Mini-preview (8:30 AM)

With both the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers looking to solidify their playoff positioning prior to the Olympic break, the seventh- and eighth-seeded teams in the Eastern Conference will play a home-and-home set over the weekend. The first game will be played at the Wachovia Center tonight, with an unusual 6 PM start time.

The Habs and Flyers are both coming off important overtime wins. Montreal snapped the Capitals' 14-game winning streak on Wednesday, while the Flyers swept a home-and-home with the Devils. Now the clubs need to put those wins aside and focus on grabbing three or four points over the weekend.

The Flyers have been spotty offensively all season, but have generally played well defensively, especially of late. Philly has allowed two goals or fewer in nine of the last 10 games but only have six wins to show for it. The Flyers need their best players to be their best players. To cite two examples, the club hopes to see a lot more of what Jeff Carter provided in the home-and-home in New Jersey and needs more shifts from Simon Gagne like the one he turned in on the game-winning sequence on Wednesday. The third line of Claude Giroux, flanked by James van Riemsdyk and Arron Asham, has been very good of late.

Flyers lineup (subject to change)

Hartnell - Carter - Briere
Gagne - Richards - Carcillo
JVR - Giroux - Asham
Powe - Betts - Laperriere

Carle - Pronger
Krajicek - Timonen
Coburn - Bartulis

Leighton
[Boucher]

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