There are certain games that get the blood pumping early here in Philadelphia. Eagles and Cowboys, Phillies and Yankees, Sixers and the Celtics and for the Flyers, it’s their cross state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight, the rivalry will be reignited for the first time this season.
Both teams are coming in looking for two points against a Metropolitan Divison rival. The Penguins are currently 0-1-0 in the division while the Flyers have yet to have played anybody divisionally. It is obviously a big change from last season when both teams only saw the same seven teams all season.
The Penguins enter play tonight on a three-game losing streak and currently sitt at the bottom of the Metro. They are 3-3-2 with eight points. This will also be the seventh of an eight game homestand for the them. They are 2-3-1 on this homestand currently.
On the other side, the Flyers enter play tonight after shutting out the Arizona Coyotes. They have been playing some really good hockey and have a 5-2-1 record to show for it. They start a two game road trip where they will head to Washington to take on the Caps after they finish here tonight in Pittsburgh.
While it is still early, points in games like these can come down to being the make or break down the road for the playoffs. As we know, the Metropolitan Division is the toughest division to play in. It usually comes down to a few points for the third and fourth spots.
Philadelphia Flyers
5-2-1 (11 points) 5th in the Metro
The Flyers start this road trip looking for a big four points on the road against two division rivals. In the early parts of this season, the division has been tightly contested. The Flyers are in fifth place but two points separates them from fourth and sixth place currently.
Coming into tonight, the Flyers will still be without Ryan Ellis. The hope is he will be available when they return. Good news is Kevin Hayes traveled with the team, only if to be a shooter for the morning skates, but it is still a good sign. The team is still playing great without these big guns but when each player comes back, the team will get a big boost.
The Flyers were getting robbed a lot in that Coyotes matchup and Carter Hart absolutely stood on his head, but they need to get some goals early on if they want to win this game. The Penguins have had issues scoring goals over the last three games since they put up seven against the Leafs.
The Flyers also haven’t given up a ton of goals either so this should be another good test. Depth scoring still needs to get going and Scott Laughton did get a goal in the last game, but the Flyers need more. Atkinson had a goal taken away and Giroux did get an empty netter, but again, there needs to be more scoring from their depth.
The Flyers have a tough task for their special teams on the power play as the Penguins have a penalty kill ranked at 94%. The Flyers are sitting with a 20.83% power play percentage which is sitting slightly higher than average. They had issues on it against the Coyotes, but tonight is a good test for the power play.
Projected Lineup
Giroux – Couturier – Konecny
Farabee – Brassard – Atkinson
Lindblom – Laughton – van Riemsdyk
Aube-Kubel – Thompson – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Seeler
Hart
Jones
Pittsburgh Penguins
3-3-2 (8 points) 8th in the Metro
The Penguins come into tonight playing their seventh game of an eight game home stand. They have been having a rough go at it early on in this season. They are on a three game losing streak, getting shut out in one of them.
The Penguins are facing a much different Flyers team than the one they saw last season. On their side, Sidney Crosby and Brian Dumoulin are out due to testing positive for COVID-19. The Penguins are still without Evgeni Malkin as well, but that shouldn’t make the Flyers roll over them easily.
This will still be a tough battle either way. Danton Heinen is currently leading the team with four goals and six points. This Penguins team has a lot of players who have a lot to prove and will battle every second on the ice tonight.
Projected Lineup
Guentzel – Carter – Heinen
Zucker – Rodrigues – Kapanen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – McGinn
O’Connor – Boyle – Simon
Matheson – Letang
Joseph – Marino
Riikola – Friedman
Jarry
DeSmith
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: PPG Paints Arena
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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