There isn’t a better way to get out of a rut than to come out on top against your rival. That’s the motive for the Philadelphia Flyers (22-15-8) as they faceoff with the Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-10) Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena to erase what currently is a four-game losing streak. The puck is scheduled to drop for 7:00 pm ET. The game is nationally televised on ESPN.
These last four outings by the Flyers have been hard to watch as Philadelphia isn’t playing efficient hockey. The turnovers have resulted in the puck going into their own net. The untimely and frustrated penalties led to the opposition scoring. Then there’s the wasted golden opportunities when the Flyers produced nothing on the power play. It’s easy to see why the Flyers are 0-3-1 in their previous performance while being outscored 19-6 when you add everything together.
“We are struggling. We’re not making the big moment. We’re not playing smart hockey,” Rick Tocchet said.
Philadelphia enters the third edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania coming off a 5-2 letdown in Buffalo. That game featured Dan Vladař exit with an undisclosed injury and Rasmus Ristolainen pulled out of the starting lineup minutes before the opening faceoff with an upper-body injury.
In other injury news, the Flyers placed Bobby Brink on IR, retroactive to Jan 6, after a collision with Ducks forward Jansen Harkins.
Aleksei Kolosov was recalled and will back up Sam Ersson. Ersson made six saves on eight shots in relief for Vladař in Buffalo. He has one win in his last seven appearances and a grueling .855 SV% on the year. Ersson’s counterpart in Stuart Skinner has settled in since being traded to the Penguins. Skinner is 3-1-0 in his four previous starts displaying a .954 SV% and allowing one goal in each contest.
The Penguins came out of the holiday break on a six-game winning streak but have fallen short in their last three performances. Their problem as of late is scoring as Pittsburgh netted two goals over their three-game skid but held their opposition to four goals. Pittsburgh’s penalty kill sits seventh in the NHL at 82.7% and has done their job on 15 of their last 16 attempts.
Pittsburgh’s power play unit is even better than their penalty kill. The Penguins are third best on the man advantage at 27.9% whereas Philadelphia is fifth from the bottom and have converted on four power plays over their previous 36 attempts. Both teams are outside of a Wild Card spot in the East, and a win tonight could potentially put them back in a playoff position. The Flyers can’t bait themselves into emulating the six penalties they took in Buffalo to this Penguins squad.
“Just got to be smarter and not let frustration creep in. It’s a lot of away from the puck stuff that’s kind of creeped in recently and I think that’s due to frustration. It’s obviously hasn’t been going the way we’ve wanted it to go the last couple games, but I think there’s other ways out of it then trying to take penalties,” Owen Tippett said.
The season series between the Flyers and Penguins is evened at 1-1. Between the goaltending, special teams, and the atmosphere in Pittsburgh, the advantage seems to favor the Penguins. Pittsburgh reigns superior going 11-1-3 at home in their last 15 matchups against the Flyers. Philadelphia’s lone regulation win in that stretch occurred on March 4, 2021, as Oskar Lindblom and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel picked up two helpers while Brian Elliott made 26 of 29 saves.
One more piece of information: the Flyers are 3-13-3 in the second game of the back-to-back since the start of the 2024 season.
Philadelphia’s Injury Report:
- Bobby Brink (upper-body)
- Dan Vladař (undisclosed)
- Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body)
- Tyson Foerster (arm)
Pittsburgh’s Injury Report:
- Erik Karlsson (lower-body)
- Rutger McGroarty (concussion)
- Caleb Jones (lower body)
- Filip Hallander (blood clot)
Philadelphia’s Player to Watch: Nikita Grebenkin
If tonight’s matchup is as physical and fast paced as the emotional driven game against the Anaheim Ducks for the Flyers, Grebenkin will shine. Grebenkin laid the body on multiple Ducks players to generate quality chances. He has six points in his last 10 games and took the eyes away from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen resulting in a goal for Tippett last night.
Pittsburgh’s Player to Watch: Sidney Crosby
Look away Flyers fans because Sid the Kid is still producing at 38-years-old. Despite not being on the scoresheet in three straight, Crosby remains in the top 10 for goals (24) and top 20 for points (49) around the league. He has 137 points in 92 games against Philadelphia including three tallies already this year. Don’t let Crosby back on the scoresheet.
Philadelphia Projected Lineup:
#46 Trevor Zegras – #22 Christian Dvorak – #11 Travis Konecny
#52 Denver Barkey – #14 Sean Couturier – #91 Carl Grundström
#39 Matvei Michkov – #27 Noah Cates – #74 Owen Tippett
#29 Nikita Grebenkin – #18 Rodrigo Ābols – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#36 Emil Andrae – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#24 Nick Seeler – #47 Noah Juulsen
#33 Sam Ersson
(#35 Aleksei Kolosov)
Pittsburgh Projected Lineup:
#67 Rickard Rakell – #87 Sidney Crosby – #17 Bryan Rust
#59 Egor Chinakhov – #18 Tommy Novak – #71 Evgeni Malkin
#39 Anthony Mantha – #81 Ben Kindel – #16 Justin Brazeau
#19 Connor Dewar – #46 Blake Lizotte – #55 Noel Acciari
#77 Brett Kulak – #58 Kris Letang
#5 Ryan Shea – #75 Connor Clifton
#28 Parker Wotherspoon – #3 Jack St. Ivany
#74 Stuart Skinner
(#37 Artūrs Šilovs)
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