grand Slam tennis from Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open.